Issue 12 www.cwuessex.org

Essex Amalgamated BranchCommunication Workers Union

Moya Greene Visits Leigh PDO...But What is Royal Mail’s newChief Executive Really About?

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE...World Class Mail

Understanding the Price & the Pitfalls

Implications ofPrivatisation & thePostal Services Act

Royal Mail CEO MoyaGreene Visits Leigh DO

We Say Goodbye to Mem-bers, Colleagues & friends

Implication of Privatisation& the Postal Services Act

A Look at 376 Years of aPublic Owned Royal Mail

The Final InsultWorld Class Mail

CWU Conference 2011 &The Postal Service Bill

215 Mile Fund RaisingCycle Ride for Macmillan

Quiz - CrosswordJust for Fun

Text / Email / MobileGet the latest News

Inside thisIssue:

introduction www.cwuessex.org

2

Next Issue: December 2011If you have any comments or contri-

butions you would like to raise, or

wish to give us feedback regarding

this publication, please talk to your

local representative, or you can

write/e-mail to:

comments@cwuessex.org

Branch Editor, CWU Essex Amal, 21

Short Street, Southend on Sea,

Essex. SS1 1AA

The editorial contentexpressed within thispublication are views ofindividual CWU mem-bers and does not nec-essarily reflect the viewsof the editor orCommunication WorkersUnion at both local andnational level.

Page 1

5 C

rossw

ord

Solu

tion

www.cwuessex.org

3

What is clear is that the reason we have to change is because of the lack of ambition for our

business demonstrated by previous governments, this government, and the Post Office

board. Put simply we change whilst the government and the post office board continue

attempting to run our business down.

It could have been so different if the Postal services act did not disable us against competi-

tion. In my view this was a deliberate pre cursor for creating the right circumstances [a failing

business that urgently needs capital] to privatise our business. It is for this reason that the

finances of Royal Mail have never been transparent, understood or believed by this Union.

Members will now be anxious over the shape, terms and sheer scale of privatisation proposed

by this government. We can though take some considerable comfort from amendments to the

Postal services bill won by the sheer persistence of a successful and pragmatic 2 pronged

political campaigning strategy from the CWU.

These amendments cannot be underestimated and indeed have been hard fought and won

in the best traditions of mobilising every level of this Union. I refer specifically in gaining safe-

guards on the Universal Service Obligation, which will protect jobs, persuading government

to take on the huge pensions deficit, and also changing government thinking on competition

which will attract more revenue.

The government still face difficulty in finding a buyer and a sale cannot realistically take place

until after European State Aid approval on pensions is finalised. This is unlikely to happen until

at least March 2012. This Unions approach and policies I’m sure will continue to shape the

final outcome. The National Union now have a clear policy and are right now engaged in fresh

talks on: job security, pensions, workload, colleague share, the possibility and potential

impact of privatisation and separation of Post Office Limited, Mail Centre reviews and

Industrial Relations. We must all be prepared to defend and fight on these issues if these talks

fail. We will of course keep you informed on all these issues as we progress.

The Essex Amalgamated Branch have always faced up to change and will continue to engage

with our employers ensuring we influence and shape local negotiations to the best of our

elected ability and to the benefit of our loyal members. I know with your continued involve-

ment and support that together we will protect and build on what we have.

If you want the very latest up to date information on everything going on in your business

and Union then give your email and mobile numbers, which will be kept in strictest confidence,

to our new communications officer, Mike Newport, who can be contacted on: 07884 454547

or by Email at: mike.newport@cwuessex.org

All Change By John Hunt,Branch Secretary

introduction

Quote:

“The debate has moved on – it’s not about whether we need

to change – it’s about how we change”

[Dave Ward Letter to all members July 2011]

YOUR UNION THOUGH REMAIN COMMITTED TO BUILDING

A SUCCESFUL COMPANY WITH IMPROVED JOB SECURITY

4

www.cwuessex.orgnews

Moya GreeneMoya Greene

Pays a VisitPays a Visit

to Leigh PDOto Leigh PDO

A request from Leigh postman

and rep, Rob Bartlett, is all it

took to see a visit from Royal

Mail’s CEO, Moya Greene to

Leigh on Sea’s PDO last week.

