Firefighters support the postal workers’ strike in Sheffield (Picture: Rohan Kon)
Resistance to the assaults on workers is growing. In an editorial reflecting on Thursday’s strikes, and demanding no concessions, The Times newspaper wrote, “If Britain really is facing a new winter of discontent, it began in earnest yesterday.”
Lecturers across Britain and teachers in Scotland took part in their first strikes in the current revolt. You could sense the mood to fight back as thousands of striking teachers poured into a rally in Glasgow. These were the most lively sections of strikers, exuberant to be out. Workers in the Royal Mail are further into their dispute.
Each group has lessons to share with others. Ties of solidarity and joint action are growing fast but it is not clear yet whether they are strong enough to halt the bosses’ assault. But plenty of strikers know they have to keep fighting. And they know that it’s good to be striking alongside others.
Postal worker Spencer summed up the mood, “If we don’t stand up now, we’ve got to forever accept less. It’s definitely a good thing with everyone striking together. Look at the nurses—when would you have ever thought that nurses would be on strike? It must be bad.
“Everyone knows about the rail workers and what they’re going through. Everyone’s had enough.”
As the government and the bosses attempt to yet again make workers pay, it is also becoming clear that for all the specifics, all the disputes have a number of important similarities. One is a pattern that bosses and the government are holding firm and offering only terrible deals. And union leaders’ prevarications only reassure them we aren’t as determined as them.
As our side is starting to fight, it’s time to talk about how to win.
Some 70,000 university workers across Britain launched the first of three strikes over pay, working conditions and pensions. They were out alongside Unison union members at 18 universities and Unite union members at five who are fighting over pay.
On the Brighton picket, strikers said they’d never before seen that level of public support. Almost every car honked its horn in solidarity.
Rosa was one of 30 pickets outside the Centre for Contemporary Arts. She said, “My workload means that in the evening, you’re effectively working for free. Stress has become a serious health and safety issue. Because of how much I work, I don’t often feel part of the university, but on picket lines I do.”
Another striker Julie told Socialist Worker, “I’m so frustrated and angry with the government, they’ll happily give handouts to the rich and oil companies, but not to workers. Sometimes I struggle to find even a bit of hope. But today gives me hope.”
UCU members are fighting in two separate but connected disputes. The first is over bosses’ cuts to their pension scheme. The other is over pay, workloads, casualisation and equalities—known as the “four fights”.
George, another striker at Brighton said, “Over the years our workload has only become more intense. A lot of departments in the university have closed. More people have left academia, and they haven’t been replaced. So the rest of us are left to pick up the pieces.”
Dawn, a Unison member at the university, said people “can’t afford to live in Brighton anymore. I know lower-paid staff who are now being priced out of the town.”
It was a similar story across the colleges as the strikers joined large and vibrant picket lines. Edinburgh striker Meg said, “I’ve got 90 essays to mark in three weeks. That’ll take 90 hours of work, and I’ll only get paid for half of that time. I do this on top of a PhD, teaching and another part time job.”
Students held a banner that read, “Their working conditions are our learning conditions.” A number of strikers joined up with CWU members, including the 90-strong Liverpool university and the Kingston university picket lines. On Wednesday the university workers are set to walk out alongside 4,000 NEU union members at sixth form colleges.
Ryan told Socialist Worker they needed to step up the action, “Many branches have voted on a motion in support of indefinite action in the new year. I think the mood is there to fight until we win.”
Tens of thousands of EIS Scottish teachers’ union members walked out in the first day of national strikes over pay in almost 40 years. Every school on the Scottish mainland was severely hit or closed.
“We’re out because we want pay justice—but we’re also standing up for education,” said Naheed Crosbie from the picket line at Glasgow’s Bannerman High School on Thursday. “It’s great to be out on strike for the first time for many years.”
The mood to take action saw huge rallies in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Inverness, Aberdeen and Elgin. In Glasgow, thousands of strikers and supporters came together, despite the rain. For over half an hour groups of strikers poured into Glasgow Green from picket lines across the city.
It was noticeably full of young teachers who had never taken action before, but were fired up by the attacks on schools and their living standards. Striker Les told Socialist Worker, “We were handing out leaflets all the way to the rally on the subway and on the streets. People were grabbing them from us. If you’re a striker, you’re popular now.”
In Edinburgh there was a sea of pink and green, the union’s colours, outside the Holyrood parliament. School workers overwhelmingly rejected a 5 percent pay offer three months ago. Despite a late, cynical attempt by the Scottish government and the Cosla local authorities’ body to claim it had produced a “new” offer, the strike went ahead.
Naheed added, “The ‘new’ offer is the same money for three-quarters of teachers. Pay cuts impact the morale of teachers, recruitment and retention, which greatly disrupts the education of young people.”
At the Glasgow rally there were delegations from the UCU, CWU and RMT unions. The EIS has called two more strike days—10 January in primaries and on 11 January in secondaries. It has then added a long series of regional strikes over 16 days from 16 January to 6 February with just two education authorities out each day. Many activists think that won’t be enough to deliver what’s needed.
Royal Mail workers were back on strike for the first time in a month last Thursday. The walkout came after a long period of talks ended with bosses demanding union leaders sign up to 10,000 job cuts.
In a “final offer” bosses said they would give a 7 percent pay increase, plus a lump sum of 2 percent. It’s still a big real-terms pay cut—and in exchange for that, they want workers to give up thousands of jobs and almost all of their hard-won conditions.
“The union’s been in talks for about seven weeks and nothing’s changed,” Rick, a striker at Abbeywood and Thamesmead in south east London told Socialist Worker. “Royal Mail only wanted to make the union agree to their plans.
Royal Mail’s full offer after talks included a plan for mass redundancies, with some workplaces losing up to 30 percent of people. Bosses want to replace them with an unlimited number of owner-drivers.
They also want seasonal hours—working longer days in the winter. It’s a vision for a Royal Mail much closer to “gig economy” style couriers.
Union reps would have no say in how changes get made in their workplaces, which the 2 percent lump sum depends on. And if bosses decide the changes aren’t successful, they won’t even pay the 7 percent.
An all-out assault should be met with all-out action. Yet instead of escalating strikes CWU general secretary Dave Ward said the union would announce “other tactics”. He said that this would likely mean the union would sign up to a “genuine” offer of 9 percent and accept “reasonable change.”
CWU leaders had hoped last month that by calling off some strikes and “de-escalating tensions” bosses would reward them in talks. But as the union blinked, Royal Mail targeted reps and activists with suspensions.
CWU acting deputy general secretary for post Andy Furey said, “They are out to get our reps and we can’t accept that under any circumstances.” But he added, “We’ve also got to make sure that we don’t give anybody an excuse to suspend anybody.”
CWU leaders warn strikers to stick to anti-union laws they claim say only six people are allowed on a picket line, and that “supporters” must stand apart. That’s a law designed to make sure picketing isn’t effective.
There is an alternative. Solidarity from firefighters at Sheffield City Delivery Office thwarted bosses’ plans to undermine the strike.
Bosses brought in agency workers, who’d been told the Royal Mail workers were on holiday. CWU strikers convinced them not to cross the picket line—with the support of 100 FBU firefighters’ union members.
One CWU member reports, “Managers were like who are all these people, they don’t even work here? I said they’re firefighters standing with us, unlike you. It’s called solidarity, I don’t expect you to understand. One manager looked so ashamed he was about to cry.”
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