Strike Follow

Our strike has ended in victory after a week of unofficial action. It has been a revelation for all of us. It began over a small incident but quickly escalated to being about intimidation, harassment and victimisation. Royal Mail changed tactics for this strike. Once it started they were out to sack reps, to break the union in Oxford as an example to elsewhere. But we beat the bastards. We survived because of local and national solidarity.

London Underground management was forced to admit that Monday's strike paralysed the tube.

Around 900 postal workers were on unofficial illegal strike in Oxfordshire as Socialist Worker went to press.

"This is back to divide and rule." So said a Vauxhall car worker in Luton this week. The result of the strike ballot by Vauxhall workers for action to save the Luton plant was to be announced at the end of this week.

"We will be on the picket lines from 6.30am on Friday. Rolls-Royce will not listen to us. We don't have any choice but to strike."

Air Traffic controllers in the IPMS union voted at a delegate conference last weekend to ballot members on strike action if the government continues its plans to privatise the National Air Traffic Services (NATS).

Regular readers of Socialist Worker will have noticed some changes in the paper in the last three weeks. We are devoting more pages than before to reports of meetings, protests, strike ballots and strikes. And on each of the pages there are more reports than before.

Monday's London Evening Standard reported on the tube strike in London that "at least 16 main stations and depots were picketed, with many of the Aslef members being joined by RMT personnel and Socialist Workers Party activists".

Some 1,300 council workers in Knowsley, members of the public sector union UNISON, struck on Thursday of last week against our bosses' plans to make us work longer hours. The strike was absolutely solid across the council.

Willerby Holiday Homes was shut down on Thursday and Friday of last week after 300 UCATT union members staged an unofficial strike in support of their demands for full time on-site shop stewards.

Tube workers in London were set to strike on Monday after a magnificent vote for action to stop privatisation wrecking health and safety. Tube bosses were threatening to go to the courts to try and undermine the action as Socialist Worker went to press.

'This dispute is part of our revenge' An unofficial rank and file strike by about 3,000 postal workers in north west England broke the anti-union laws and forced Royal Mail management into a humiliating retreat this week.