Rob contacted Moya’s office to

dispute Royal Mail’s figures

which had dropped, moral was

at an all time low within the

delivery office, and yet posties

are delivering more mail than

ever witness before.

First impressions went down

very positively with all delivery

staff, and the appearance was

that she had the welfare and

interests of staff at heart.

Rob said: “To be fair, the expe-

rience I’ve had with Moya

Greene and her assistant

Emily Pang has been first

class, very favourable and

hands on. She did a very good

meet and great with the staff,

spoke very highly and had

good things to say about Bob

Gibson and Dave Ward which

I’ve never heard from a

Director of the business in my

life, and expressed that she

wants to work with the union,

however words are only as

good as actions and we need

to see proof, improvements in

the office and moral”.

Since the visit Rob has been in

contact with Moya to try and

form a plan to add stable hours

to the office instead of hemor-

rhaging money since Royal

Mail’s planner led revision to fix

managerial problems. The aim

of this will create a friendlier,

manageable and stable place

to work, while working within

the limitations of the budget

and affectively saving money.

The CWU are well aware of

Moya Greene’s past and

realise she is not a person to

take lightly.

in the early 1990’s, as assis-

tant deputy minister of

Transport Canada she over-

saw the privatization of CN Rail

and the deregulation of the

country’s rail, transport and

ports systems. She then

moved through a series of sen-

ior posts at Toronto Dominion

Bank, Canadian Imperial Bank

of Commerce and Bombardier.

The outspoken executive said

her job-hopping was fed by a

combination of ambition and

unending desire for new chal-

lenges.

She says although she has

“always shocked” people by

leaving, she pulled no punches

about her reasons: “I’ve said

you know this is not doing any-

thing for me.” After joining

Canada Post in 2005 Moya

was not a popular person with

postal staff. It was reported

that while in charge of the busi-

ness jobs were reduced, staff

moral declined then the busi-

ness wanted to use the money

within the pension fund to

improve the business. Workers

voted 94.5% for strike action

against the action and started

a series or rolling strikes.

Canada Post then decided to

lock employees out of their

places of work, then through

the courts, forced staff to return

to work under a new legislated

contract.

Although having two years left

on her contract, she left the

Canadian Post job in 2010

after being offered the Chief

Executive role at Royal Mail.

Lets hope Moya can be good

for the business and posties

livelihoods alike!

5

www.cwuessex.org

proud, and certainly

should celebrate the

fact that all our mem-

bers departed this

business without any

recourse to compul-

sion”.

John paid particular

tribute to Dave

Hanrahan, Process-

ing Rep at South-

end, who was not

only an exceptional

Union representa-

tive for nearly all his

working life but was

also a real charac-

ter and at South-

end we will miss him immensely.

Mick Pottinger, Branch Chair

received a CWU Honorary

Membership Award for an

impressive 40 years service as

a Union Rep.

Good luck to the future

for all!

It’s Hard to Say Goodbye asPosties & Reps Celebrate aLifetime as CWU MembersA great night was had by all at

the CWU Members Retirement

event at the Cliffs Pavilion in

Southend on Saturday 12th

June 2011. The evening was a

great success in many ways

with members from Southend

to Chelmsford attending.

Over two-hundred Essex

Amalgamated branch mem-

bers and spouses joined in on

the fun to celebrate and award

40 long serving members as

they depart from the business

for a new adventure in life.

The branch even managed to

pull in the big players in the

union with attendances includ-

ing the likes of Billy Hayes,

Dave Ward and Bob Gibson.

John Hunt Branch Secretary

said "It was great to say good-

bye to long serving members

and Reps from various loca-

tions" Its always hard when

you say goodbye to old work-

mates but this Branch can be

news

feature www.cwuessex.org

6

he Postal Services Act

received Royal Assent on

13 June 2011. The Act allows

for the privatisation of Royal

Mail, the separation of Royal

Mail from Post Office Ltd and

the mutualisation of Post Office

Ltd.

The Act also allows the govern-

ment to take on the assets and

liabilities in the Royal Mail

Pension Plan and makes a

number of changes to the reg-

ulation of postal services.

Further to this, Royal Mail has

also finalised its new Business

Plan (known as the restructur-

ing plan), which has been

agreed by the Government.

