Gary Clark, retired postal worker
On the evening of 12 November, Post Office workers in the Crown offices heard about deliberately leaked articles from Post Office interim chair Nigel Railton. They revealed the first stage of his strategic review, and the intention to franchise out or close the remaining 115 Crown offices in the Post Office network. That would mean 1,000 redundancies of Communication Workers Union (CWU) members.
This was leaked prior to the CWU being provided with a copy of the review document and its recommendations to government. Also, the Post Office board endorsed it prior to any consultation with the union, which goes to show the complete disregard the board has for its staff and the union, which represents the vast majority of them.
The Post Office and Royal Mail are completely separate organisations, and have been since 2012. Unlike Royal Mail, the Post Office is still owned by the government, a nationalised service, as it has been for over 360 years since its establishment in 1660.
This move follows the Horizon scandal, which saw the Post Office spend over £250 million on 15 law firms and two barristers to hound innocent sub-postmasters. Millions of pounds have eventually been paid out to claimants, with millions more to come.
After then-CEO Paula Vennells was sacked, we were told we would see a new way of running the Post Office. An organisation that people could have confidence in and be proud and happy to work for.
It’s now very clear how Railton sees the future: get rid of the directly managed network. It is a massive cost-cutting exercise, to pay for the costs of one of the biggest scandals in history – adding another 1,000 victims of the Horizon scandal.
What this shows is something that the Socialist Party has said over many years. Public ownership on its own is not enough. We have seen cut after cut to the Post Office network over many years by both ‘Blue’ and ‘Red Tory’ governments. It’s workers’ and communities’ democratic control and management that is needed.
The coming months are going to be vital if the Post Office network is to be saved, instead of ground into the dirt.
This will test the CWU leadership and its relationship with the Starmer-led Labour government. The CWU should demand a reversal of these cuts, and the democratic nationalisation of both the Post Office and Royal Mail. We in the Socialist Party also call for an expansion of the role of Post Offices. Just as we have seen them turned into shops, they could be used as community hubs, where people could drop in for advice and other services, run democratically for the benefit of all and not as a money-making enterprise.
