Manchester CWU picket line. (Picture by Mark Krantz)

Workers also claim the strike comes in response to increased levels of outsourcing, the depletion of pensions, broken agreements and workplace bullying. According to the CWU’s General Secretary Dave Ward, “Postal workers do not want to have to take strike action, but neither are they prepared to put up with continuing attacks from a management which is failing.”

Alongside villification in the press, the strikes have been called “suicidal” by the Business Secretary Lord Mandelson, and Royal Mail management have refused to enter negotiations through the independent conciliation service, ACAS, until strikes are called off. They have also doubled the number of temporary staff employed for the Christmas period. Supporters of the striking workers have claimed that such tactics are illegal and are being employed by the government and Royal Mail to break the CWU, which is the principle barrier to privatisation favoured by successive governments. A powerpoint presentation leaked to the press showed how the management plans to “deliver the necessary 2009 changes with or without union engagement.”

In Manchester support for the strikes was strong among postal workers, with only management staff working and spirits on the picket line high. One union organiser and postal worker (who wished to remain anonymous) stated that management were “bringing in agency people to wind us up, so staff in Manchester sat in the canteen today in protest”. The union will this week seek an injunction to stop the scabs, claiming their use to be an illegal strike breaking tool.

The fight is, he explained, twofold: outsourcing and working conditions. In recent decades, the public sector as a whole has been increasingly subject to privatisation and public-private partnerships. The Royal Mail has, for over a decade, been a key target for privitisation, firstly for the Conservative government in the 1990s, and this year from Labour. In both instances, plans were thwarted by a combination of the strength of the CWU, and an anticipated backlash from the public and Labour backbenches. Piecemeal deregulation has nonetheless allowed private mail companies, such as TNT and Deutsche Post, to bid for Royal Mail contracts, but still use Royal Mail staff to undertake deliveries, effectively creating a public subsidy for private profit.

This is, in his words, the private sector “cherry picking all of the raw services”. Among honks of support and waves of gratitude from commuters and customers he described the fight as “defending the postal service” and encouraged those wanting to assist the striking workers to “write, call, and e-mail their MPs and tell them to abide by the 2007 agreement”.

With the union remaining resolute, and polls showing public support for the postal workers to be high, the dispute could run for weeks longer. The Trade Union Congress will host talks on Monday this week to try to restart negotiations.

Cliff Cawthon

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Comments

1. […] For the e-published version, go here: http://themule.info/?p=1059 […]

   Pingback by Posties on Strike! « Cliffpeaceleft's Blog on October 26, 2009 at 1:22 am

2. http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2009/10/pilger-postal-public-office

   John Pilger´s comment piece in support of the strike illuminates some interesting statistics about the efficiency and profitability of the postal service.

   In the much of the mainstream press there has been a notable failure to make clear the link between the vast amounts of taxpayers money used to prop up the structurally unsound financial sector and this kind of attack on public services, carried out in the name of reducing public debt and avoiding inflationary pressures. Whether this is a deliberate omission or simply a blind acceptance of the government´s rationale we can only conjecture; what is sure is that the´modernisation´ of many other areas in the public sector – in particular transport and privately financed hospitals and schools – has caused a decrease in the quality and availability of services.

   In addition to his two previous disgraces which forced his departure from government, Mandelson has no democratic mandate and therefore no political legitimacy to force through these measures. Once again we see a Labour politician making the Conservative Party´s job a lot easier when they get in power next year.

   Comment by M on October 26, 2009 at 1:11 pm

3. There was a great piece in the London Review of Books as well: http://www.lrb.co.uk/v31/n18/maya01_.html

   Comment by andyl on October 26, 2009 at 2:06 pm

4. […] Read the rest here:  Support for strike strong among Manchester Postal Workers — MULE […]

   Pingback by Support for strike strong among Manchester Postal Workers — MULE « Blogging on October 31, 2009 at 2:02 pm

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