As part of moving forward the

Implications of PrivatisationImplications of Privatisation

& the Postal Services Act& the Postal Services Act

Union’s Postal Executive has

been assessing the implica-

tions of the Postal Services Act

on CWU members, the Union

and the company. This high-

light’s the key areas dealt with

by the Act and scopes its likely

implications to gain a better

understanding of the range of

issues now facing the Union

and the way events are likely to

unfold.

Tackling the Pension Deficit

& the Significance of the

European State Aid Process

Before any sale goes ahead

the government needs to take

on the bulk of the deficit in the

pension plan, an objective the

CWU has been campaigning

over for many years. As well as

removing the historic pensions

deficit, the Government is sup-

porting the company’s request

to improve Royal Mail Groups

financial balance sheet by

potentially wiping off some or

all of Royal Mails debt from the

previous Government loan of

£1.7 billion, which was made

on commercial terms to fund

modernisation.

Both the pensions’ solution and

a reduction in Royal Mail’s

debts are dependent on

European state aid clearance.

The European State Aid

Process is integral to the his-

toric pension’s deficit being

taken on by the Government

who are not in a position to

proceed with a sale until State

Aid clearance is given. Then

there’s the question of what

type of aid can be provided and

the terms that under certain cir-

cumstances can be put for-

ward by the European

Commission.

Royal Mail’s recently revised

business plan formed the basis

of this application. The govern-

ment has indicated that,

T

featurewww.cwuessex.org

7

assuming the application is

successful, the transfer will

take place from April 2012.

However, early indication from

Brussels suggests that achiev-

ing State Aid clearance will not

be straightforward and stress-

es that reaching a decision by

March 2012 is a stretching tar-

get. The significance of this

date is that Royal Mail faces

major problems if a decision is

not reached by March 2012, as

without a pensions’ solution in

place the company will

become liable for a further pen-

sion deficit payment in the

region of £300m, which it is

likely to argue it cannot afford.

If Royal Mail is unsuccessful in

its application for state ‘restruc-

turing’ aid (which the business

believes is a possibility), it

faces the imposition of ‘rescue

aid’ from the European

Commission. This means state

aid in exchange for undertak-

ing a form restructuring

imposed by the European

Commission, which is likely to

involve much harsher terms

that could be damaging to

members’ interests.

The Governments case will

also be open to intense lobby-

ing from Royal Mail’s competi-

tors, who will claim that State

Aid, the removal of the pension

deficit and changes to regula-

tion will give Royal Mail an

unfair advantage over the com-

petition.

It is clear that the outcome of

the State Aid process is crucial

to future developments in the

Postal Industry and will impact

one way or another on the pri-

vatisation of the business and

CWU members.

Privatisation and Another

Employee Share Scheme

The Postal Services Act not

only allows for the privatisation

of Royal Mail but also requires

that at least a 10% share of

Royal Mail be transferred to

employees. The union does

not endorse an employee

share scheme as an appropri-

ate means of remuneration (we

all know what happened to the

last Employee Share Scheme).

The Act does not specify what

form a sale of Royal Mail will

take. It could take the form of

share issue, where shares

would be publicly traded.

Alternatively the government

could seek one or more strate-

gic investors to buy all or part

of the business.

Continued...

8

feature www.cwuessex.org

Continued...

Arrangements for the estab-

lishment of an employee share

scheme need to be made

before any shares in Royal

Mail are sold; however, shares

do not have to go to employees

before the sale of the business

begins, as long as 10% of

shares go to employees before

the government has entirely

disposed of its shareholding.

The government has shared lit-

tle or no thinking as to the form

of an employee share scheme.

Shares could be distributed

directly to employees, as was

the case in previous privatisa-

tions such as BT, or held in

some form of trust.

The government claims that it

has not and will not start think-

ing about the form of sale it will

undertake until after the state

aid decision has been

received. The Shareholder

Executive has argued that

value for taxpayers and the

future of the USO are the main

objectives in any sale; this

means theoretically the identity

of any future buyer or the form

of a sale and its implications for

the stability of the USO could

be considered in the privatisa-

tion process. However, the

government is under no duty to

take such factors into account

and has given no assurances

that it will do so.

The form of an employee share

scheme will influence the long-

term value of the shares to

CWU members. The Act only

obliges the government to

introduce an employee share

scheme, the union has the

opportunity to maximise the

value of such a scheme for

members through engage-

ment with the government

and Royal Mail.

