The Royal Mail strike is strong and pressure is building. It’s a bright Tuesday morning, October 25, and Royal Mail’s CWU members are on the pickets again. We ask Are you going to give it up? Knowing the answer full well.
No- not happening- is the reply
The picket pressure at CWU is having an effect. Strikers say that back loads of mail are building, Black Friday is coming, and Christmas card season, and an Assembly Election in December looks more likely. That means millions of leaflets and pamphlets to deliver.
The autumn and start of winter adds to the strike’s ability to put the workers demands to the top of Royal Mail’s list. They seem relaxed and ready for the long haul if needed. There was a strike Thursday. The CWU just kicked off their strike fund. Today’s will be followed by rolling strikes next week, disrupting the services, starting with delivery strikes on Friday. We talked to delivery workers in Belfast yesterday.
PBP: How many turned up this week?
CWU: 50, not as many as last week we had about 80.
UK industrial dispute picketing rules say that the pickets on facilities like this can only have 6 picketers. The official ‘pickets’ are clearly visible in the bright CWU pink hi-vis. Anyone who is not an official picket is a supporter, even if they are another striker. Any numbers over the 6 are a sign of health for the workers side in the dispute.
PBP: Is there a lot of chanting and shouting? How’s the morale?
CWU: There was music out here this morning, It was good craic. (CWU officials) are going into ACAS today (to talk with Royal Mail management).
ACAS, the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, is the UK’s Labour Relations Agency. This is the Workplace Relations Commission in the south.
This is a sign progress towards a deal is being made, and it almost always means workers’ power is turned off at the taps because it pickets are called off.
But not in this case: ACAS itself called the talks, so the CWU strikers can continue to keep the pressure on.
As workers explained it’s not just about pay, it’s about having a some control at work and voice. It’s about the hours and conditions too:
They want us to turn into Amazon. A lot of the public still think we’re a service. We want to do the job as it’s supposed to be done. We want to do the job right.
The workers say managers who know little about the service have been parachuted in to change work practices, some of in ways workers had been arguing for years, others that are extremely negative for both the public and the workers. The company was a public service until ‘privatise everything’ philosophy came. Staff have always adapted to new practice and most positive developments come from below. The workers are right to call out practices that make work less safe and less sustainable.
We’ve been keeping this service going. The Royal Mail service been around for 500 years. We’re the ones defending it.
The example the strike sets is vital. So it’s vital the left is firmly supporting it. Take action today.
- Do a social media post in support of the strike with #StandByYourPost. You don’t have to live in the north to show your support. Share the CWU’s posts or share this article.
- People Before Profit are running an All-Ireland members’ meeting on the strike this week. Write to [email protected] for zoom link.
- Get active in your trade union building solidarity for all striking workers with a motion of solidarity.
- Ask a CWU member to give a talk at your People Before Profit branch meeting.
- Start a collection at your workplace or branch for the new CWU strike fund.
PBP TDs Richard Boyd Barrett, Bríd Smith, and Paul Murphy encouraging support for the workers’ strike from Dublin.
East Belfast Strikers yesterday afternoon.