March 20:A public service under threat
Stop Royal Mail privatisation!
Dave Reid
The future of a publicly owned and controlled postal service is under direct threat by a Labour Government which wants to sell off a 30% stake to its big business friends.
Peter Mandelson, Labour’s Business Secretary, has accused the CWU postal union of dishonest ‘scare tactics’ over its opposition to the governments’ sell-off plans. But the union is right to be concerned because every other privatisation has led to massive job cuts, worse terms and conditions for workers as well as an inferior service provided to the general public.Politicians of all parties are not concerned about the loss of service that privatisation inevitably brings—look at rail, gas, electric, NHS services. They all make big fat profits for the fat cats while our services suffer.
Private companies are like vultures circulating over our public services to make as much money as quickly as possible, irrespective of the poor service privatised services provide.

Feb 29: No privatisation of our post!
Mike John, an ex postal worker from Newport writes:
Peter Mandelson, Labour's answer to Norman Tebbit is determined to sell off 30% of Royal Mail, in his time away from the front bench it's clear he has not lost his views that he is solely in politics to represent the interests of big business. Mandelson believes he can quell any opposition from Labour's ranks by offering assurances that the same service will remain and that Royal Mail will not be fully privatised without further primary legislation. We all know that part privatisation will eventually lead to full privatisation of Royal Mail, so the latter guarantee from Peter Mandelson is meaningless. I also notice in his 5 point plan to win support from Labour rebels, there is no mention of job security for the loyal staff of Royal Mail, again this just highlights Mandelsons commitment in protecting the interests of his rich friends.
In a letter to The Guardian dated 26th Feb., Mandelson starts by saying "Nobody would disagree that a universal postal service is more than just a business" if that is the case why have they not invested the money needed to modernise the industry, why do they blame the unions by saying it is their fault that industrial relations are so bad and it is down to them that management have not been able to modernise as quickly as they would like. Unions must fight back
The union is there to protect their members jobs, they have never been against modernisation and are not the luddites that Peter Mandelson & Royal Mail tries to make out, but what they won't do is role over and die and allow management to completely decimate the terms and conditions that the union has won over many years.
Mandelson is trying to blackmail the postal workers by saying that if they don't except part privatisation the government will not bail out their pension, this again just shows the lengths Labour will go to, to look after the interests of big business. The Post Office pension fund is not the only pension fund in financial deficit; they all are because of the financial collapse of the world economy, which has led to sharp drop in share prices. Postal & other workers are not to blame for the world financial crisis.
Royal Mail is the oldest public service in the world, and I agree with Peter Mandelson when he says that it is more than just a business. It is the lifeblood of commerce within a modern economy, that is why it should always remain a public service, the myth that private is better than public is born out in the privatisation of public utilities carried out by Thatcher in 1980’s, we in Britain are paying far more than our counterparts in the rest of Europe for our water, electricity, gas & rail.

As an ex postal worker who has a pension, I am all in favour of modernisation within any industry, but not at the expense of jobs and conditions, we should all benefit from new technology not sacrificed. If Labour has any chance of winning the next election then it needs to ditch this unpopular policy, it also needs to work with the unions not fight against them, if Labour can find 600 billion of public money to bail out 5 banks, then surely it can find the small amount needed to modernise Royal Mail and secure their employees pensions.

Bank bailout—post sell off

Billionaire bankers can be bailed out by this big business friendly government but when it comes to retaining a key public postal service there is apparently no money available.
While the government steps in to temporarily nationalise banks and take over their losses it is preparing to hand over the profitable Royal Mail to another group of fat cats: the private mail companies.Already Royal Mail is forced to subsidise its private competitors by delivering their mail at half the price we have to pay. Mandelson and Gordon Brown insist this plan is not a step to full privatisation but who would believe anything this governments says!
Experience overseas show why we should be wary of such claims. In the Netherlands their government also sold 30% of the state owned postal company. However, by 2006 it was wholly privatised!
In Sweden, half the post offices were shut after privatisation and prices doubled!

Tories and Liberals force through privatisation
It is an open secret that a new Tory government will privatise the lot.
Labour’s backbench MP’s protests will not halt the privatisation drive, as the bill will be driven though by the Tories and the Liberals.
A fight back from the CWU postal workers’ union, including if necessary, industrial action supported by the rest of the trade union movement and the public is the only way to stop the sell-off.

Break the Labour link!
So, why are the CWU and other unions still giving members’ cash to Labour?
Since 2001, trade unions have donated £27million to the Labour party. The unions provide over 90% of Labour’s funds. Unbelievably, even the postal workers own union, the CWU, gives about £1million a year to Labour!
The CWU and other unions should stop funding Labour. They should immediately break the link and disaffiliate from the Labour Party now.

New workers’ party needed
The CWU should join forces with other unions, community campaigns and socialists in a campaign to build a new workers party that will give a genuine voice to working people and a socialist alternative to the madness of capitalism.