Royal Mail and the

Government have commit-

ted to sharing information

with the CWU on develop-

ments relating to the state aid

application. The CWU will con-

tinue push for information on

the form of any sale and will

seek to highlight the impor-

tance of the buyer and form of

the sale on the future of the

business, its employees and

the universal service.

UntilNow...

Billboard Poster used by

Royal Mail throughout the country

So here we are in 2011 and

what we have campaigned

against for many years is final-

ly upon us - the Privatisation of

our Postal Service. The bill that

has been doing the rounds for

some time now has completed

its passage through parliament

and received Royal Assent this

will eventually enable the sale

of not just another public serv-

ice But Ours!

This government act will see

the sale of Royal Mail to private

buyers that could see foreign

companies in the frame. We

will also see the separation

from Post Office counters that

will remain in Public ownership

for now!

They say this will create a

more efficient and profitable

service and would be better for

our customers. Yeah and I

danced on the moon with Neil

Armstrong!!

And for all these glorious years

we have been delivering a

service second to none with

outstanding Quality by dedicat-

ed people who have a lot of

pride and passion in what they

do within this great organisa-

tion

One of our most important and

treasured possessions is our

Post boxes wherever located.

Going back in time a little the

clearance of the Post boxes

was a priority. We made a

clearance when out on our first

delivery, and we tried to make

9

featurewww.cwuessex.org

sure that any first class letters

in the boxes were delivered on

the same day on our second

delivery, does anyone remem-

ber this? We had four collec-

tions a day (10:00am,

12:30pm, 15:00pm and

17:00pm) and three on a

Saturday. We had what was

then called restricted collec-

tions where drivers would col-

lect from certain boxes at

19:00hrs to ensure any late

posting would arrive next day

rather like our access strategy

collections today.

Collections are rapidly shrink-

ing within today’s business

plan. We have already lost

Sunday collections which was

appreciated by a vast majority

of the public. We will probably

see many more reductions

under privatisation.

We are all aware that in today’s

market place we have to

stream line our services to

make profits but profits for

whom – the shareholders?

Our Public service is in jeop-

ardy and our quality will be a

thing of the past as long as

there are profits to be made for

rich Directors.

Gone are the days when deliv-

ering our letters, packets and

parcels for the public meant so

much to so many, even in the

most adverse weather.

‘It’s a fight wherever you may

be, to keep the post public and

protect the USO.

What would King Charles

think of the Postal service in

2011

376 Years of a PublicOwned Royal Mail Mick Pottinger

Branch Chairman

In 1635 King Charles 1st

extended the use of Royal

Mail to the public, so the

public service was formed!!

1830 Mail is carried by a

Railway company for the

first time between Liverpool

and Manchester!!

1840 Advent of the Penny

post and a national

postage rate for first time!!

1856 Sir Rowland Hill

divides London into ten

post codes!!

1974 Postcodes rolled out

nationally!!

2002 sees the end of the

second delivery

2003 Royal Mails London

underground closes!!

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

ust when you thought

Royal Mail couldn’t stoop

any lower in the double

standards they set, the

business has managed

once more to exceed any-

thing they have done

before.

Just weeks after informing

postal workers that the

company was worthless,

and as a result informing

staff there would be no col-

league share payout, they

suddenly find the money to

pay themselves and their

managers bonuses that

make the colleague share

payments look like loose

change.

Moira Greene herself raked

in a bonus payment of well

over £100,000 whilst line

managers received bonus-

es in excess of £1,000, not

bad money for the people

that have overseen the

falling value of the industry.

feature www.cwuessex.org

10

J

The Final Insult

Profit

Workforce

Process

‘World Class Mail’

Profit S

hare S

chem

e?

Management

Bonuses

By Vince ThurnellChelmsford Processing Rep

Part-Time Working

& Compulsary

Redundancy

‘Job Bin’

It would appear Royal Mail

must run two sets of

accounts. One for postal

workers which points to the

industry having no money

and as a result no payout of

the colleague share money

and the constant message

we are told of the need for

us to make more savings

and to close more buildings.

