Postal Strike: Pensions, Jobs and Privatisation

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Postal Strike: Pensions, Jobs and Privatisation

Monday, October 8, saw the start of another 48-hour strike for British postal workers. Postal workers walked out on the basis of resisting cuts in jobs and pensions, and that due to privatisation the postal service for British people was degenerating. The part-public part-private Royal Mail is making changes that will cost 40,000 jobs, a third of Royal Mail’s workforce. Royal Mail has told the government there is no need to get involved in the postal dispute. Workers believe this is because if the government gets involved, Royal Mail will have to reveal its annual results, which would disclose that there is more than enough money available and the company is doing very well financially.

            When part of Royal Mail was sold off to the private sector, the service was forced to compete with other communications companies. This has meant that instead of being there to provide a service Royal Mail is partly now another corporation aiming to make profit. This has had a severe effect not just on the service, but also on the postal workers’ pay and conditions. Under these new conditions, postal workers receive £80 a week less than the average wage. Their current pension scheme will close, reducing their existing benefits and moving retirement age from 60 to 65. Instead of having a fixed job, postal workers often do not know what job they will be doing on a daily basis. This also includes the hours of the job which change day to day. To make their situation even worse it is the postal workers themselves who are being blamed for the destruction of Royal Mail. They are told by management that they are 40% under-efficient, even though mail deliveries have gone up.

            Postal workers are also concerned about the service that is provided to the public. They say that proposed cuts would mean a less reliable service and later deliveries; 2,500 more post office closures; reduction in weekly post box collections, and no Sunday collections.

            The postal workers do not accept the 2.5% pay rise offered to them by Royal Mail. The Communication Workers Union (CWU) has been in talks with Royal Mail bosses for eight days, but no agreement has emerged. The union said a series of fresh strikes would start on Monday unless the deadlocked dispute – which has seen a previous 48-hour strike – is resolved.

            Meanwhile the media, like with other recent strikes (such as the RMT strike) is creating hysteria about loss of profit and saying the strike is a public nuisance. Sensational headlines and outright attacks on the workers are aimed at distorting the strike’s meaning to the rest of the British people.

            Members of CWU also participated in Monday’s anti-war march, affirming that they are mobilised on all fronts and oppose all attacks on the people, and so defend the interests of all.

            The postal workers are resisting these cutbacks, while also defending the interests of the working class and people as a whole. In this vein the British working class and people should support the CWU strike action as part of their own struggle to resist the anti-social offensive that the ruling class has launched against the people. Workers must become unified, building their own forums, institutions and so on, where they can deliberate on their interests and the interests of society, and come to their own conclusions.

            Furthermore, the silence and disinformation about the postal workers and their stands by the government and media must be smashed. And the Prime Minister has no business making provocative and anti-worker statements about the workers and their actions.

            The postal workers are showing true solidarity with their fellow human beings and are organised to fight for their and everyone’s interests. WDIE fully supports the postal workers and their demands, and is fully behind their opposition to these attacks to the British people’s postal service.