ABSTRACT

This chapter examines outcomes and processes of a turbulent two-year period in Royal Mail (RM). This period is sufficiently different from that which preceded it to warrant separate consideration. Moreover, to treat both periods 1988-2001 and 2001-early 2003 together would hamper an understanding of the former by involving too much qualification as a result of the latter. Furthermore, the dispersed consideration of the latter would have detracted from understanding its significance as a major disjunction with what has gone before. The chapter examines the new postal regime followed by RM's response to this and its financial crisis. It assesses the Communications Workers' Union's (CWU's) reaction to these RM proposals. The first terrain of struggle has been between the CWU postal side and RM as national institutions. The chapter considers the CWU's relationship with Labour and the government, and intra-union developments.