07.11.1996

Lang turns the screw on postalworkers

As post office workers voted by a clear majority to resume strike action against Royal Mail’s ‘teamworking’ attacks on conditions, a ‘leaked’ government document revealed plans to screw down further on union rights.

In a 78% poll, Communication Workers Union members voted by more than three to two to renew the mandate for industrial action. But Ian Lang, president of the board of trade, implied that this was not a true reflection of the membership’s feelings. Clutching at straws, he said that less than half of those eligible to vote had supported action, as if the abstainers could be automatically equated with a ‘no’ vote. In fact just one in eight non-voters would have given an overall ‘yes’ majority.

However, Lang is hardly concerned with logic. His idea is to place yet another obstacle in the path of workers trying to defend themselves. The leaked document, Industrial action and trade unions, proposes precisely a requirement that a majority of all those entitled to vote should give their support.

The document also proposes doubling the notice period for stoppages and abolishing the right to time off from work for union duties. But the most draconian of these schemes is the plan to give companies and even individuals the right to take legal action to prevent “disproportionate or excessive” stoppages if any individual has been “mildly inconvenienced”.

This adds to the pressure on the CWU executive to accept the compromise ‘solution’ that general secretary Alan Johnson and Royal Mail management are certain to come up with before any further strikes are called. TUC tops will be leaning on them to ease off and wait for Tony Blair to save the day with his own, marginally less crushing plans to hog-tie workers.

Johnson has already shown where his own priorities lie in his comment last week: “The important thing for our members, the business and the public is that the service suffers the minimum amount of disruption while the Royal Mail and ourselves settle our differences.”

However, union activists regard the dispute as more than a lovers’ tiff. Steve Bell, secretary of SE Wales Amalgamated CWU branch, told me that the ballot result ought to be viewed as a big victory which puts postal workers in a strong position: “It was won in the teeth of post office intimidation and is one in the eye for Blair and co as well,” he said.

“The action should be escalated if there is no quick settlement. I know that Alan Johnson wants it wrapped up, but there are differences in the leadership, with the left providing the strongest current. They do not have an absolute majority, but hopefully they will be able to push matters to a head.”

Steve Royal, Eastern no3 branch secretary, added:

“People won’t accept teamworking anyway. The strength of feeling of the membership as a whole is so great - that is the deciding factor.”

There are rumours that some sections of the union, including the London District Council, may refuse to accept any settlement that includes teamworking, even if it is enforced nationally.

Peter Manson