Drop post office privatisation, Labour warned

Dave Prentis has joined with the leaders of the affiliated trade unions to warn, in a letter to the Guardian, that the government must honour its pledges and keep the post office public.The letter says: At Warwick University, in the summer of 2008, the affiliated trade unions collectively participated in a series of policy discussions with representatives of the Labour party and Downing Street. The purpose and outcome of those discussions was to reach a policy agreement that was satisfactory to all participants.Within that Warwick agreement was a clear commitment to maintaining Royal Mail in the public sector: "We have set out a vision of a wholly publicly owned, integrated Royal Mail group in good health providing customers with an excellent service and its employees with rewarding employment."This commitment was agreed by all affiliated trade unions in the belief that it guaranteed the future of Royal Mail as "wholly publicly owned". This was our belief in the summer, and it was the belief of the 2008 Labour party conference, which voted to support this policy.We are deeply concerned that the Labour party now appears to be willing to break that commitment by adopting the recommendations of the Hooper report. Its proposals to bring in a "strategic partner", via an exchange of equity, clearly constitutes the part privatisation of Royal Mail.The affiliated trade unions believe that the part-privatisation of Royal Mail is electorally unpopular, politically unwise and damaging to the concept of universal service provision. Furthermore, to break a pledge so recently made undermines the legitimacy of our policy process and raises questions about the validity of other agreements reached.We are unanimous in our opposition to the proposed privatisation of Royal Mail, and ask that the government reconsiders its response before it becomes a dividing line within our movement.Billy Hayes general secretary, CWU Tony Woodley Tulo chair and joint general secretary, Unite the Union Paul Kenny Tulo vice-chair and general secretary, GMB Derek Simpson joint general secretary, Unite the Union Dave Prentis general secretary, UNISON John Hannett general secretary, Usdaw Michael Leahy general secretary, Community Alan Ritchie general secretary, Ucatt Gerry Doherty general secretary, TSSA