The Royal Mail management and unions deserve each other. The latest threatened national strike is sure to kill any hope of reviving this much loved institution.
This is profoundly depressing. I’ve long protested against Conservative and Labour attempts to sell the Royal Mail, believing that privatisation would destroy everything the organisation stood for. I’ve cherished the personal service we get from our postman. (A highlight was his decision to deliver our wedding stationery at the start of his round, as he knew we left the house early.) But as the workforce and management combine to sabotage the service, I’ve decided that enough is enough. There’s absolutely no point in keeping the Royal Mail if it cannot provide a decent service.
The very idea of striking to save something is deeply flawed. The year-long miners’ strike of the 1980s helped Margaret Thatcher dismantle Britain’s mining industry. I’m deeply suspicious of the Royal Mail’s management – the postman blogger Roy Mayall’s insight into management actions sounds very plausible – but sabotaging the very thing you want to save is simply stupid.
All this reminds me of a left winger’s article in the Guardian after MG Rover collapsed in 2005. The impassioned article demanded the government save the carmaker, talking about the fate of the workers, without once mentioning the people who actually bought the cars. The postal union chiefs this week trotted out the usual empty regrets about causing inconvenience, while drooling over a renewal of 1970s style industrial warfare. The news that Amazon and Argos are switching from Royal Mail should put the fear of God into postal workers and managers. But they will ignore the threat, and simply continue their deluded march towards oblivion.
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