The second set must show

us awash with money, so

much so that we can payout

millions in bonuses whilst at

the same time spending

millions on new vans for our

delivery colleagues , ending

the use of bicycles on most

deliveries.

At the same time as we see

Royal Mail claiming they

have no money to adhere to

the national agreement they

signed up to in order to end

the last national dispute, the

business on the other hand

seem to have more than

enough money to push on

with their new pet project

'World Class Mail'.

There seems to be no

shortage of cash to imple-

ment this part of the nation-

al agreement as overtime

and release form duty is

happily given if it means

World Class Mail is a suc-

cess.

In my opinion that money

would have been better

spent paying postal workers

what is rightfully theirs

rather than being used to

undermine the CWU and

play postalworker off

against postalworker.

Be under no illu-

sion World Class

Mail is not being

implemented for

your

benefit,

Royal Mail’s des-

peration to imple-

ment it should

prove that to you.

If this was really about

improving your working

conditions and making

Royal Mail a better place to

work the business would

have surely realised that

money spent on World

Class Mail could of gone a

long way to raising the

morale of its workforce and

giving postal workers

money which is rightfully

featurewww.cwuessex.org

11

theirs.

I have seen many instances

of Royal Mail treating its

staff with contempt but over

the last year the Royal Mail

have taken their contempt

of postal workers to new

levels.

We cannot just sit back and

let them carry on cherry

picking the parts of agree-

ments they want to adhere

to, whilst making excuses

why they can’t adhere to

other parts. We must, as we

have always done in the

past show the business that

we will not sit idly by and

watch them use this indus-

try as their own cash cow as

they fatten us up for privati-

sation.

Whilst our national officers

continue to talk to royal mail

and try to force them to

adhere to the national

agreement they originally

signed up to, it is imperative

that we send Royal Mail a

clear message that we will

not get involved in World

Class Mail until such time

as existing national issues

have been resolved. Royal

Mail needs to hand over

what is rightfully ours and

stop the double standards

that are rife in this industry

at the moment.

Politics www.cwuessex.org

12

Centre Rationalisation Agree-

ment.

Some of the main points cov-

ered were to have an agree-

ment on 'people issues' prior to

any transfer of work and under-

standing Royal Mail’s wording

on 'maintaining or improving

quality of service' when a Mail

Centre is rationalised.

There were also many more

important motions put forward

from branches around the

country most of which the

Postal Executive now have as

policy.

General Conference covered

and discussed plenty of indus-

trial and political issues.

Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls,

who is a key supporter of the

'Keep the Post Public' cam-

paign, gave a guest speech.

He spoke on a number of pub-

CWU Confrence 2011

Conference is essentially where policies are debated and formed for your Executive

Council to pursue. This years conference was no exception and was carried out in three

sections, Rules Revision, Postal Conference and General Conference.

A Look at Confrence 2011 Held at Bournemouth BIC

Postal Conference this year

was dominated by the issues

surrounding London, the possi-

ble closure of three of it's mail

centres and the prospect of

compulsory redundancies.

These issues, thankfully, have

now seen some resolution.

The Essex Amalgamated

branch put forward two

motions both of which were

carried.

The first motion recognised all

Postal Graded RTD drivers,

tagged to delivery functions,

who are not receiving the

£20.60 delivery supplement.

The Postal Executive have

now been instructed to secure

this payment.

The second motion was to give

the Postal Executive instruc-

tion to carry out an immediate

review of the National Mail

lic sector issues and pledged

Labours support for keeping

Royal Mail public.

Another interesting guest

speaker at the event was

Tarsicio Mora, Leader of the

Columbian TUC. Despite his

speech being delivered via an

interpreter, it was very moving

and was met with a standing

ovation.

Mr Mora spoke passionately

about the persecution that

Trade Unionists face in his

country and other countries

around the world, where peo-

ple are literally murdered for

even belonging to a Trade

Union (www.justiceforcolum-

bia.org).

Our own CWU representatives

also gave some excellent

speeches around the cuts and

attacks on wages and pen-

sions that the Coalition

Government are making. This

resulted in a unanimous vote in

favour of a co-ordinated 24

hour strike.

