Smokescreen of financial difficulties.

Postal workers being lined up for a defeat

Royal Mail is in the red - our answer must be renationalisation

The answer to a Royal Mail in the red is renationalisation not cuts

Royal Mail's attempt to cut the postal service has been thwarted by the threat of walkouts.

While the ballot is on hold, postal workers’ health concerns have come to the fore as offices in Bridgewater and Alloa walk out

To the surprise of many, when CWU leaders Dave Ward and Terry Pullinger announced the ballot result to members on Facebook,[2] they said they would not set dates for a strike, explaining that “it’s not the right moment for us at this particular point to take industrial action”. Since then Terry has said “we’ve got no choice in the matter”, citing the “unprecedented circumstances” of the coronavirus crisis.

In the ballot result announcement on Tuesday, Dave Ward and Terry Pullinger reported on growing anger in the workforce against lack of management action to protect staff against coronavirus. Royal Mail have done little to provide gloves, hand sanitiser or sympathy despite the vulnerability of staff who work among the public every day.

What we do now will determine whether we have jobs and a postal service in the future – vote yes and prepare for the fight of our lives.

Royal Mail's promises don't matter if they succeed in busting the union. That's where 120,000 postal workers come in

Royal Mail is trying to break the union. Postal workers have to defend their jobs by whatever means necessary.

Update: The CWU has announced a ballot for action between 3-17 March ROYAL MAIL bosses promised that if workers in the CWU postal union “delivered Christmas” without the planned strike, they would engage with negotiations in the New Year. But it was a con. On the first day of negotiations on 16 January they turned […]

Today the High Court granted Royal Mail an injunction to stop postal workers striking. This is an attack on the entire trade union movement. At this crossroads, an unofficial strike with the support of the CWU and the entire Labour and trade union movement points the way to victory.

The CWU leaders have been combative in words, agitating for postal workers to stand strong, but their practical response of monitoring subgroups and possible legal challenges won’t stop Royal Mail. The Postal Executive is not deciding on action till 13 November, five days after mediation ends– why the delay? And there is no preparation for […]

Bosses’ dirty tricks show rank and file organisation is key to winning

A socialist analysis of the roots of the current CWU dispute Royal Mail’s attack on its workforce and the CWU postal union flows directly from its privatisation five years ago, and not just the changing postal market as postal bosses and politicians claim.  While letter traffic is certainly in decline,[1] increasingly replaced by the internet, […]

Company being restructured to destroy the public service and jobs

Rico Back is pushing a five-year plan called “Journey 2024”, to build Royal Mail Group into a multinational parcel giant. This will go hand in hand with a “relentless focus on efficiency” to hike profits. The Universal Service Obligation that is the final shield legally protecting the public service, customer rights and the workforce itself […]

Postal workers need to prepare for “the fight of our lives”, writes a CWU rep

As the union prepares for a new battle, activists need to develop the members' control of the dispute needed to win

By a CWU rep After three months of negotiations, CWU leaders are recommending members vote to accept the deal, claiming it ticks all the boxes in the union’s ‘Four Pillars’ campaign – pensions, legal protections, 35 hour working week, and shift and workload changes. The sweetener is a pay rise touted as 12 per cent […]