Post union should restart strikes

By a CWU union area processing rep in Cambridge

Leaders of the postal workers’ union were wrong to suspend strikes at Royal Mail.

It is testimony to the strength of the union that Royal Mail was forced repeatedly to return to talks—and to offer a number of concessions. But can we trust Royal Mail management to stick to their word and start serious negotiations?

All the indications are that we can’t. Royal Mail management is as vicious as ever, and the pause in our strike action seems to have done little to discourage their attacks.

The secret Royal Mail presentation published in Socialist Worker shows bosses’ clear intention to avoid any industrial action in the Christmas period, only to return to the offensive in the New Year when the volume of mail falls significantly.

Now many strikers fear that, despite weeks of rock solid action, the company will be able to use the “period of calm” promised by the deal to clear the giant backlog of mail.

The interim agreement signed by the CWU union and Royal Mail does not solve the key issues behind the dispute.

And the prospect of further hard-hitting action had both management and the government on the ropes.

In many delivery offices, management have so far refused to even meet with union reps to discuss resolving the chaos caused by attempts to “re-design” delivery rounds.

Our members in delivery offices across Britain and Northern Ireland are still being threatened if they don’t complete new rounds by working overtime for free.

Meanwhile our mail centres are still being deliberately starved of work in order to reduce overtime. The agreement states that offices that have had their work diverted to scab “outhouses” should have it returned to them.

These are clear breaches of the “interim agreement” and the union should insist that the company either honours its side of the deal or face the immediate resumption of national strikes.

Postal workers in my mail centre, like many others, see this battle as being about more than defending terms and conditions. It’s about the future of the industry and the right to have an effective union to represent you. It’s also about defending public services and stopping the privatization of Royal Mail.

Everyone knows that now is the time to beat this management and Lord Peter Mandelson.

Many union activists correctly feel that a significant victory was well within their grasp and that national strike action must now be restored quickly in order for the union to regain the initiative.

Let’s not waste this chance to hit back. Let’s restart the strikes immediately.