Mandelson bottles Royal Mail fight

bristol | corporations | opinion/analysis Friday July 03, 2009 23:23 by supporter - Bookfair collective bristolanarchistbookfair at riseup dot net

industrial unrest unsettles the bosses

New Labour hatchet man and friend of the bosses, the disgraced politician turned Lord of a manor, Peter Mandelson, announced this week he was shelving plans to part-privatise the Royal Mail, for now. He blamed 'market conditions', by which he meant this wasn't a great time to sell off another public asset, because investors were a bit short of cash and couldn't even afford one of New Labour's carrots to the private sector. Given how much debt New Labour have put us all in by bailing out their mates in the banks, they now need to try and balance the books by flogging off some more of our assets. But for once they do need a decent price, and clearly they dont think they'll get it in the current climate. There are however a few more reasons he didn't care to go into in any detail....

Firstly, around 100 New Labour MP's are pledged to vote against the sell off of Royal Mail. Although the government would probably get the relevant bill passed in parliament, it would only be because the Tories will vote with the government. This would of course be just a bit embarrasing, as well as highlighting a major split in the party. Such a row would also reflect the massive public opposition to the sell off, based clearly on what happened with previous privatised industries - prices up, service down, profits to shareholders/investors up.

Secondly, Mandelson neglected to mention the outright opposition of the Royal Mail workforce to the plans. There is no doubt a major industrial struggle would ensue, and that of course is also putting off potential investores & profiteers. Indeed, we can see that Royal mail workers, in the CWU, have for many years been one of the most combatative groups of workers, along with the likes of the RMT, and more recently the oil workers and Visteon car factory strikers. New Labour are terrified of more workers recognising their potential power, and of acting collectively to resist the latest attacks on them.

Hear in Bristol, the local CWU branch has set a fine example of workers solidarity, continually resisting the attacks of management on their jobs and conditions. Presently, there are believed to be 21 strike ballot requests waiting to be acted on in Bristol delivery offices alone.

To find out more about the postal workers struggles, and how we might support them, come and hear from Dave Chapple, chair of Bristol CWU, this coming Thursday 9 July in Easton. Full details on the Bristol Indymedia calendar, and on the attached flyer (circulated before Mandelson's climbdown).

flyer for public meeting 0.49 Mb