Royal Mail has stated that “up to 60 per cent” of its workers came in, a claim condemned by CWU leader Billy Hayes as that of a company ‘in denial”. This barefaced lie is not even supported in the capitalist press. Reports from every corner of the country show empty offices, strong picket lines, and workers angry at Royal Mail’s plans and enthusiastic about the strike. A scab force was reduced largely to managers speeding around in vans trying to get rid of Special Delivery post, while Yorkies (wheeled containers) of mail sat piled up inside offices, often with their doors closed for the day, even to customers coming to collect packages.

The strike is an excellent first step in the struggle to stop Royal Mail’s business plan, with its 2.5 per cent pay “rise” (really a pay cut because inflation is running at nearly 5 per cent), 40,000 job cuts, and plans to hike up workloads and flood offices with part-timers. Despite media lies that the whole strike is about pay, stating postal workers are unrealistic or even greedy, on every picket line workers explained that they were fighting for their future, not just a few extra quid.

Huge potential in the current situation

The opportunity for a strong, victorious strike is there – so let’s harness it. Smaller offices are reported to have been just as solid as larger units that are known for their strength (see reports). And many part-timers, recruited as part of the last year’s efficiency cuts, stayed out in support of the strike.

Dave Ward, the Deputy General Secretary Postal, said, “We have seven days with no strikes and this is a window of opportunity for the company to come and negotiate seriously. We urge them to take it”. The CWU Executive will meet on Tuesday to consider the next steps; it is likely to announce the next strike date then, if Royal Mail doesn’t respond. The earliest legal date for action would be Tuesday 10 July, eleven days after the initial action.

But why should we wait that long to strike again? If Royal Mail doesn’t budge immediately, which it is not likely to, let’s call on our leaders to escalate the action, and to call an emergency war council of other public sector unions to win solidarity, including co-ordinating our ballots in a united public sector wide strike. The strength of yesterday’s strike shows that if the union called an all-out strike it would break Royal Mail within days.

Schools for socialism

Some picketers were beginning to question whether a long series of one-day strikes (the leadership strategy) will be enough to win, whether it won’t, rather, put off more and more workers over time. A movement needs to be organised within the CWU of rank and file posties, emboldened and energised by the strike, and thinking critically about how to win it. Strike committees of delegates elected in the offices and a national conference of militant postal workers, reps and branches should be called, so they can begin to demand a say in the running of the strike. Militant branches such as SW London and the East End, Exeter, Plymouth and Oxford can take the lead in calling it, along with the leftwing Postworker network.

Building an alternative strategy and leadership, based on the direct democracy and militancy of the rank and file, to the present one is crucial to reverse the whole direction of Royal Mail, pushed by market forces towards privatisation.

Strikes are schools for socialism and this one was no exception. There was debate about the way forward to win – one-dayers or all-out? – and strong support for uniting with other public sector workers facing Gordon Brown’s 2.5 per cent pay freeze, in order to deal a solid blow to Labour’s free market policies.

The strike took place at the start of Gordon Brown’s new government, and announcements that he has stuffed it with big business leaders. Instead of paying Royal Mail back the billions it made and the government took for decades to ease the crisis, he continues to spend it on the war in Iraq. Not a single government minister has come out in support of the union. Disgust with Labour was widespread on picket lines and shows we need to provide not just an industrial response – strikes –but a political response, by campaigning for the unions to stop supporting Labour and to build a new working class party.

Where next?

In the coming days we need to have debate and discussion in every office about how to practically prepare for the next strike to make it hit even harder. Workplace committees need to be elected to get the offices both shipshape for the next strike and vigilant against management harassment and provocation. Now we know where the weak offices are, they need to be visited by delegations of workers and union officials to stress the strike’s success and why it is necessary.

Workers that broke picket lines need to be talked to in the same manner, and hardship funds need to be set up to convince them that there is a safety net for those in danger of losing their house or car. We deliver to fire stations, schools, colleges, supermarkets, large factories and offices; most are unionised and, by contacting union reps, we can get solidarity collections and picket line visits on strike days.

Militant activists and branches should start a campaign with letters or petitions passed around the office and sent to Wimbledon CWU HQ, calling on the leaders to stop funding Labour, escalate the action and unite with other public sector unions. Breaking the NEC’s monopoly on strike strategy and pressuring it to set a course to step up the action and hit harder is just as important as getting our own offices into fighting shape; indeed, they are complementary tasks.

The enthusiasm and determination of yesterday’s strike shows that postal workers are far from defeated by the cuts of the last year. The union is not only intact after a year of cuts, but in many cases has renewed its base from the part-timers absorbed since 2006. We can knock back Allan Leighton, Adam Crozier and co. and their privatisation-happy puppet-master Gordon Brown. Now is the time to advance further and finish the fight for our jobs, pay and industry with a decisive and victorious strike. Our future is in our hands – let’s seize the opportunity!