At a national meeting of branch secretaries in London today [12 November], CWU deputy general secretary (postal) Dave Ward and the Postal Executive Committee appear to have taken a more militant tone than previously.
Dave Ward has given assurances that 'if Royal Mail does not significantly shift' on unilateral changes and bullying, the union would schedule more national action, possibly within a week. This militant talk from the PEC appears to be the result of several factors.
Firstly, postal workers are massively dissatisfied with the Interim Agreement, and rightly so. Even after it was explained that the Agreement did not mean a no-strike deal until Christmas (which was a widely held belief due to Brendan Barber's appearance on TV with talk of a strike-free Christmas and the PEC's utter failure to communicate properly with the membership), the membership was overwhelmingly against stopping the action during negotiations.
Although a few branch secretaries and area reps defended the PEC's decision after its announcement, the tone of the discussions at workplaces and on forums such as royalmailchat.co.uk was overwhelmingly against the Agreement. Postal workers expressed shock at the stand-down, and frustration that the back-log, which had been paid for out of members' lost wages, was being frittered away. Another worry was that after a 'truce' of this nature, it might prove more difficult to gear the membership back up for action.
The PEC in general, and Dave Ward in particular, have come in for a lot of criticism for this disastrous tactic, and the high-handed manner in which they kept the membership in the dark until the last possible minute.
It seems that the PEC is caught between a rock and a hard place. As one London postal worker told us, the PEC was wary of letting the national industrial action run and run because, “they are scared of losing control of the membership; of being overtaken by events”.
On the other hand, a West Country CWU member offered us the opinion that “a secret motivation for this new tough talk was that things had got so bitter that the PEC was worried that there would be unofficial strikes, which would have been dangerous - but there would have been positive possibilities there too. There is not much of a tradition in the CWU of lobbying and political opposition - instead people tend to react to things by just walking out”.
So the newly militant talk coming out of the PEC seems to reflect the pressure created by the membership's reaction to the deal.
The second reason for the more militant attitude of Dave Ward is that management is by and large not abiding by the 'spirit' of the Interim Agreement, at least as the PEC understands it. The Interim Agreement didn't commit management to anything more concrete than talking to area reps on a unit-by-unit basis and continuing national negotiations. But it was also understood that the Agreement would see a general “cooling down” of hostilities on both sides.
Instead management attacks have continued unabated. One of the branch chairs who attended today's meeting reported that in 6 out of 9 divisions, management were not only refusing to budge at all on the executive actions and unilateral changes introduced so far - but were actually continuing attacks.
In various workplaces, management are still using harsh discipline to bully workers and victimise the more militant CWU members - taking people off pay and suspending workers for such offences as “wilful delay” - i.e. failure to complete one's shift on time. Reports of continued suspensions and bullying have been coming in from all parts of the country - but it seems that management attacks are worst in London.
It is still unclear as to whether this aggression is spontaneous, instinctive viciousness on the part of local managers, or whether it is the result of a strategy being handed down from Royal Mail's top bosses. In any case, the 'goodwill' that the Interim Agreement was supposed to herald has clearly failed to materialise. When faced with a climbdown by the union, management behaved exactly as any intelligent workplace militant would have expected: and continued to run rampant, attacking workers and making changes just as it pleased.
Dave Ward made a bold declaration in front of branch activists today, that the PEC would announce more strikes if management did not budge and continued to block negotiations. The pressures acting on Ward and on the CWU postal leadership are clear. But equally, it is not impossible that, presented with a few kind words from management and a relaxation in the rank-and-file anger at the Interim Agreement, Ward could declare on the 16th of November, the day of the review, that it is 'too soon to tell' how negotiations are going, and put action off again.
The only way to be sure that the dispute is strong and conducted correctly is to build an organised rank-and-file network to monitor and control the dispute. Branches and reps opposed to the Interim Agreement should convene a national meeting as soon as possible.
In spite of the Interim Agreement, the postal workers are still strong. The mood among postal workers is still for the fight to continue until real concessions have been won. Solidarity committees and real public support for the postal workers still exist. If they fight on, and seize the advantage they still have in the run-up to Christmas, they can win.