Last week postal workers, members of the CWU, voted by the narrowest majority against national action against Royal Mail’s plan to slash 30,000 jobs in the next nine months. The result took everyone by surprise. Union officials had been confident of a substantial yes vote. It didn’t materialise. An embarrassed Billy Hayes, CWU general secretary slipped out of the union’s Wimbledon head quarters by the back door rather than face the media when the result was announced. Reporters had to quickly rewrite their stories.

This result is a set back for the left. Anarchists had welcomed the recent upsurge in industrial militancy detecting willingness amongst workers to stand up to bosses. Postal workers have a good record of industrial militancy so it is worth considering what went wrong.

The CWU underestimated how hard the company would try to scupper the ballot. Royal Mail’s boss, Allan Leighton, wrote a stream of letters to the company’s workers. One union activist joked that he gets more letters from Leighton than his family! Leighton’s letters were full of dire warnings. If you strike, he wrote, “we begin the process of commercial suicide”. Royal Mail claimed that the company was making losses of £611 million. This gave the impression that it was on the verge of collapse scaring workers to vote no. Trouble was it is a lie.

The bosses’ paper the Financial Times pointed out last week that “Royal Mail expects to make an operating profit of £100 million this year and £320 million next”.

Royal Mail claim that job cuts are needed to make the company profitable, yet they are scheduled to make £320 million next year. It looks like workers will be paying with their jobs for even higher profits!

There is no doubt that postal workers were fearful because of Royal Mail’s exaggerated losses that jobs would be at risk if they went on strike. They were also fearful that if they went on strike the government would speed up the planned privatisation of postal services. CWU members knew that the government would, like in the fire fighters’ dispute back the employer to the hilt. Threats of bringing forward deregualtion showed that government taking sides right from the start. As anarchists know the state is not neutral in industrial disputes. The laws the state passes, the money it spends, its police force all stack the odds against workers.

Low pay also played a part. Postal workers earn a basic £260 a week. “Its very difficult” one postal worker said, “you are constantly watching what you spend” Strike action would have cost workers £50 to £60 a day. Money they could ill afford. It is a scandal that while the CWU hand over thousands and thousands of pounds to the Labour Party they do not have the funds to support their members when they plan to go on strike.

This shows the importance of anarchist calls for rank and file union members to get their unions to stop handing members money over to Labour. Tony Blair has shown again and again that he is the friend of business not the workers. Unions need to break with Labour.

The ballot result was also a set back for the union’s left-wing deputy general secretary Dave Ward whom this year ousted moderate John Keggie. There is disillusionment within the union about its leaders. Members have suffered years of low pay. The last national dispute seven years made no difference to their lot. “It has gone round in a circle” one CWU member said “different people at the top but the same rubbish”.

Although Allan Leighton cooed that the result was “a victory for the company” he might not get things all his way. Despite the threats the vote ballot was close: 48,038 to 46,391 against. There is talk of wildcat action. In London 11,417 postal workers voted for action against Royal Mail’s offer on London Weighting compared to 4,316 against. A London wide dispute is now likely.