By Andy Ford, Warrington Trade Union Council
A week- long strike by Merseyside postal workers has been ended after a High Court injunction declaring the strike illegal.
The strike, at the Bootle and Seaforth sorting office in north Liverpool, was over a racist remark made by a manager to a Muslim worker. She is alleged to have said something like “do you like women?”, implying a link between simply being a Muslim and oppression of women, a common racist trope
Fifty colleagues then walked out on the afternoon of Wednesday 2nd October and stayed out, saying that they “have zero tolerance for racism”. A picket was set up at the gates on the next day.
The workers were still outside the gate on the Friday 4th, at which point Royal Mail began bussing in managers across the picket with the help of the police. Pickets were also reported to the police for having a so-called “out of control fire”. On Monday 7th the strike briefly spread to the huge new Royal Mail depot in Warrington, when drivers were suspended for refusing to cross the Bootle picket line and at that point it involved hundreds of workers.
No-one should be disciplined for refusing to cross a picket line; it is an elementary right. It looks like the Warrington suspensions were dropped for fear of escalation.
By Tuesday 8th Royal Mail had got the case listed at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, who duly declared the strike illegal. It’s funny how the wheels of justice can turn so fast on occasions. Try reporting a burglary for a contrast!
So on Wednesday the posties were back at work, forced back by a court order from one of the highest courts in the land. A barrister’s time for a court like that is about £1,000 an hour! The female manager has not been moved pending investigation as the CWU had wanted and as normal workplace rules would be applied.
Nevertheless the strike has many important lessons.
· It shows the simmering tension in Royal Mail as the new CEO tries to wreck the business in return for his £6 million pay and the CWU ballot for national action.
· It shows the courage and resolution of the posties in Bootle to combat bullying and racism. It shows the potential for solidarity from other depots.
· It shows the utterly oppressive nature of the anti-union laws which weight the scales in the workplace so heavily towards management. This drives the epidemic of workplace stress, anxiety and bullying in Britain, as the workforce cannot respond collectively to insults and bullying except at risk of the sack.
· In an amusing side note, the Liverpool Echo had to produce a video “What happens in a strike” presumably because they are so rare now that a lot of younger workers will not be sure what a strike even is. Find it here (bottom of the article): https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/hundreds-royal-mail-staff-join-17030119
All credit to the CWU members in Bootle and Warrington. They showed what a strike is in practice and stood up for elementary justice in the workplace.
October 14, 2019
