As we write, the Communication Workers’ Union postworkers' dispute looks set to end with a deal that gives Royal Mail virtually everything they want. Only a rebellion from rank-and-file posties can stop this deal, or at least lay the ground to stop further retreats.

Posties knew this was an important and potentially long battle, as they faced off Royal Mail bosses set on giving a below-inflation pay offer while forcing through 'modernisation' plans that meant 40,000 job cuts – that is, one third of Royal Mail staff.

The dispute started in early July. With solid strike days, rolling action, and some unofficial strikes, pressure mounted on Royal Mail, and by early August, management agreed to do what they had previously refused: talk to the union. That should have been a sign to the CWU of its strong position. It was time to maintain, not release, the pressure. But union leaders agreed to suspend the action, breaking one of the rules of disputes that Off The Rails has said before: that it is possible – and often better – to strike and talk at the same time.

The talks came to nothing. Royal Mail went further, stating its intent to pick apart the final salary pension scheme for all, not just new, workers, and to close Oxford and Reading sorting offices, centres of militancy.

The posties' fight is at heart about the idea of public services. Royal Mail tells postal-workers to accept job cuts so it can 'compete' and because it is not making a 'profit', seemingly forgetting that the post is not meant to make a 'profit': it's a public service!

With the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) set to strike in November against 100,000 civil service job cuts, council workers and the PCS voting to reject below-inflation pay offers, and teachers planning action - there could have been co-ordinated public sector action this winter. But CWU leaders decided to junk the fight just as other unions were gearing up (slowly) to join in.

The CWU wants posties to vote for a deal that lets management attack their working conditions in a local, piecemeal way, without even a decent pay rise. The union has even agreed to talk about closing the final-salary pension scheme. With other unions also giving away final-salary schemes, railworkers risk facing a situation where, when our Pensions Commission declares its plan to attack our pensions, our final-salary scheme will be the last one left. We will be like the last green bottle standing on the wall. That’s why we should hope that posties vote No.

CWU left-wingers are organising for a ‘No’ vote in the referendum on the deal. Even if they don’t succeed in rejecting the deal, the No campaign could set the stage for a new CWU rank-and-file network that could put the brakes on further climbdowns.

The CWU leadership's willingness to take on the government can not to be relied upon. Rank-and-file workers across the public sector should learn this lesson, unite and organise, so they do not let their leaderships give things away to a pro-business, anti-union, anti-socialist Labour Government that does not deserve their trust.