Call for unity over Royal Mail

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Sheridan makes plea while on Inverness campaign trail

Solidarity leader Tommy Sheridan stopped just short of calling for a general strike yesterday in a rallying call for action to fend off the privatisation of Royal Mail.

Speaking on a walkabout in Inverness, the politician called for a “summit of action” to unite all public service unions in support of the Communication Workers Union (CWU).

He was in the Highland capital to join his party’s candidate, postman George MacDonald, on the hustings for next month’s Inverness West council by-election.

Mr Sheridan told the Press and Journal: “This is the line in the sand. If you get rid of a postal service that has been the envy of the world for many years, which has been promised that it would be safe from privatisation by even the Labour Government, then nothing is safe.

“Obviously nobody wants to take action at any time, if things are (economically) good or bad. But when you’ve got to defend an essential service like the postal service I think you can win support for action.”

Asked if that meant a general strike, Mr Sheridan said: “The public service unions have to get together. There has to be a summit of action. The CWU cannot be left on its own to fight this.

“If it is, they’ll be defeated on their own because they’re too weak to take on the government on their own. But a CWU linked to Unison, the GMB and Unity can beat the government on this.”

Mr Sheridan’s own future could be as member of the European Parliament. He is expected to know within a fortnight whether he has been selected as a candidate for a left-wing coalition led by the RMT rail union and the Fire Brigades Union for June’s European Parliament elections on a political platform of “No2EU – Yes to Democracy”.

The former MSP revealed that work on his law degree had been put on hold after consultation with his legal team. He is preparing his defence against perjury charges in connection with a defamation case involving allegations about his sex life made by the News of the World. His wife, Gail, has also been served with an indictment on a charge of perjury.