Outrage: Injunction Against CWU

 The High Court has issued an injunction against industrial action proposed by the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU). Postal workers were due to strike in defence of their job security and employment terms and conditions. This would have been the first national strike against Royal Mail in 10 years - during a general election and in the run-up to Christmas. The decision showed once again the class bias of the legal system against effective workers’ organisations. The price of Royal Mail shares rose by 1.4% after the judgment. 

Last month 97% of postal workers voted in favour of industrial action, on a turnout of almost 76%. However, management argued in court that there were ‘irregularities’ in the ballot. We have to ask: how many candidates in the coming general election would get 97% support on a turnout of 76% of the electorate? If it happened, how plausible would it be to argue that the result was due to ‘irregularities’?

Dave Ward, the CWU General Secretary, said its members were “extremely angry and bitterly disappointed” with the judgment. He described Royal Mail’s decision to seek the injunction as “a cowardly and vicious attack on its own workforce”.

Royal Mail is currently run by Rico Back. Back lives in low tax Switzerland and is generally known as ‘Mr Greedy’. As CEO he was awarded a £5.8 million ‘golden hello’, on which he paid no UK tax. CWU’s Deputy General Secretary identified Royal Mail’s executive as motivated by “fast-track profit and greed,”

Back has made it clear that he intends to reduce working conditions of postal workers to those of the gig economy. In particular his target is the ‘Four Pillars’ agreement on conditions which successfully prevented strike action two years ago.

Back wants to restructure Royal Mail by spinning off Parcelforce, This is highly profitable in the era of internet shopping. Another target of his is the Universal Service Obligation, which guarantees postal deliveries throughout the UK for six days a week. Together these plans could lead to the loss of tens of thousands of jobs.

Postal workers are right to vote to strike against these threats. It is outrageous that Royal Mail management resorts to using the courts to stop them, using spurious arguments against the democracy of the CWU. The union intends to appeal against the injunction. Dave Ward has also held open the option of re-balloting members. The postal workers deserve our support.

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