Royal Mail workers in the Communication Workers Union (CWU) have been on strike over Black Friday and Cyber Monday in their ongoing national campaign. Bosses are digging in on pay, job cuts, compulsory redundancies and the destruction of the service. CWU has called a national demonstration at Royal Mail HQ on its next strike day, 9 December.
There’s a feeling of “We have to win this or we are fucked”. Bosses have really upped the stakes. A union organiser is about to be sacked on trumped-up charges, and a member died at work in his Royal Mail van. He was 56. He had told management that he wasn’t feeling well, but they said either you’re off sick or you do your job.
Posties were talking about not being allowed to deviate from their routes, so they are scared to go to the toilet while they are out on their rounds.
The need for a well-organised strike fund went down well. ‘Starmer’ is a dirty word. Pickets queried why the union was giving the Labour Party money.
Heather Rawling, Leicester
A CWU rep and Socialist Party members convinced young agency staff to not cross the picket line. We discussed their situation, and that what Royal Mail proposes would be no different to what they are experiencing now in other agency jobs. They turned around and drove off. We returned to the picket lines to cheers, hugs and pats on the back.
Paul Tooley-Okonkwo, Mansfield
Strikers at Quinton in the West Midlands said: “We’re moving to a two-tier system. If things carry on like this, the working class is done. We need a party that stands for us, not those at the top.”
“The capitalist way of running things isn’t working.”
There was lively discussion on the progress of the strike at Birmingham mail centre.
“£567 million went to the shareholders sat at home, while we were out grafting during Covid. This CEO doesn’t understand the strength and solidarity of our picket lines. He’s failed everywhere, and now he’s come to break this business. This isn’t his business to break. It’s our business, our livelihoods. He’s never come across a union like ours.”
“Why do we need CEOs? This guy’s going to get a £3 million pay-off if he goes, while we’re trying to hang on to what we’ve got.”
Nick Hart, Birmingham
Posties were standing firm. Always a great welcome from these guys! Our strike wave bulletin 18 went down well, with conversations centring around coordinated action, which should be assisted by the TUC. The strike-breaking use of agency workers was another concern. Time for coordinated action for all those fighting the cost-of-living crisis!
Tom Blair, Newcastle
One London rep said:
“We know this is serious now. Royal Mail is really upping the ante. We’ve had two reps suspended. I’ve worked in Royal Mail for 28 years and this looks like it’ll be the first time I’ve seen a Christmas strike.
“This is about pay, but it’s about much more than that. They want to smash the union so they can smash up Royal Mail and make off with millions. They want to turn us into owner-drivers. We won’t know when our days will finish, we’ll just get a stack of parcels to deliver and that’s the job.
“And forget the letter delivery service. They’re trying to reduce it bit by bit so the public get used to the idea that they don’t get an everyday letter delivery service anymore.
“This could be an amazing public service. There’s nothing else like it. We go to every house, every day. We know everybody, we look in on neighbours, we see births and deaths. We’re a central part of the community. Our job and our offices could be used for all sorts. But to do that, we can’t stay in private hands. They just suck out all the money and chuck out the bits of the service they can’t make a profit from.”
