CWU

Up to 4,000 Crown Post Office staff will strike on 19 April in an ongoing battle over closures, job cuts, and pay. The strike will take place from 2.30pm and was called after talks between Post Office management and the Communication Workers Union (CWU) broke down. CWU members are striking against bosses' plans to close 73 Crown Post Offices, a move which would threaten 800 jobs. They also want a pay rise, having faced a wage freeze since April 2011.

Mike Kyriazopoulos, a Workers’ Liberty supporter based in New Zealand/Aotearoa and active in Fightback, died on 18 January 2014 after a long battle with Motor Neurone Disease. This is a letter he wrote to comrades in April 2013. Early this year I was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease. It appears as though the “progress” of the disease (oddly Stalinist terminology) is quite rapid. So I wanted to thank all of you who know me for your political guidance, solidarity, friendship and love over the years. I first came across the AWL at York University Labour Club. But I realised the group was...

All three trade union activists at London Metropolitan University suspended by management have now been reinstated. Steve Jefferys, Max Watson, and Jawad Botmeh were suspended over allegations of misconduct relating to the disclosure of Jawad’s background (he has spent time in jail), but all three are now back at work. A high-profile campaign involving both Unison and the University and College Union put huge pressure on uni bosses. Unison activist Jonathan McCree, in a letter to the Islington Tribune, said: “This is testament to the campaigners from two unions at London Met, Unison and UCU...

150 people demonstrated at London Metropolitan University (LMU) in solidarity with victimised trade unionists Max Watson and Jawad Botmeh as they faced a hearing on Monday 18 February. Max and Jawad, who are activists in Unison, are suspended from their jobs because of alleged “gross misconduct”. A statement from the union branch said: “Thank you to all those who attended the lobby and helped to publicise it and build support. The huge turnout sends a strong message to university management that we will not tolerate victimisation and intimidation of trade union members.” University management...

Tyne and Wear Metro cleaners struck for 72 hours on 23 December, and London Underground cleaners struck on 31 December and 1 January, as part of ongoing battles for living wages and equality with directly-employed colleagues. Tyne and Wear Metro workers set up a soup kitchen in Newcastle city centre to highlight the poverty conditions into which low pay is forcing them. The Industrial Workers of Great Britain (IWGB) won a victory on 28 December, when cleaning contractor CCM agreed to pay the London Living Wage to workers cleaning the Exchange Tower near Canary Wharf. IWGB is also continuing...

Tesco drivers' strike Lorry drivers at a Tesco distribution centre in Doncaster, south Yorkshire, have struck against a management plan that could cost 183 jobs. The workers, who are employed by haulage firm Eddie Stobart Ltd., recently rejected a management offer to increase their redundancy pay. Unite officer Adrian Jones said that the offer "was designed to get them out the door and not to maintain employment." For more info, see the drivers' campaign page on Facebook here. Postal workers' boycott threat The Communication Workers Union (CWU) has announced plans to hold a consultative ballot...

The media arm of Richard Branson’s Virgin Group empire announced on 7 November that it plans to derecognise unions organising at the company, including the Communication Workers Union (CWU). Virgin is offering an internal “Voice Forum” as an alternative staff representative, and will ballot employees on whether they wish to be represented this body or by an independent union. A CWU statement said: “It’s self-evident that a company’s own ‘employee forum’ cannot possibly be as independent as a democratically accountable trade union”. The move sends a worrying signal to other industrial sectors —...

A 48-hour wildcat strike by postal workers in Bridgewater, south west England, ended in victory as a suspended Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) activist was returned to work. Workers also secured agreement for national talks around deteriorating industrial relations at the Bridgewater Delivery Office, where the CWU accuses bosses of heavy-handed management, refusal to comply with agreed upon consultation procedures, and making unilateral cuts to workers’ hours. Dave Wilshire, branch secretary of Bristol CWU, said: “Royal Mail can say what it likes but the fact is they would not talk to us...

At this year’s Communication Workers Union (CWU) conference (22-26 April), the controversial issue of the CWU’s role in “workfare” schemes in Royal Mail (RM) was swept under the carpet. The CWU Executive supported a motion from South Central No 1 branch (which is influenced by the SWP) full of sound and fury about the principle of workfare, but which stopped short of criticising the current use of the system in Royal Mail! Although the scheme agreed between the union and Royal Mail contains negotiated guarantees for those taken on, the interaction with the benefits system is unchallenged and...

On 27 February, the Daily Mail issued a front page rallying call to British business to save the government’s workfare programme. Quoting Sir Stuart Rose, former Executive Chairman of Marks & Spencer, the paper ordered firms to “show some backbone”. The Mail is responding to a wave of companies and charities refusing to take up the so-called “work experience” scheme. The list grows everyday and now includes TK Maxx, Sainsbury's, Waterstones, Shelter and Oxfam. In the Daily Mail article Rose recounts his humble beginnings, shelf-stacking and sweeping floors. He was however a management trainee...