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The threatened strike at Royal Mail jeopardises any hope of modernisation

The vote by postal workers for a national strike before Christmas is one of the most selfdefeating actions ever taken by a trade union. The Royal Mail is an industry in deep trouble. Its working practices are restrictive, outdated and permeated with the inefficiencies typical of the old nationalised industries. Its customer base is fragile. Its role in an age increasingly dominated by electronic communication is unclear. Its pension deficit is colossal and profitability dubious. To disrupt operations at the time when Royal Mail is busiest is a piece of industrial irresponsibility from which the postal service may never recover. The Communication Workers Union has just voted for its members’ industrial suicide.

The pretext for the strike is hard to discern. It is not primarily about pay. Nor is it about the need to change final-salary pensions into something less costly — a need obvious to all except CWU members. Essentially the strike is Luddite: against machines. Postal workers do not want any job cuts. They do not want the further mechanisation of sorting. They oppose more part-time working. And they do not want greater personal effort — to carry more, work harder or walk faster. In short, they do not want modernisation.

No industry can survive such an obstinate attachment to the past. Royal Mail is attempting to implement a series of changes that were, initially, agreed with the unions two years ago. But the latest demands are preposterous — even more so at a time when no other industry can credibly demand a halt to redundancies in the midst of the downturn. Like the Luddites, the CWU is blind to the realities of modern economics. Where else in the world do some workers think that a shift should consist of less than four hours’ work?

The union agrees in principle that change is needed. But it accuses the management of running down the business, cutting costs and lacking vision. It is clear that industrial relations at Royal Mail are as bad now as they have ever been. For that, the management must also bear a large share of the blame. Other industries, even those highly unionised, have managed to negotiate a complete restructuring to modernise themselves. Royal Mail has suffered leadership that is both flamboyant and distant. Allan Leighton, who stood down as chairman last year, carried out a programme of branch closures and savings that may have been necessary, but for which he made little effort to win his industry’s backing. Adam Crozier, the chief executive, has shown little more skill at garnering support for his proposals.

No one doubts that a strike will be hugely damaging to small businesses, those who depend on invoices and cheques, internet traders and all those hoping that Christmas trading will provide the stimulus to aid recovery. It would be disastrous for the Government, denting still further its claims that it is leading Britain out of recession. But the Government also bears much of the blame. It has repeatedly funked the issue of what to do about Royal Mail. In July Lord Mandelson shelved his part-privatisation plan in pusillanimous capitulation to pressure from the unions and Labour backbenchers. It will not be lost on the CWU or the Government that the strike vote coincides with the Conservatives’ conference. It sends a clear message from the beleaguered industry: privatise us. There is now no alternative.