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Business secretary Lord Mandelson’s plan to privatise Royal Mail has created a storm of protest. This is raging through sections of New Labour that were once cringingly loyal to the leadership.

Government plans to privatise Royal Mail have the potential to become for Gordon Brown what the poll tax was to Margaret Thatcher.

Anger with New Labour among postal workers has reached record highs since the privatisation announcement.

Postal workers in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, were celebrating this week after a rooftop protest won a victory over Royal Mail managers.

A rebellion is spreading that threatens to stop New Labour’s plans to sell off the post service.

Hundreds of postal workers lobbied parliament on Tuesday, angry over the New Labour government’s plans to push through the privatisation of Royal Mail.

Postal workers woke up to shocking newspaper headlines last week that talked of 16,000 job losses at Royal Mail.

Royal Mail managers in north London are provoking possible strike action by introducing 35-hour contracts for new workers, instead of the 40-hour contracts that are agreed with the postal workers’ CWU union.

Several delivery offices in Oxford are preparing for possible industrial action in protest at attempts by Royal Mail to impose changes to working practices without negotiation with the union. This is a clear breach of national and local agreements.

Government plans to part-privatise Royal Mail threaten a jobs massacre and the smashing of one of the best-unionised industries in Britain. But, according to some leading CWU union activists, the leadership of their union has so far failed to deliver a strategy to resist this.

While the government embarks on a collision course with the labour movement with its plans to privatise Royal Mail, it seems that the company is intent on stoking conflict with the union by victimising activists.