By Richard Wood,Late Distribution Rep

www.cwuessex.org

13

politics

The Con/Dem Government’s

Postal Services Bill has now

passed through parliament and

achieved Royal Assent. It goes

without saying that this is a

massive disappointment. Our

branch made great efforts to

oppose this bill including:

And the list doesn’t stop there,

but despite our best efforts we

now face the possibility of

working in a privatised busi-

ness and Post Office Limited

being separated from Royal

Mail Group.

However our efforts weren’t

completely in vain. Thanks to

support for our campaign, both

nationally and locally, we

achieved several safeguards.

Due to the pressure applied by

our Union at all levels the

Government will now have to:

The Postal Services BillMaking the Best of Government

ConDeming our Postal ServiceWritten by Mark KitePolitical Officer

Opposing

Governme

nt

Changesto...

.

.

.

.

.

Repeated contact with all

MP’s in our Branch area

offering our opposition to

the Bill

Organising and attending

demonstrations and rallies

around the country

Lobbies of parliament

Writing to the local media

Petition signings

Keep Royal Mail as our

post provider for at least

the next ten years

Halt the ongoing post office

closures

Sustain the universal

postal service for at least

the lifetime of this

Parliament

Keep our 11,500 post

offices open until at least

until 2015

.

.

.

.

These are safeguards for

which we can be rightly proud.

Several MP’s from our branch

boundaries, prompted by con-

tact from this branch, signed

up to EDM 1408 to help us pro-

tect the Universal Service.

It is a difficult time for us all. It’s

clear there will be huge

changes ahead for the busi-

ness and things won’t stay the

same, but this union and the

membership remain committed

to protecting long-term

employment with good terms

and conditions.

In a recent letter to members,

Dave Ward stated ‘there is a

future still worth fighting for’ – a

sentiment very much shared

by this branch.

Best wishes to you all and

thank you for your continued

support.

Vince Cable (Lib Dem) MP

at the forefront of Privatising

the Royal Mail

www.cwuessex.org

14

fundraising

at Southend Mail Centre.

Later that year we got involved

with the Macmillan coffee

morning held at the Southend

Mail Centre in the union room,

and again it proved a great

success. Union Reps from all

functions brought in cakes and

a great deal of money was

raised.

We were now involved with

Macmillan on a regular basis

and realised that we could

expand the Coffee morning to

all our rural offices.

Leading up to this year Paul

Moffat Eastern Region

Secretary was instrumental in

spreading the Coffee morning

throughout the Eastern region

and indeed it was agreed to

adopt the Macmillan charity.

It was at this meeting I

announced that I would cycle

for 24hrs non-stop on a Royal

Mail cycle leaving Southend

Mail Centre. at 9am Saturday

and finishing 9am Sunday.

Why? I am not sure but I must

have got caught up in the emo-

tion of it all.

Talking about it was easy but I

soon discovered doing it was

another matter.

I was supported by Kevin

Martin and Andy Monteith our

two local Delivery reps who

drove a support van all night

whilst I plodded on.

It was clear that by 3am on

Sunday morning Skegness

(my original destination) was

only 30 miles away, so I knew I

had to pedal further or finish

too early, so we made a mad

decision to press on to

Grimsby.

What I did not account for was

a sign saying ‘Welcome to

Lincolnshire Wolds’? It basical-

ly means 30 to 40 miles of hills

before dropping into Grimsby.

Grimsby Football Club was

shut on that Sunday morning,

so we finally ended up at

Cleethorpes for breakfast,

finally completing over 215

miles in total.

Anyone wishing to

donate money for my

cycle ride and support-

ing MacMillan can donate

at www.justgiving.com

just tap in Keith Elgar.

Also, all are welcome to our

next annual “Danny Elgar

Cup” charity football match,

Southend Manor Football

Club, Southchurch Park, on

Sunday, 28th August 2011,

again in aid of MacMillan

Nurses. Kick off starts at

3pm, followed by a social

event in the evening with

entertainment.

Southend Postman Keith Excelsin 215 Mile MacMillan Cycle Ride...............on a Royal Mail Cycle?

In 2007 after the loss of our

Son, Daniel Elgar who was a

Southend Postman, work col-

leagues from Southend Mail

Centre wanted a football match

between the youngsters and

the veterans to raise money for

a trust fund for the two children

Daniel had sadly left.

The response was overwhelm-

ing for us as a family and

indeed a trust fund was set up

for Harry and Daniel (junior).

