A BACKLOG of between 150 and 200 million letters built up during the recent 12-day strike of postal workers in Britain. It was the first national strike for 17 years, but one that was clearly led by the rank-and-file with the leadership of the postal workers' union, the UCW, refusing to call all-out action. It started with a national 24-hour stoppage by 140,000 workers on August 31, and snowballed into one of the major industrial actions of recent years. STEVE BELL
HE AIM of the initial 24-hour strike was to block the introduction of regional pay differentials by the management of the nationalized post office. Different rates of pay for the same work in different regions is a favourite idea of the Thatcher government.
This idea is based on taking advantage of differences in the labour market. Wages in the postal service are low. As a consequence, in areas such as London and southeast England where there is alternative employment, there is a high turnover of workers leaving for better paid jobs. In areas of high unemployment, such as Scotland, Wales and norther England, there are long waiting lists of unemployed workers seeking postal work. In this situation the government, who were clearly behind the post office management, wished to give higher pay to workers in London and the southeast than to workers elsewhere.
At the Union of Communication Workers (UCW) annual conference this move was rejected, despite the preparedness of the national executive council to accept it. A membership ballot resulted in a 2:1 majority for strike action. Forced to act, the executive council called a one-day strike. It hoped that a series of selective actions would be sufficient to force the post office to retreat. August 31 was grandly called "phase one" of the executive's campaign. As things turned out, phase two arrived in a form unexpected by the executive.
The success of the one-day strike prompted the post office management to act against the union. With the return to work, local managers were instructed to attack established working conditions, but the workers were not prepared to accept this. As soon as the workforce returned strike action began locally. By the evening of September 1, some of the largest sorting offices in the country were out, including Liverpool, Manchester, Coventry, West London and Southend in England, and Chester, Swansea and Cardiff in Wales.
A national strike called and led locally
Within two days virtually the whole of Scotland, and most of north-west England, Wales, the Midlands and London were on strike. By September 5 over 100,000 workers had joined the strike, and by September 7 the entire network was effectively at a standstill.
What was truly remarkable was that although the UCW national executive had made every local strike official, all of them had been called and led locally. In other words, a national strike had been called by the actions of the local branches.
The background to the dispute lies in the changes to the industry and the changes in the workforce. The postal service in Britain was first established over 350 years ago. It assimilated telecommunications in its historic development, and until 1969 it remained part of the civil service. The Thatcher government split the service in 1980 into two parts: a public postal service
October 17, 1988 • #149 International Viewpoint and a privatized telecommunications company, British Telecom. In 1986, the postal service was further divided into four sections: letters, parcels, counter services and the Giro bank (the post office's own banking service, based primarily on worker
Most profitable postal service in the world
This reorganization was clearly aimed at privatizing at least the last three divisions. The industry as a whole is the most profitable postal service in the world, with a declared pre-tax profit of £212.2 million for the last financial year (April 1987 to March 1988). In the European Community, it is the only postal service to have a subsidyfree profit record over 12 successive years. The volume of mail handled by the post office has increased by 20% over the last five years; labour productivity has increased by 25% over the last six years; operating costs have been reduced by 15%.
The expansion of the service has been matched by the growth of the workforce. In 1979, there were 178,000 full-time and 11,000 part-time workers. By 1988, these figures had risen to 200,000 full-timers and 20,000 part-timers. Alongside this, there has been a definite change in the composition of the workforce. The proportion of the workforce composed of women and Black workers and young people is rising. The proportion of workers who experienced the defeat of the strike in 1971 is rapidly
Many workers have been recruited who have trade-union experience in the declining manufacturing industries, such as coal, steel, car-assembly and engineering. The proportion of workers who joined the industry after leaving the armed forces is declining, although in the past this group was quite large. These changes, mixed with long hours, low wages and the arduous character of much of the work, have fuelled the growth of strike actions. Days lost through industrial action in 1980-81 totaled 2,044. By 1984-85, this had risen to 62,000 mates were that the strike was costing £25 million a day. It was quickly noted in the financial press that the strike would have a definite impact upon monetary statistics for October. Major mail users were pressing the post office management to resolve the dispute. Thatcher's government dropped hints that it was considering removing the post office's monopoly on letter deliveries - a threat of no immediate consequence to the strike. Private parcel carriers obtained extra business, but admitted that their total collective annual resources were sufficient to handle only two days worth of regular post office mail.
All the conditions for an outright victory for the postal workers were being assembled. All the conditions, except one. The UC executive were not prepared to secure the victory. Solid supporters of [Labour Party leaders] Neil Kinnock and Roy Hattersley, they were not prepared to use the power the workers had given them. Between 120,000-130,000 postal workers were on strike against the break-up of local working conditions. Instead of converting this strike into a total stoppage against the imposition of regional pay differentials and for the defence of established conditions, they came to a feeble agreement.
Agreement took steam out of strike
The union leadership had failed to call a national strike because they hoped that the post office would see this as a cue for a graceful retreat. Instead of posing the question point-blank by heading up the dispute, they felt it necessary to offer the post office a way out. Inevitably, the post office read the executive council's position as offering a better deal than the workers on the picket line.
The agreement, established on September 12, was composed of a formula for further negotiations on regional pay and a framework for local settlements of the strike, which were far from completely satisfactory to the workers. The agreement
BRITAIN took the steam out of the strike and offices began to return within 24 hours of the deal being signed. Yet it took a further week for the major sorting offices to return to work. By the weekend of September 17/18, many solid local strikes were still being maintained. This alone was a clear indication that the deal did not exhaust the combativity of the workers. Outrage among large sections of the workers at the sell-out was very real. In mass meetings up and down the country motions of no confidence were passed against General Secretary Alan Tuffin and the UCW executive
Perhaps of more significance for the future was the fact that branch and district leaderships conducted very well-organized strikes without any direct involvement from the union's headquarters. It was not until the weekend of September 17/18 that union executive members left London to visit branches. In a number of major branches left-wing leaders gained real authority in the strike among the mass of workers. Thousands of workers, particularly young workers, took part in sustained union activity for the first time. Many branches were involved in solidarity actions, including mass pickets, public meetdistrict and branch strike
Since the stock market crash last October, the workers' movement in Britain has begun to rally. Thatcher still holds the initiative, and heavy blows have been dealt to the working class, but a definite recovery of the workers' movement is underway, of which the postal strike is a clear indication.
Sold short, but undefeated, postal workers have begun to forge a new solidarity. While this article was being written, UCW members working in the counter services who did not participate in the strike voted for strike action against job losses. Reports two week after the strike indicate continuing animation among postal workers.
Inevitably, the government and post office will be preparing further assaults upon postal workers. Next time the workforce will be better prepared after having been through this important experience. *
ARETSIN and has remained at that level every year since. From 1987-88, there were nearly 200 strikes, accounting for one-fifth of all working days lost in Britain that year.
The changing character of the industry and the workforce has prompted a government-led change in management. All remnants of civil service paternalism have been eradicated, and the chairman of the post office is a Thatcher supporter who favours privatization. Management techniques, such as quality circles, are being introduced to directly incorporate the workforce and undermine union organization. Local managers are assessed as much for their stance on the union as for their administrative abilities. All management emphasis is on business rather than public service.
Once the strike hardened, the importance of the industry became clear. Official esti-
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International Viewpoint #149 • October 17, 1988
USA
Defend
Mark
Curtis!
MARK CURTIS, a union activist and member of the
US Socialist Workers