Postal
workers are arguably the most militant section of the British workforce and
have on numerous occasions delivered substantial votes for strike action. Given
the huge anger at the way they have been treated by Royal Mail over the issue
of Pay,(the privatised postal company has acted unilaterally in foisting what
amounts to a massive pay cut on its workforce with inflation currently standing
at 11.7 per cent) it is a shoo-in that there will be a huge yes vote for strike
action.
However
much anger and militancy postal workers have, it will not be enough to defeat
the plans of Royal Mail or eliminate a union leadership that spends more time hob
nobbing with Royal Mail than it does defending worker's jobs and conditions. Time
and time again, postal workers have stood up and been counted, only to be
betrayed by their leadership. It is clear that even to the most casual observer,
the CWU does not act in the interest of postal workers but has become an arm of
corporate management.
It
is perhaps an unfortunate choice of words, but the current CWU deputy general
secretary Terry Pullinger said, "Our members are lions, and if you prod
the lion, it will attack". Then it begs the question, who are the donkeys ?.
Even
before the ballot papers hit the floor, the CWU leadership prepared to dissipate
and defeat any strike action. The earliest strike action will take place in
August and gives the CWU plenty of time to sell out the strike before it has
even begun, which is exactly what they did with the last massive strike vote.
Before
the ballot papers were issued, the CWU had sent out numerous leaflets outlining
its position. The union has openly bragged that it forced postal workers to
work during the pandemic and that its collaboration with management had led to
a "billion-pound turnaround, record profits and restored the reputation of
Royal Mail".[1]
It has already confirmed that Royal Mail's "charter for sweatshop labour"
can be negotiated as long as a decent pay rise is guaranteed
The
CWU has openly boasted that it had delivered unprecedented increases in productivity
and revisions through the Pathway to Change. It also boasted of its close
relationship with Royal Mail. So much so now that it invites Royal Mail Group
to observe its union meetings.
At
a recent National Briefing meeting In Liverpool, current CWU deputy general
secretary Terry Pullinger explained that there were RMG observers in the
meeting, saying, "We must remember that we cannot allow them to set the
agenda. The deal we want is a pay-only no-strings deal. This is what you and
the members need to remember when management speaks to you in the workplace. Even
today, the 2% deal with no strings is a derisive offer and nowhere near enough
to what we want and you deserve. It may be a step from the 3.5% with all the
strings, but the deal is still unacceptable. The Pathway to Change Agreement is
there to deal with the strings they want to discuss in the pay deal, and that is
where they will stay".
There you have it. The Pathway To Change has led to unprecedented change, increased
productivity, cut in hours and duties, led to redundancies and forced workers to
work through a pandemic that has cost many lives, left some postmen with long-term
sickness due to long Covid and has led to massive disruptions in delivery
offices up and down the country.
As
one worker relates, "Since I've been at my current depot, the company has
been pushing more and more work onto us. They've reduced the number of
individual walks, which means those walks get reallocated into other people's
workload. We even see some people coming in early, before their official start
time, to prep their walks — or, at the other end, people sprinting round to get
their walks done as there's simply so much to cover. Now management is talking about
restructuring our hours so we wouldn't be in work on Monday and Tuesday, when
the workload tends to be lighter, and having us work Wednesday to Sunday
instead. That would obviously wreck work/life balance for many people".
The
union has done nothing to protect the health of its membership and deliberately
put workers in harm's way to increase the productivity and profits of Royal
Mail. As CWU rep David Robertson stated, "we attended work during the
height of the pandemic. We delivered as best we could under the strain of
tremendous volume and high sick absences. We put the customer before our health
concerns and that of our families".
The
pièce de resistance has been the union's agreement, and implementation of the "Above
& Beyond bonus scheme", a one-off payment in case any worker wants to
work themselves to death for a one-off payment. Any worker who wants to find
out the inspiration for this piece of stupidity should delve into the history
books. Joseph Stalin
introduced the Stakhanovite movement, which became synonymous with workers
being worked to death for a pittance.[2]
The
CWU openly boasts that it has delivered a massive profit of £758 and a huge
dividend to shareholders through the sweat of postal workers. It has carried
out over 1200 Delivery Office revisions. These revisions have not only seen
cuts in hours but heavier workloads and loss of overtime. In many delivery
offices, this has caused utter chaos, with some deliveries not being made for
days if not weeks.
Also
it should be made clear that the CWU is not opposed to Sunday working but must
be implemented under its control. The union has said, "We are willing to
discuss innovative duties and duty patterns". This must be done, it says,
with the collaboration of Royal Mail boasting that in 2021 it had agreed to 48
Joint Statements and in 2022 had issued a further 37.
Even
if the CWU act upon what will be a huge vote for strike action, postal workers
will still be saddled with a leadership that is hell-bent on collaborating
further with its corporate partner. In order to defend jobs and pay, postal
workers need a new perspective and leadership. The first step on this road is
to take the struggle out of the hands of the CWU and form rank and file
committees. As the great Rosa Luxemburg said, "The modern proletarian
class doesn't carry out its struggle according to a plan set out in some book
or theory; the modern workers' struggle is a part of history, a part of social
progress, and in the middle of history, in the middle of progress, in the
middle of the fight, we learn how we must fight".[3]
