Peter Mandelson, friend of the filthy rich and aspiring Tory minister, is reported to be ‘beyond anger’ with the unions for ‘obstructing’ his ‘modernisation’ plans for Royal Mail. An obvious question here is about his notion of ‘modernity’; in the midst of the crisis earlier this year Mandelson himself was proposing the creation of a People’s Bank, constructed around the national network of post offices. Such an idea appeared at that moment to be much more ‘modern’ than continued slavishly adherence to an ideology which had led to social chaos, political repression, war, vastly increased inequality and a near total collapse of the economy. It was of course quickly forgotten in favour of continuing with the same policies of handing essential national institutions over to a gang of speculators, gamblers and crooks, thereby destroying the kinds of secure jobs that are fundamental to a functioning economy and laying wastage to public services.
It seems clear to me that promises have been made to the private sector with regard to the Royal Mail, promises that the Government is determined to keep at any cost. It all puts me in mind of Blair’s secret promise to Bush about the war in Iraq. Let’s be clear: we are dealing with a bunch of liars. Nothing that the Government says with regard to the present or future of Royal Mail can be trusted in the slightest, as this excellent LRB article makes clear.
A prediction: in just under a year’s time we will see this utter scumbag sitting on the stage at the next Conservative Party conference. The fact that the Labour Party is determined to spend its last few months in power on a hell-bent mission to destroy jobs and services as a favour to the private sector says it all. I would sooner vote for the Monster Raving Loony Party than this bunch of cynical f******* *****.
After the decimation of trade union power over the last thirty years, a lot of people simply don’t seem to have any understanding of why people in public services go on strike. Comments abound such as, it’s all very well to go on strike as long as it doesn’t harm the public, or, I don’t see why i have to suffer, I’m not responsible for the policies of the Government. I believe that the government is the government of all of us; we as citizens have an ethical duty to accept or to fight against the decisions that our Government takes. The most powerful tool the postal workers have in their fight to defend jobs and services (for them and for all of us) is the right to withdraw their labour, and I for one support them wholeheartedly, even though it may well mean that I suffer personally in the short term.
Infinite Coincidence 