CWU
Royal Mail: Solid strike action forces concessions
Written by Administrator Tuesday, 17 November 2009 00:00
CWU must prepare for fresh attacks after election
By a Socialist Party postal worker
The conditions in Belfast would appear to be no different from anywhere else in the UK. 61,623 (76.24%) of Royal Mail employees are all in agreement that things need to change. The promise of a ‘Great Place To Work’ made by former Chairman Allan Leighton may well be true if you’re a manager with top directors receiving millions of pounds in pay and bonus.
'Modernisation' means cuts: Support the postal workers' fightback
Written by Administrator Tuesday, 03 November 2009 00:00
By a Coventry postal worker, 3 November 2009
The roots of this dispute and the reasons for these strikes go all the way back to 2002 and the appointment of Allan Leighton and Adam Crozier as chairman and chief executive of Royal Mail. Since they took over, there have been 60,000 job losses. Or cuts to you and me. So the people who are left are working harder and harder. 'Modernisation' simply means cuts.
Time to plan for all-out postal strike
Editorial The Socialist, Socialist Party England & Wales, 3 November 2009
PUBLIC MEETING CANCELLED:
Due to the cancellation of postal workers' strike action
Time to plan for all-out postal strike
Written by Administrator Tuesday, 03 November 2009 00:00
Editorial, The Socialist (Socialist Party England & Wales)
The third week of national strike action at Royal Mail has seen the bosses on the run. They fear the disruption of mail in the pre-Christmas period when over two billion letters, cards and parcels are processed through the system.
They thought they could force the union into making more concessions just as they did in the 2007 deal, which many postal workers (and how right they were) feared was the thin edge of the wedge. The plans of Royal Mail to cut jobs, intensify workloads and drive working conditions back into the Victorian age have been completely exposed by their actions since the 2007 deal.
National Postal strikes begin
Written by Administrator Friday, 23 October 2009 00:00
A battle that mass strike action can win
From the Socialist, paper of the Socialist Party (CWI in England & Wales)
Royal Mail bosses in Britain have declared war on the postal workers and their union, the Communication Workers Union (CWU). They are intent on providing a worsening mail service to the public and on giving post workers intolerable workloads and terms.
Postal workers vote for strike action
Written by Administrator Monday, 12 October 2009 00:00
120,000 postal workers throughout Britain and Northern Ireland have been balloted for strike action. Gabriel McCurry, Chair of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) NI Combined Branch spoke to Gary Mulcahy about the issues behind the ballot.
Keep the Post Public
Written by Administrator Wednesday, 26 August 2009 00:36
The New Labour government seems determined to defy the laws of economic gravity by trying to part-privatise Royal Mail at a time when thousands of private companies across the world are going bust as a result of the world economic crash.
The very companies lined up to cherry-pick off the most profitable parts of the postal service are in the proverbial brown stuff. TNT, the Dutch-based company expected to take over up to 30% of Royal Mail are shedding 1,000 jobs as a result of declining profits. In marked contrast, Royal Mails profits have almost doubled in the past year, even though it is legally obliged to service every part of Northern Ireland and Britain! It makes absolutely no economic sense to privatise any part of Royal Mail. Yet, the unelected Business Minister Lord Peter Mandelson, better known as the Prince of Darkness still insists that Royal Mail will have to be part-privatised.
Postal workers can take advantage of the crisis New Labour finds itself in. There is huge opposition to privatisation of postal services. With opposition to the government at an all-time high due to it’s pro-rich and anti-working class policies, not to mention the MP expenses scandal, now is the time to step up the pressure to force the Government to abandon this deeply unpopular measure.
Royal Mail has now announced plans to introduce a pay freeze for it’s 181,000 workers which will mean a cut in pay, especially for the low paid. Postal workers should refuse to accept this. Royal Mail made £321million profit last year – there is no justification for pay cuts.
Postal workers should also demand that their union the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) stops funding the Labour Party. Postal workers donate £1million a year to a party which long ago walked away from the idea of representing the interests of workers. If you took away the names of the main parties it would be impossible to differentiate between them – their policies are identical: sleaze, privatisation, cuts, job losses, bail-outs for the rich… The list goes on.
It’s time the trade unions withdrew support for New Labour, and for that matter also stopped propping up the parties in power in the Assembly who also share the same economic madness of privatisation. Instead we need new mass parties of the working class which stands for a socialist solution to the economic crisis of capitalism and the madness of privatisation.
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