[Imc-birmingham] feature proposal: postal strike 2

[Shiar]

Hi,

I'd like to propose another good feature :) about the postal strike. Here
it is.


Title: Up the Posties!

Author: IMC Birmingham

Image: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/images/2007/07/375870.jpg (cropped for
better composition)

Abstract:
<p>
Following failed talks with the Royal Mail management, postal workers
across the country went on a second 24-hour strike in two weeks, starting
at 7pm on Thursday, June 12th. Pickets were again held at sorting offices
in the evening and many more at delivery offices and depots the following
morning. In Birmingham, three picket lines were formed at each gate of the
main mail centre in Newtown. Solidarity from fellow workers, as well as
from members of the West Midlands branch of the <a
href="http://www.iww.org.uk">Industrial Workers of the World</a> union
(IWW), was impressive.</p>
<p>
<a href"/en/regions/birmingham/2007/07/375814.html">Report and pics</a> |
<a href="/en/regions/birmingham/2007/07/375898.html">Cov Wobblies support
local posties</a> | <a
href="/en/regions/birmingham/2007/06/374788.html">First round of postal
workers strike</a>
</p>

Content:
<h3>The struggle continues</h3>
<p>
Two weeks ago, up to 130,000 postal workers took part in a 24-hour <a
href="/en/regions/birmingham/2007/06/374534.html">strike</a> -the first in
11 years- to stop the Royal Mail's cost-cutting plans, which the
Communication Workers Union (CWU) <a
href="/en/regions/birmingham/2007/06/374640.html">says</a> would only mean
cuts in members' pay and pensions, job cuts and more post office closures.
The CWU had warned of a fresh round of industrial action in the hope of
restarting meaningful talks with Royal Mail.
<p>
However, according to the CWU, the Royal Mail management were not really
interested in meaningful talks on Wednesday, June 11th, and merely
reiterated their previous 'offer' and refused point-blank to negotiate. In
fact, chairman Allan Leighton did not even turn up for the meeting and
simply joined via a telephone link. CWU General Secretary Billy Hayes
commented: "We are consistently trying to negotiate with Royal Mail but,
to be blunt, they have no interest. They refuse to take the dispute
seriously – to the extent that Allan Leighton can only spare 45 minutes
from his other commitments for a virtual meeting by conference call. The
public will see through his half-hearted approach to stop disruption to
the mails services."</p>
<p>
The CWU said support for the strike on Thursday-Friday among postal worker
was "huge". A CWU <a
href="http://www.cwu.org/news.asp?step=3&NID=1755">press release</a> said
"No Royal Mail services operated as mail came to a standstill with close
to total support for the CWU strike across the UK. Postal workers in every
area supported the strike in overwhelming numbers. This support was at a
level of 99% in big cities and all the largest Royal Mail workplaces and
over 90% in all other areas of the country."</p>
<p>
The union's executives will meet again on Tuesday, 17th July. If there
were no fresh negotiations by then, they are likely to call for more
strikes. An <a
href="http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=33754&SESSION=885">Early
Day Motion</a> tabled by Labour MP for Morecambe & Lunesdale, Geraldine
Smith, with about 60 MPs adding their names to it, called on Royal Mail
"to enter into meaningful negotiations with the Communications Workers
Union to resolve the current postal dispute."</p>

