The Chief Electoral Office for the North has refused to intervene in the Derry postal dispute which may prevent free delivery of election material in the Foyle constituency.
Answering a letter from People Before Profit candidate Eamonn McCann, electoral chief Douglas Bain said that: “The entitlement of a candidate to have election literature delivered free of charge for postage is not a matter for which I have any responsibility.”
Mr. McCann said that he was “very disappointed” by the response.
Derry postal workers have voted not to deliver election communications because they have been offered less money for the job than workers elsewhere. Said Mr.McCann: “My argument to Mr. Bain was that the dispute put parties committed to trade union principles at a disadvantage and that this went against equality laws.
“We will not cooperate with Royal Mail’s plan to hire a private firm using casual labour to do the disputed work. I am now asking for an urgent meeting with Royal Mail management in Belfast to discuss the implications of their stance for the election in Foyle.
“If there is no change, we will refuse to have our material delivered under an arrangement which undermines the CWU workers. People Before Profit will be calling on other parties to join us in taking this stance.”
Below are the letters exchanged by Eamonn McCann and Douglas Bain:
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April 6th.
Dear Mr. Bain,
Further to our recent telephone conversation –
This morning’s confirmation of the Westminster poll on May 6th lends urgency to the issue of delivery of election communications by Royal Mail to voters in the Foyle constituency. I will be a candidate in Foyle, representing the People Before Profit Alliance.
Postal workers in Derry, members of the Communications Workers’ Union, have voted not to deliver election materials to households in the constituency because they have been offered less money for the task than postal workers elsewhere in the North. I understand that Royal Mail proposes to hire a private company to deliver the material using non-union instead. This puts People Before Profit in a difficult situation.
Support for trade union action in defence of workers’ interests is not just PBPA policy but one of our core beliefs. Our belief in trades unionism prevents us from allowing our most important communication to be delivered to voters’ homes under the proposed arrangement.
Our belief in trades unionism is a political belief as enshrined in the Good Friday Agreement and incorporated into the Fair Employment and Treatment Order (Northern Ireland) 1998. I refer to the unanimous and unchallenged decision of the Fair Employment Tribunal in the case of Maurice Neill versus the Belfast Telegraph. (Case reference number, 00554/OOFET.)
I say that for Royal Mail to proceed on the proposed basis would constitute unlawful discrimination against myself and the People Before Profit Alliance and deprive us of equal access to the electorate in contradiction of electoral regulation.
I am writing to ask you to confirm that this is also the position of the Electoral Office and that Royal Mail should be required to propose a different arrangement which would allow every candidate a level playing field.
Thanking you for your attention to this matter,
Sincerely,
Eamonn McCann
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7 April 2010
Dear Mr McCann,
Delivery of Election Material
Thank you for your letter of 6 April. I note that you expect to be a candidate in the Foyle constituency although at present you do not, of course, have that capacity.
The entitlement of a candidate to have election literature delivered free of charge for postage is not a matter for which I have any responsibility. The service is provided by Royal Mail pursuant to Section 91 of the Representation of the People Act 1983. I understand from Royal Mail that they will deliver the full service in the Foyle constituency.
Yours sincerely,
Douglas Bain CBE TD Advocate
Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland