Union Rejects Royal Mail Deal

[Does postal dispute loom?]

22 Jan 2000

The Bradford & District Branch of the Communication Workers Union, which represents postmen and women in Bradford, has set itself on collision course with Royal Mail by recommending that members reject a proposed package on pay and conditions.

'The Way Forward', as the proposals are known, brings to a conclusion over two years of troubled negotiations between the CWU and Royal Mail about pay levels and radical changes to working practices. When Postal workers were first balloted last year they voted against the deal despite the national unions recommendation to accept.

The revised proposals, which will go to ballot next week, have been similarly endorsed by the national union. In a written statement the CWU made its position clear, "The union's national executive, officers and senior negotiators all agree that this deal is the best that can be achieved. This is the end of the process. The choices: A better future or a further dispute with no guarantees".

However, at a special meeting at the Midland Hotel in Bradford last Sunday the local CWU branch voted to endorse a very different recommendation, urging postal workers locally to reject the deal.

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City Centre to be privatised

January 15, 2000

[Mercury House - home of city centre management]

Bradford City Centre is to be privatised. A council report proposing the move looks certain to be approved at the next meeting of the Councils Cabinet on Wednesday.

The Council plans to set up a private City Centre Management Company which will take over total control of Bradford Centre, including the CCTV system. The move coincides with the announcement that Bradford has been given a government grant of £1 million to upgrade and centralise its CCTV network.

The board of the company will be selected from the usual players and will mainly comprise business and retail interests. It will be answerable to Bradford Congress - the most powerful and secretive organisation in the city. Although there will be little public accountability, the company's liabilities will, however, remain with the public.

It will be given the role of regenerating the city, including planning and design issues, transportation and communication, worth hundreds of millions of pounds. This is certain to give rise to public concerns about the potential for corruption.

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Council funds boost for Bradford Festival

January 12, 2000

[Bradford Festival 2000]

Bradford Councils new "Cabinet" today granted an additional £114,000 to Bradford Festival, to help cope with the growing numbers of visitors and plans to extend it's duration this summer. Attendances to the Mela have grown from 20,000 to over 100,000 in the last 10 years.

The extra funding, over 3 years, is to cover additional health and safety features, infrastructure and new initiatives, including attempts to attract the BBC Music Live Event.

Bradford Festival has received £250,000 from the council each year for the last 8 years. This is matched by European funding and private sponsorship. But a council report admits that "the festival has reached a plateau in terms of quality, profile and impact".

Tory and Lib-Dem councillors objected to the extra money, complaining of lack of information and too little time to investigate the issue. They also felt that the new Cabinet structure removed the "expertise" that the old sub-cttee structure allowed.

This is only the second meeting of the new, streamlined and "fast-track" Cabinet and Council leader Ian Greenwood accepted that they were still developing the rules as they went along.

Mass DNA testing in murder case may take 2 years.

January 4, 2000

[Mary Gregson (inset) and her cottage]

The mass DNA screening of 4000 "suspects" in a re-opened murder enquiry is set to take 2 years to complete.

Detectives at Eccleshill police division have re-opened the 22-year-old enquiry into the murder of Mary Gregson following advances in forensic techniques. Police now have a DNA profile of the man they believe was responsible for the murder of the Shipley woman on 30 August 1977.

Police plan to take DNA samples from 4000 men interviewed in the original investigation.

The case is expected to feature in this months edition of BBC TV's "Crimewatch" programme.

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