<h3>And so do official lies</h3>
<p>
Once again, the Royal Mail management accused the CWU of "blocking
modernisation" and "hurting the business and its customers with repeated
strikes," portraying them as the ones causing this dispute. Royal Mail
chairman Allan Leighton said: "Yet again, the union has refused to grasp
or understand the harsh commercial reality of the market in which Royal
Mail now operates and the consequences for all of us if we don't modernise
- and do it quickly. Their decision to call another strike changes nothing
and achieves nothing other than to damage the business and our customers
and drive more of them towards the internet or to rival operators."
Further, Royal Mail claimed that, "as ever, it is willing to meet the
union at any time," never mind what had happened the day before.</p>
<p>
Back in 2006, Royal Mail and the CWU had agreed that they would work
together to tackle the impact of competition in the mail market, use
government investment to introduce automation, improve efficiency,
introduce innovation products and raise the value and status of postal
workers' jobs. Royal Mail, however, ditched the agreement, refused to
negotiate a pay resettlement and insisted on unilateral imposition of its
cost-cutting business plan with mass job losses and cuts to workers' pay
and pensions. Furthermore, the management has been deliberately misleading
the public by claiming that the CWU want a 27% pay rise. The CWU insist
they have never demanded a 27% pay rise. Royal Mail's offer of 2.5%
increase in pay is, in reality, a wage cut as it falls below inflation
rates.</p>
<p>
And just like two weeks ago, Royal Mail claimed that support for the CWU
strike "had slipped and remained extremely patchy." A Royal Mail <a
href="http://www.news.royalmailgroup.com/news/article.asp?id=1979&brand=royal_mail">press
release</a> claimed that the percentage of people coming to work ranged
from 5% to more than 60% around the country. It added that the network of
14,220 Post Offices was "operating as normal." These claims, of course,
were widely picked up by mainstream media without any challenge or
'reality check'.</p>

<h3>Strike profiteers<h3>
<p>
According to the <a
href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6896893.stm">BBC</a>, one of
Royal Mail's biggest rivals, DX, had offered to help Royal Mail make its
urgent deliveries over the period of the strike. The company told the BBC
it expected to gain about £10m of business as a result of the strike
action. DX describes itself as "the leading alternative to Royal Mail for
next day business mail services, delivering over 1 million letters and
packets every working day throughout the UK and Ireland." All this, of
course, was not mentioned by Royal Mail when they <a
href="http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content1?catId=1000002&mediaId=51600692">reassured
their customers</a> that they had "well-developed contingency plans".</p>
<p>
Since the Postal Services Act 2000 was introduced, over 1,000 post offices
around the country have been closed down, paving the way for private
companies to take over. There are further plans to close some 70 post
offices in the near future and relocate the services into WH Smith stores.
Since Royal Mail lost its monopoly status on post deliveries at the
beginning of 2006, 17 private operators have entered the UK mail market,
particularly in the more profitable business post sector. According to
Royal Mail itself, the company has already 'lost' about 40% of its bulk
mail business to private competitors, including recently a £8m contract
with Amazon. Yet, operators such as TNT and DHL only handle the bulk
transit between major customers and the main sorting offices, which is the
easy bit, while Royal Mail is still expected to make the individual
deliveries, but without the full amount of the postage.</p>

<h3>Be the media!<h3>
<p>
During filmed interviews for Indymedia, striking postal workers mentioned
that, two weeks ago, some of them had downloaded a <a
href="/en/regions/birmingham/2007/06/374716.html">Birmingham Indymedia
report</a> on the first round of the postal workers action and stuck it up
on CWU notice boards at Birmingham mail centres. Managers then asked the
CWU to take the pictures down, claiming they were "offensive". Upon
refusing to do that, two managers were sent and ripped them off. Some of
the downloaded pictures subsequently appeared in the CWU newsletter.</p>

<h3>Solidarity</h3>
<p>
About 8 members of the West Midlands branch of the Industrial Workers of
the World union (IWW) joined the picket lines in Birmingham on Thursday
evening, bringing with them <a
href="/en/regions/birmingham/2007/07/375814.html?c=on#c177174">'solidarity
bags'</a> containing some home-made vegan cakes and fruits as well as
leaflets about the postal workers' struggle and the IWW. Similarly, a
couple of local IWW supporters in Coventry went down to the main sorting
office in the city to offer solidarity to the striking posties. They also
joined the picket line the following morning, bringing their food and
drinks hamper and giving out IWW leaflets [<a
href="/en/regions/birmingham/2007/07/375898.html">report</a>].</p>
<p>
An IWW leaflet distributed at picket lines stated "We don't want a slice
of the cake; we want the bakery." With the slogan "An injury to one is an
injury to all", it expressed support for the striking postal workers and
their "justifiable demands." The leaflet also criticised union leaders for
"dithering about" instead of "planning longer and more coordinated union
campaign to maximise the impact on [Gordon] Brown." "The fat cats in the
unions," it added, "usually try to restrain their members, often calling
off strikes or planing them at times to avoid maximum disruption, for
instance."</p>


-- 
Shiar