London Postal Workers Take Action

Postal workers in London are set to take strike action over the next three days.The Delivery Offices
are out on the 8^th July, the Drivers (Distribution) are out on the
9th and the Mail Centres are out on the 10th July.

Stewards and officials met today (Tuesday) in London to co-ordinate final plans against a background of rumours flying over a possible injuction to stop the action. Reports have confirmed that some sort of injuction has been requested by the employers but it is not clear what they are actually targeting. It is clear that the aim is to sow confusion however the feeling amongst activists is that the workers are determined to stand firm. Socialist Appeal supporters handed out a leaflet which will also be used on the picket lines.More reports as the strike progresses 

(STOP PRESS: Injuction and right to appeal thrown out of court – strike has gone ahead)

Here is the main text of the leaflet:

Support the Postal Workers!

No to management cuts

Postal workers in London are taking industrial action over
management cuts. The last time our union took industrial action was in 2007.
When we went back to work there were 4 phases to the agreement that was signed.
Phases 1 and 2 have gone through. Phase 3 is currently being implemented and is
being met with stiff resistance. If a worker doesn’t turn up for work
unforeseen, the others have to cover their duty – and we don’t get paid for it! 

When we’ve had job cuts in the past we’ve
shared some of the savings.  50% went to the workers and 30% to
management. Royal Mail wants to end all that and just cut jobs and not give the
remaining workers anything in return for the increased workload.

Following on from the recent London strike where the
management stopped three workplaces coming out on strike due to so-called
ballot irregularities. Nevertheless, we voted 9-1 in favour of striking over
jobs and cost savings. This time around, those workplaces that were prevented
by management from taking action were forced to reballot. The result was: Rathbourne Place
94% in favour, Mount Pleasant
89% in favour and Nine Elms 80% in favour of strike action.

Now that the part-privatisation of Royal
Mail has been shelved for the time being, management is even more determined to
find extra savings. But we have had enough of "arbitrary" cuts”,
which is the reason for the high vote for strike action.

The Delivery Offices are out on the 8^th
July, the Drivers (Distribution) are out on the 9th and the Mail Centres are
out on the 10th July.

There will also be a national day of action on the 17th July.  The Offices
that have already been balloted and returned a Yes vote will be taking strike
action. Whilst the other offices not yet balloted will have a range of visible
activities, included working safely to bring the public’s attention to our
case.

London voted individually for strike action office by office. In the past
some weaker areas could hide behind the more militant offices. This time it was
different. You had to persuade your members to vote for the strike. Union
material advocating a vote for strike action emphasised that if your office
records a ‘no’ vote, Royal Mail will target you for cuts first.

The specific issue behind the call for the
strike action is that management are breaking the industrial relations
framework.  They are just taking executive action.  The management
are taking executive action to stage a confrontation. For instance they
unilaterally imposed action at Mount
Pleasant a couple of weeks ago – just allocated duties
to workers without any consultation. The vast majority of workers in depots all
over London
have refused to sign for duties when dealt with in this manner.

Management strategy is to pick on certain areas first. They are already after W1. They’ll then be taking
executive action in WC postal district. In W1 they intend to take out 68 duties
out of about 350 workers. Their intention is to eliminate 44 duties with a
roughly similar work force in WC. This is completely unworkable apart from
anything else. However, that is the scale of the cuts that are being
contemplated.

In the past they covered most of the cuts
through natural wastage. But, because of the recession, that is not going to be
enough. Not many postal workers are taking early voluntary redundancy.

Royal Mail management is clearly planning
to make a lot of jobs in London
part time. This is already the case outside London,
for instance in Manchester and Portsmouth. They are aiming for a 60:40 full
time/part time ratio, but London
as a strong division of the union is resisting this.

Another thing they are proposing is
automation of the sorting process. That would decimate the night staff.
Basically they want to turn Royal Mail into the equivalent to the Dutch postal
service, run by TNT. They sort the post automatically, then send it to points
where it is delivered by housewives and students. That makes it very hard to
unionise the postal workers and suits the management right down to the ground. They
want to undermine the union and ride rough shod over the terms and conditions
of all postal workers – not only in London
but throughout the country.

Postal workers are also angry because they
are all on a pay freeze while Adam Crozier, Royal Mail chief executive, is
getting a £750,000 bonus this year. He’s also had his gold-plated pension
package doubled.

The postal service is a public service. It
should not be run by over-paid bureaucrats who are keen to privatize the
industry. The control of Royal Mail should be in the hands of the workers and
consumers and run for the benefit of all.

Keep
Royal Mail in public hands.

Put
the industry under democratic workers’ control and management.