The world has indeed moved on, and this IS 2011, not 1971.
But take a look at this story from 1971:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/date ... 516343.stm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Long industrial dispute involving postal workers
Many lose far more in wages than the eventual settlement is worth
Union leader caves in and sends workers back to work after poor strategy / handling of dispute
Union leader more interested in furthering his political career than in the interests of members who pay their subs and thus his salary
Sound familiar, anyone ?
Tom Jackson's post-dispute career included a nice little earner as a Director of the (then) Government-owned BP from 1975–1983
Alan Johnson MP was CWU leader before going into politics, and can hardly be said to have fought for us when it came to Postal Deregulation
Things HAVE changed outside of RM-land. I think markadam has a point. RM is still stuck in a time-warp of poor industrial relations, and that is not solely the fault of the management. The 1971 'class-struggle' approach to industrial relations is still prevalent yet most of us RM employees have the trappings of the 21st Century living when we're not actually at work.
(Dives for cover, awaiting flak)