The following year Union mem-

bers at Southend wanted to

continue the charity football

match so we decided to call it

the “Danny Elgar cup”.

The football match coincided

with the tragic loss of another

Postman Ken Wright who died

at 50 years old with cancer.

Ken knew our Daniel well and it

seemed only right to donate

any money raised to the

Macmillan cancer support.

The Danny Elgar cup is now

firmly an annual event with

great support from all the

Postman, Postwomen, friends

and family of members working

Just for Fun

Spanish tenor raised inMexico (7,7)Russian composer andchemistry professor (7)Hungarian composer ofThe Miraculous Mandarin(4,6)Written with but one per-former in mind (4)Twenty pages of orchestralmusic? (5)He's made a massive con-tribution to opera's popu-larity! (9)

6/298

10

11

12

14

Across:

While your sitting in the garden,enjoying a barbeque or some wine inthe summer sun, sit back, relax andtest your knowledge on this issuescrossword.

QUIZ PAGE

Parmesan cheese,anchovies and raw eggare ingredients of such asalad (6)Coarse oatmeal dish,speciality of southernUSA (5)A cut of lamb or pork - ifdoubled, get a move on!(4)It gives oranges andlemons its tang (4)

23

24

26

28

17

19

2225

27

2930

Pianist Barry, outright winnerof 1986 TchaikovskyCompetition (7)A recognised masterpiece (7)Composer of ChichesterPsalms (9)A couple of quartets! (5)Closely read of a bit ofToscanini! (4)Short orchestral interludebetween acts of an opera(10)See 6 DownIf Richard, composed AlsoSprach Zararthustra (7)

Down:

Blue-black fruitused to flavour gin(4)Cream cake withchocolate or coffeeicing (6)Old-fashioned,Manhattan? (9)North African dishof crushed wheatsteamed andserved with meat,etc. (8)Herb used toflavour e.g. pickles(4)Indian purée oflentils (4)Eg a tournedos (5)Spice, the driedflower bud of anAsian tree (5)Stomach-lining,this dish! (5)Game-bird familyonce seen on TV?(9)Vermouth is thecertain somethingin this drink (3,3,2)Flat, round breadhollow inside so itcan be filled (5)

1

2

3

4

5

7

913

15

16

18

20

Crossword Solution on page 2www.cwuessex.org quiz

15

Food, Drink & Some Music...

www.cwuessex.org

Wanttobe

Updatedonthe

LatestCWU

News?

GET

ALL

THE

NEWS

THAT

AFFECTS

YOU

Some of you already receive e-

mails and text message

updates from your Branch

Office and will I’m sure agree,

that these services get infor-

mation to you quicker than the

more traditional methods such

as documents on notice

boards and of course through

the rumour mill.

E-mails are sent to your inbox

and you can read these when

you log onto your account or

indeed as some members

have preferred who do not

have access to e-mail, too an

e-mail account of someone

who is a close relative or friend

who wouldn’t mind receiving

this information on your behalf.

We may at times be able to

also forward offers that have

been secured by the CWU for

its members only (free will

service, discounts on goods or

services, etc).

The text message service is a

great way of getting informa-

tion to you pretty much instan-

taneously and potentially whilst

you are actually in work. Most

people tend to read their text

messages when they receive

them and this is an excellent

way of getting accurate infor-

mation in a speedy manner.

We are approaching a period

where there may be a level of

industrial unrest, possibly

locally or indeed nationally.

It is therefore important to keep

you updated with accurate

information as soon as it

becomes available. I’m sure

you can all remember the

amount of miss-information

sent out by Royal Mail during

the last disputes. The introduc-

tion of these new services will

offset the potential use of miss-

information by management

and will keep you updated with

clear and accurate info when

you need it.

To take advantage of these

services please forward your

contact details (E-mail address

and/or mobile number) to

mike.newport@cwuessex.org

or mobile number stating your

workplace and requesting to

be added to the ‘update data-

base’; Tel/Text: 07884 454547.

Through 2011 we have introduced a number of new initiatives enabling us to

send out the latest news and information directly to the Essex Amalgamated

Branch membership. This information is relevant to you as a CWU member. It is

about your workplace, your employer and matters which affect you directly such

as negotiations on pay, revisions, pensions, etc.