The Communication Workers Union (CWU) have voted overwhelmingly for national strike action in response to what amounts to the management of the Royal Mail running down of the business.

This strike will cause inconvenience to the public but that isn’t it’s aim and the destruction of the postal service by mismanagement would cause us far more inconvenience and cost in the long run. The aim of the strike is to protect the jobs, pay and conditions of postal workers and the very existence of the Royal Mail as a publicly owned business. There is a very good account from a postal worker of the issues that face them and the background of this strike on the London Review of Books site. Background that has been lacking in the mainstream media that seems bent on portraying striking workers whether they are posties or tube drivers as being out of step with the wider public. In fact according to a blog entry from a council worker in Lichfield the Royal Mail have tacitly endorsed a twitter post describing the CWU as “whiny fucks”. At least everyone knows where they stand.

It’s worth making the point that the success or failure of this strike has implications for all public sector workers as the recession starts to bite, unemployment rises and the government sees tax receipts fall. It’s also worth noting that the fate of public sector workers is linked to the fate of those of us working in the private sector.

There is much made in the media about the employment conditions and pensions that public sector workers have compared to those of us in the private sector. Almost invariably the issue is looked at backwards. We are asked:

“Why should public sector workers get better pensions and conditions than the rest of us?” Ignoring the accuracy of the assertion the question should be “Why aren’t those of us in the private sector getting decent working conditions and pensions?”

The intent is clear, they divide us as working people – we’re either public or private sector. This makes no sense. There is one jobs market, a person working in the public sector wasn’t born into their job. They didn’t get it through membership of some shadowy Masonic order. They applied for it. Just as every other market is affected by the prices being offered for a commodity so it is with jobs. Drive down public sector pay and you drive down private sector pay with it. The opposite is of course true. For this reason alone it is in your interests to support the Postal workers. It is also in your interests to be part of a union.

 http://classcrisis.org/