“the bad example we are setting” 

pic by Duncan Brown

The first two days of strikes were held on Thursday & Friday, with deliveries, collections and distribution of mail brought to a halt throughout the country. First signs are that the strike is overwhelmingly supported by the workforce and that the strikes announced for later this week will be equally as solid as the first two days. Despite the ferocious media attacks on the workers, polls show that the public is on the side of the posties. As I write there are reports on TV that the two sides are due to meet tomorrow under the ‘good offices’ of the TUC. 

 While both sides would obviously welcome an end to the dispute, it should be remembered that this problem has dragged on for two years without resolution. RM management do not seem to be in the mood for compromise – especially with the dead hand of pro-privatiser Peter Mandelson lurking in the background. Whatever happens, it is clear that Royal Mail is facing a future of uncertainty. It can be a future where the public service, jobs, working conditions, wages and pensions are secure.  Or, if the government and the management have their way, it can be a future where the ethos of public service and public ownership perishes on the altar of private profit – and our terms and conditions, jobs and living standards perish with it.   

That is the importance of our struggle. That is why, to paraphrase Che Guevara, is why they want to suppress the bad example we are setting. 

George MacDonald, striking postal worker and Regional Co-chair, Highlands Solidarity

Sunday 25th October