Second Strike Since 1861?
POSTMEN MAY PLACE "STOP DELIVERY" ORDER ON BRITAIN'S MALL
-°. LONDON, Feb. 26 =~ In this pre-election period, one might think the Tory government! s policy towards the organised labour movement would be one of appeasement and compromise,
-Not so] Postmaster-General Bevins, with the full support of the Cabinet, and in line with the government's policy of restricting wage increases to no more than four per cent, has served an ultimatum to Britain's 120,000 post office workers, fyot a penny more than four per cent this year and three and a half per cent for each of the next _ two." Bevins is trying to blackmail the workers with the threat. that all pension rights will be lost if the union takes any industrial . action,
‘The Union of Post Office Workers [UPW], traditionally one of the -more conservative and weaker unions has responded in a most remark~ . able way. Yesterday, General Secretary Ron Smith received a standing ovation: from 1,066 delegates, representing postmen, girl telephonists, counter clerks "and cleaners, when he finished his address with the fighting words, "I said eariier there might be an element of bluff in these negotiations [referring to recent negotiations with the Poste master=-General], Today I want to say that there is no element of bluff on the part of our people now. We are not going to be beaten by being poor and not having enormous strike funds, You do not need -_ them when there are injustices to be righted. We can tackle the job if we have to do it and I believe we can call on our other trade~ union colleagues for help if need be,"
We shall pursue our current wage claim, he continued, "by all means including the withdrawal of labour. ... we have made what is the most momentous decision in the history of the union,"
As "Servants of the Crown" having "national responsibilities," and negotiating direct with the government in power, wages and wage increases of the post office workers have always lagged far behind industrial workers in wages. Many are forced to work excessive overtime in order: to take home a living wage. The Times of February 23 cites one 50-year-old postman who normally works from 2 p.m. until 5:45 the next morning -- an average of 6 hours and 15 minutes overtime daily. Postmen have to work up to 18 hours a week compulsor overtime if required, If suspended, they cannot get unemployment benefits, nor can they claim national assistance,
In Fighting Mood
The rank and file are in a fighting mood, At a special wage conference, by a card vote of 8,584 to 96, delegates turned down an amendment proposing acceptance of the government's wage offer, A further amendment seeking to prevent a withdrawal of labour went down to
defeat by 9,024 to 84 votes,. The big London and Glasgow branches see no alternative solution but to take strike action,
Under the union constitution, the executive has sole authority to determine the nature and course of any strike engaged in. Now that such action is posed in a meaningful way, this clause is meete ing opposition. More than 35 amendments, many of them seeking to name the date for action, were ruled out of order,
To date, the pay increase to be demanded has not been specified by the UPW, The executive has been given authority to take whatever action deemed necessary to bring about a "substantial" increase,
Whether Ron Smith and the rest of his 29~man executive can deliver the goods remains to be seen,
Under pressure from workers on the one side and government offi-~ cials on the other, Smith has been expressing both points of view. Whilst making militant statements about his union being the first victims of the 1964 Tory wage-freeze policy, he also speaks against “any tneedless! militancy," and hopes that Prime Minister Sir Alec Douglas-~ Home will save the day by conducting an. inquiry into the post office pay structure.
Home will probably stall for time by pressing for the dispute to go to arbitration or try. and get negotiations between the UPW and Bevins renewed,
Harold. Wilson, leader of the British Labour party and almost cer-~ tainly the. next Prime Minister, has remained virtually silent on the subject.
Even if the UPW stage a “work-to-rule" tactic [applying the rujes book to the letter] as they did in 1962, it would immediately create much confusion. Many businesses would suffer, Within hours, post offices and sorting depots would overflow with undelivered parcels and letters ~- that is if they ever got there.
The last time postal workers went on strike was in 1861, Even the present talk of strike action reflects the changing mood of not only the traditionally passive government employees but of the vast majority of the British working class,
IRAQ GOVERNMENT TO RELEASE POLITICAL PRISONERS
The Iraq government announced March 1 that it will release 450 political prisoners who have been held since hostilities were resumed last year against the Kurdish people, The announcement, which provides for the immediate freeing of the prisoners, follows a ceasefire order and the resumption of negotiations with General Barzani for a settlement with the Kurdish nationalists,
ALGERTAN