It's National Carers Week

"Invisible, that’s us. And just as well. Because if people could see our true face, they might get an inkling of what’s going on inside our heads. Which would not be a pretty sight. The truth is, most carers, sooner or later, go bonkers. We don’t show it. We might look careworn, or serene, or resigned. But on the whole we present the image of a loving caring person looking after a loved one and doing it well. And then one day we lose it, and break down. But even when we do this, we’ll probably contrive to do it behind closed doors, and out of sight. What they, the outside world, don’t realise is that we’re not really carers at all. We’re somebody just like them, doing something we’re not cut out for, and only doing it well because we have no option."

  Find out more about the 6 million carers who save the country billions of pounds here http://carersweek.org/

NEC elections 2011

LTB522/11 - NEC & National Representative Elections (PE & TFSE) – 2011

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No. 522/11

Ref: TK/PM/sn

Date: 08/06/2011

To: All Branches

Dear Colleague

Election of:

NEC & National Representative Elections (PE & TFSE) - 2011
The NEC has agreed the election timetable and regulations for the above positions. The timetable is as follows:
Nominations Open:                                      14 June 2011
Nominations Close:                                      28 June 2011 (14.00)
Accept Nomination:                            1 July 2011 (14.00)
(TFSE positions only)
                             
Dispatch ballot material from:             18 July 2011
Close of ballot:                                   15 August 2011 (first post)               
Result:                                               17 August 2011

The Election Regulations stipulate that a copy of the regulations for the elections must be distributed to all branches in advance of the nomination process. A copy of the Election Regulations is therefore enclosed and I would be grateful if you could ensure that these are brought to the attention of the membership.

  The regulations will also be published on the CWU website and a copy will be issued to all candidates nominated to stand in the elections.
Elections Prize Draws
Branches are reminded that in order to protect the integrity of these very important national elections and more importantly, ensure that the union is legally compliant with the relevant legislation covering such elections, that election prize draws should not be conducted under any circumstances unless written authorisation has been given by the Senior Deputy General Secretary.
Any enquiries regarding this LTB should be addressed to Senior Deputy General Secretary Department, CWU HQ, for the attention of Peter Metcalfe, Telephone:  0208 971 7368, Email:          pmetcalfe@cwu.org.
Yours sincerely


Tony Kearns
Senior Deputy General Secretary

Cameron in Northern Ireland as government privatises Royal Mail

 PRESS RELEASE
9^th June 2011
For immediate release
Cameron visits Belfast while his government privatises Royal Mail !
The Communication Workers Union warns that the government’s Postal Services Bill leaves UK postal services facing an uncertain future on the day that David Cameron visits Belfast.
  MPs will consider amendments to the Bill today (Thursday) in the final parliamentary stage before Royal Assent, expected later this month. David Cameron won’t be there to vote on the Bill because he is visiting Belfast, but his legislation will put Northern Ireland postal services at risk of price hikes, huge job losses and more post office closures.
Lawrence Huston, CWU Northern Ireland Regional Secretary, said: “Dozens of Royal Mail workers are already facing an uncertain future across Northern Ireland and the government’s Bill will certainly make matters worse.
“In Northern Ireland we could face higher postage prices because of the cost of transporting first class mail from the mainland, while at the moment we enjoy a Universal Service with the same prices as anywhere else in the UK. The new legislation will also put pressure on Northern Ireland’s post offices. We could lose many of our rural post offices, the lifeline of our local communities, if a privatised mail service decides to stop using them as its retail network.
“The uncertainty over the future of our postal services is clearly bad news. David Cameron’s visit today shows his disinterest in what his government is doing to wreck our postal services. Royal Mail is already being made to slim down to look attractive to a private buyer, with staff in Royal Mail, customer services unit in Belfast already under the threat of closure, in the coming months.
“What the ConDem government is attempting to do is madness, and will surely desecrate the postal service as we know it. No thought has been given to the wishes of the local communities, or the will of all political parties where there is 100 per cent opposition in Northern Ireland, to the sell off!”
The legislation will enable the full or part privatisation of Royal Mail and will sever the link between mail business and the post office network. The legislation will also mean the government taking on the historic pension deficit and will abolish Postcomm and give regulatory control of postal services to Ofcom.
A poll of rural subpostmasters on behalf of the CWU published last month showed 92 per cent thought their post office was either very unlikely or unlikely to survive without mail business provided by Royal Mail. Less than 1 per cent (seven people) said they would be very likely to survive.
-ends-
Notes to editors:

·         The poll of 800 sub-postmasters was conducted on behalf of CWU by The Campaign Company between 26^th and 28^th April 2011.

·         There are 11,905 post offices across the UK, of which 10,174 are ‘sub-post offices’ (Postcomm 2009/10 annual report).
For more information please contact:
Sian Jones, Press Officer, tel: 020 8971 7267, mobile: 0779 3314249, e-mail: sbjones@cwu.org
Lawrence Huston, CWU Northern Ireland Regional Secretary, mobile: 07802 787733,
e-mail: northernirelandregion@cwu.org