The Arguments Against A Royal Mail Sell-Off Are Clear-Cut

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Labour must draw a line in the sand over coalition plans for our postal service, writes Billy Hayes.

Today the Labour Party conference will be discussing the core of its economic policy in the sessions on "work and business" and "stability and prosperity."

This will be an opportunity for the party to debate an alternative to austerity, wage and benefit cuts, and privatisation.
Instead of a weak and jobless recovery, Labour could be demonstrating how a government-led investment programme would create a jobs and wages-led expansion of the economy.

This would involve breaking with the constraints the coalition government has imposed upon the economy.

The CWU will be following the sessions particularly closely because we hope to hear a clear statement on the future of Royal Mail under an incoming Labour government.

In recent months, the Labour leadership has come out clearly against the privatisation of Royal Mail.

This is to be greatly welcomed, and has increased the pressure on the coalition government.

The arguments against privatisation are clear cut.

It will lead to higher prices for small businesses and domestic consumers.

A privatised Royal Mail will lobby to end the six-day delivery and uniform tariff.

It will lead to a deterioration in rural areas and areas defined as "non-profitable."

The new priority will be shareholder dividends over the service standards.

There will be a drive to worsen the wages and conditions of the postal workers.

On September 12 the government made its formal "announcement of intention to float" Royal Mail shares on the London stock exchange by an initial public offering.

Since that time, the government has flooded the national press with adverts for the sale. Presumably it is hoping for a resurgence of "popular capitalism" - a rerun of 1980s myths.

But in reality the government is in some difficulty.

Not only has it had to contend with a very clear opposition from the CWU but recently Unite, which organises Royal Mail managers, voted against privatisation in a consultative ballot.

Further, the National Federation of Sub-Postmasters/Postmistresses, which represents the franchise-holders in post offices, issued an instruction to its members not to handle the material for the sale.

So the government cannot claim any popular support among the workforce for its jolly vision of a workers' stakeholding in a privatised Royal Mail.

The government has not been any more successful in persuading the public of the validity of the sale.

The most recent opinion polls registered 70 per cent and 67 per cent against the sale.

The crunch is whether the private markets are convinced. Certainly it is difficult for the government to explain that the workforce is preparing for a strike just as the sale is being prepared.

The CWU issued a notice to the employer on Friday September 20. The ballot papers go out on the September 27, and the result will be declared on the October 16.

Private investors may well regard this as a big obstacle to buying.

In these conditions, it will also have an impact what Labour does. The share prospectus, yet to be printed, has to outline the position of the workforce and unions, and also the parliamentary opposition.

If the party conference comes out strongly and explicitly for renationalisation, in the event of a sale, then this cannot but fail to have an impact on potential investors.

They will surely understand that from party conference there will be a strong campaign for a Labour government in 2015 to quickly overturn the sale.

Of course, it would be decisive if the Labour leadership came out and said that that is exactly what it intends to do.

In these circumstances, the discipline of "no spending commitments" begins to resemble a straitjacket upon the party's political initiative.

The CWU has placed submitted a contemporary motion which exactly calls upon conference to support renationalisation in the event of a sale.

To our knowledge, at least 16 constituency Labour parties have also submitted a similar motion.

Conference is not without its irrational procedural elements, so it may be possible that this pressing issue is yet pushed off the agenda.
But it is certain the fight against privatisation will continue. The policy of renationalisation is the right one.

If it is not adopted by Labour's conference today, then there will be an unceasing campaign until it is.

There is no other way to guarantee the future of the postal industry for customers and postal workers alike, other than as an integrated, publicly owned service.

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[UnhappyGremlin]

Watched an episode of The Office last night.

David Brent states it is illegal to destroy anything containing the Queens image.
Don't know if it's true, but if it is, the Government and RM, Moya, Fallon and Cable could find themselves in trouble.....