Sorting Out The Bosses

WHEN I started working for the Post Office 12 years ago, they were making £ millions in profit, most of which went to the government. Very little went into reinvesting in equipment or technology to make the postie's life easier or give us decent pay rises.

A Northwich Communication Workers' Union (CWU) member

Now managers are trying to force us to get more work done in our 40 hours a week. Although they come up with joint agreements with the CWU about harassment and bullying, their versions of harassment are different to ours.

They stand over us like the Gestapo. Obviously they don't trust us to work under our own steam. They think we work harder because they're watching us, propping themselves up against a safety railing, pretending that they're working.

Now they've come up with a good one - get rid of second deliveries. That will save £ millions. Most of the time second deliveries don't go out now, because we're overloaded on first deliveries. They've guaranteed us a five-day week instead of six and an extra £20 a week if we reach the targets.

We've all been promised a "share of the success", which is in effect money taken from a workmate's pocket. The person who loses his or her job will be paying our bonus.

What it all boils down to is losing jobs, putting people in the dole queue so the fat pussies at the top can take the cream. Will Adam Crozier's [chief executive of the Royal Mail] share be the same as mine? If we could make a profit all those years ago, why not now and why not without losing staff?

Thousands, if not millions, of pounds have been wasted buying up useless companies abroad, changing Royal Mail into Consignia and back again. What a waste of money.

And now the part of the business that makes a profit is being trimmed down again. Jobs must go, deliveries will be later in the day for residential areas but businesses will get theirs for 9am. But you'll still have your Saturday delivery of junk mail that is so important to the regulator.

So many good, hardworking people are walking away from this job because of the constant pressure. It has never been a great-paying job but the dinner time finish was a big attraction to many people. Now even that is under threat. Some CWU leaders seems to be watching all this happen whilst they enjoy the financial benefits of being in the leadership.

How can someone who receives a far superior salary to someone they are supposed to represent understand the needs of the grass roots postmen and post women? If they were to receive the same wages as us, then perhaps we'd have a better basic pay now!

Most of the 125 staff at Northwich delivery office are fed up of constant job cuts, persistent harassment by the managers, job insecurity and lack of decent pay. We need a union to stand up and say: "Enough is enough, don't blame us for the management's bunglings".

We also need a union to stand up to Tony Blair and his New Labour cronies, who bow down to big business and the fat cats who control them. Pathetic legislation stopping the bosses getting pay-offs is not enough. Pull our political subscriptions out of the Labour Party and put them in a party that cares about the working class. Become a socialist, the world doesn't need greedy fat cats.

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Finance appeal

The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.

The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.

The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.

The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.