BRITISH POSTMEN SET STRIKE DATE |
By. Alan Adair
-LONDON, March 19 -» Leaders of Britain's 120,000 postmen yester~ day fixed April 16 as the date for a one-day nation-wide strike, the first such action since 1891.* More than seventy meetings are to be called by the executive of the Union of Post Office Workers [UPW] up and down the country culminating in a meeting on’April 14 in Londonts Albert Hall,- which will be addressed by UPW. General Seoretary Ron » smith,
As soon as the strike date was sot, the 81,000 strong Post Office ~Engineering Union issued a statement giving one hundred per cent sup=port to the postmen. ;
*The article in the March 13 World Outlook has the date erroneously as 1861,
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During the two weeks following April 16, the UPW executive has directed its members to ban all overtime and Sunday work, Mail sorters have been asked to "work to rule"; that is, do their best to carry out the hundreds of rules and regulations they are supposed to observe, This will convert sorting offices into bottlenecks,
-Postmen will "withdraw their goodwill" by avoiding short cuts in mail deliveries. After this two-week period, the executive will méet to discuss. further strategy. It is possible they will conduct short.. strikes at some thirty-five key distribution centres, Telegram deliveries are the only ones enjoined to keep up service, The UPW leadership. considers scene chan of telegraphs to be essential service.
At issue is the refusal of the Tory government to concede a wage increase of any real meaning. [See Worid Outlook March 13+]
Last Monday the UPW submitted an appeal to Maudling, the Chan cellor of the Exchequer, urging him to intervene by setting up an -Tindependent" inquiry into: post office. pay structure.. Having received and rejected a similar-proposal by the UPW some weeks ago it is not surprising that Maudling has,,so far, not bothered to answer the second plea, In turning down the original appeal, he suggested that any wage claim should be submitted to an arbitration tribunal,
Refusing this offer, Ron Smith wrote: "There cannot be good labour relations where it is. impossible to settle pay and conditions by negotiation and common sense. Constant reference to arbitration destroys those relations, We need a basis on which we can rebuild our. ability to negotiate, Only.an independent inquiry can give us that. . 7 we
Smith and his executive are still hoping the government will con-= cede their demand for an independent inquiry and consequently avoid or at least stall a strike. The distribution of strike notices has been delayed to give Maudling more time to reply to their seoond demand for an inquiry. Having shown the whole country that the poste men are prepared to take direct action, Smith now expects the government to concede. But the Tories do not appear too eager to compromise, last Saturday, the Chancellor of the Exehequer said. that what was involved was the principle on whieh the pay of the entire Civil Service is determined. .
Also, if the government concedes more than a four per cent wage increase without a battle, the whole criteria for industrial negotiations (they have set four per cent as the maximum wage increase. possible at this time) will have broken down,
Adding insult to injury, the Tory government is forcing the postmen to deliver unaddressed antilabour, antinationalisation eleotion leaflets put out by the right-wing Aims of Industry. This has caused _much protest among postal workers. 7
‘In face of the hard ‘line peing taken against them by the Tory
government, the postmen, it appears, are all set to fight for a wage increase that will at least bring them in line with the majority of Britain's semiskilled workers,
Indiats New Budget:
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