A postal worker speaks out
Royal Mail’s Coventry North Delivery Office taking 24-hours of strike action on Tuesday 27 August., photo Dave Nellist (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)
The postal service is being taken out of public ownership and ripped to shreds by private institutions and investors, all hoping to make a fat profit from our 497 year-old national treasure.
Postal workers are bitterly opposed to the sell-off, because they know it will lead to job losses and cuts in terms and conditions.
In a desperate attempt to divide the workforce, Royal Mail chief executive Moya Greene tried to bribe posties with the promise of £300 to cross picket lines.
But we know it’s the banks and advisers that helped cause the financial crisis in 2008 who stand to make millions as Royal Mail is flogged off cheaply.
No wonder the government has rushed through privatisation, the overwhelming majority of the public do not support the sale.
Royal Mail will now dance to the tune of shareholders – spending millions on dividends and fat cat bonuses, while services face terminal decline until the daily delivery to 29 million homes across the UK can no longer be maintained.
It will only be a matter of time before jobs are lost and services scaled back as the drive for profit takes over. How long before Royal Mail ends up in foreign hands or needs a taxpayer bailout?
Anger is being directed at the Con-Dem coalition but also at Labour, who once again proved they no longer represent workers.
At the Labour Party conference, delegates unanimously passed a motion which called on the next Labour government to renationalise Royal Mail.
This could have seriously dented the floatation. Yet shamefully the Labour leaders ignored the vote and refused to make such a commitment.
A growing number of CWU members are now questioning the link between Labour and the union. The need for a new mass workers’ party has become clearer now and the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition is a step in right direction.
The CWU ballot is expected to return a strong ‘yes’ vote for industrial action when voting closes on 16 October, with strikes likely to take place within weeks.
CWU leaders should coordinate joint strike action with all the other unions that are in dispute and bring this weak Tory-led coalition down.
- Moya Greene receives 72 times the average pay of a postal worker
