Striking postal workers say no deal until victory

[topgeezer]

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=189" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

by Yuri Prasad

Postal workers across south west London piled pressure on Royal Mail this morning by taking an extra day of action on top of yesterday’s capital-wide strike.

Pickets were in a confident mood and reported that offices across the country are crammed to bursting point with undelivered mail.

“The action is really beginning to hurt them now,” said Neil, a CWU union rep at Tooting delivery office.

Royal Mail managers have targeted delivery offices in the area for a series of attacks on working conditions. They are desperate to break the power of the union.

“At the moment we get one weekend off out of every three that we work, but Royal Mail want to change that to one in every six,” said Neil. “It makes a mockery of the company’s claim to be ‘family friendly’.

“By refusing to negotiate with the union, the company are showing what this dispute is really about. It wants to break us so that it can implement any changes it likes without opposition.”

Reacting to news of high level talks between Royal Mail bosses and the CWU, pickets at the Tooting office told Socialist Worker that the union should not sign up to any deal that allows unagreed changes to workers’ conditions to remain in place.

“People’s lives are built around their shifts, and management cannot be allowed to just rip all that up,” said Neil. “We mustn’t go back until we have a proper agreement and all our duties are returned to normal.”

© Socialist Worker (unless otherwise stated). You may republish if you include an active link to the original.

[NWpostie]

saw the daily Mail front page, about the Postal Backlogs mind the article on Page 4 about "Spanish Practices" is full of half truths and does not give the full story (as usual)