The Socialist 20 May 2020

Rich get handouts - workers get pay cuts

Confidence plummets in Tory strategy for Covid-19

Staff and parents fight 'back to school' plans

Transport workers & passengers mustn't pay the price

Rich get handouts - workers get pay cuts

Contract tracer speaks out: Tories' plan is outsourced chaos

Crisis in council services: Labour must fight or stand aside

Furlough cut-off could force millions back to unsafe workplaces

Safe protests against Tory corona chaos continue

Johnson claims workplaces safe but HSE cancels inspections

Postal workers' action results in double victory for union

Trade unionists organise to fight for workplace safety in big NSSN meeting

Posties walk out in Peterborough after manager tests positive

Universal Basic Income: not a solution to insecurity and poverty under capitalism

The Jungle: capitalism's remorseless attack on workers' safety and conditions

Going viral: letters to the editors

Obituary: Rob Crabb

Trump, coronavirus, capitalism, and the presidential race

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Link to this page: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/1087/30791

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Posties walk out in Peterborough after manager tests positive

Royal Mail management is notoriously anti-worker, photo Paul Mattsson (Click to enlarge)

Carl Harper, Peterborough Socialist Party

Royal Mail workers at Peterborough Delivery Office left work on the morning of 16 May after learning a line manager had tested positive for Covid-19.

The members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) were unhappy that the manager had been 'operating' around the workplace and failing to adhere to social distancing prior to the result. Management had not even informed the union the test was taking place.

We understand that 95% of the office walked out. Many went home rather than return to an unsafe workplace. Royal Mail bosses say a "deep clean" has taken place.

Many members have requested they be tested too. One worker reports at least three more staff have tested positive, and delivery workers exposed to the manager in question have been tested.

The Socialist Party supports any collective action that workers at Royal Mail and elsewhere take in defence of their members against unsafe conditions.

Postal workers have already died as a result of this horrific coronavirus pandemic. It shows how the private sector is incapable of running vital public services such as Royal Mail. We stand for bringing those services back into public ownership.

But to finally solve all the problems, they should be run under democratic workers' control and management, and as part of a planned, socialist economy.

Then the safety and needs of workers and wider society can replace the search for big business profits at our expense.

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Confidence plummets in Tory strategy for Covid-19