‘THOMPSON out!’ chanted 17,000 striking Royal Mail postal workers at a rally in Parliament Square yesterday afternoon.
They were expressing their anger at the company’s CEO over the savage attack on their jobs, pay, and terms and conditions,
Addressing the mass rally, Communication Workers Union (CWU) general secretary Dave Ward said: ‘You care for your customers.
‘Who’s stopping us from giving that service?
‘We know how difficult it is for workers in struggle.
‘The people who created this crisis have not got the knowledge to run this service.
‘Why don’t we run thus service?
‘You made the company £158m in profit, and the 32 million letters you delivered during the pandemic.
‘Yet they (the bosses) say it’s getting worse. It’s going to continue getting worse until they negotiate.
‘Millions of pounds are paid to shareholders, they don’t put money back into the service.
‘They are running this company into the ground deliberately.
‘We want jobs and decent pay and for the service to continue to run.’
He pledged: ‘We are going to do whatever it take to win this dispute.’
First speaker at the rally CWU acting general secretary postal Andy Furey declared: ‘We’re going to win.
‘This is not just a dispute for Christmas, it’s a dispute for the new year.
‘On 16 January we will be sending out notice of ballot to the employers.
‘On 23 January we will be sending you ballot papers.
‘This union will not give up. It’s about the future of Royal Mail as a service.
‘They want to make our workers redundant. We are not having that.
‘The company made £758m last year – you made that profit.
‘The ACAS talks this week have not been negotiations.
‘We want an agreement, we must have job security.
We are not having deliveries being put back to three hours a day. We will win!’
National Education Union joint general secretary Kevin Courtney said: ‘When you win it will be a win for every Amazon worker, every teacher, every nurse.
‘We know Simon Thompson wants to treat you like the dirt under his shoe.
‘Thompson wants to replace you with zero hours contracts.
‘There is a change of mood among workers in this country. Workers are waking up, you can see that.
‘Nurses are striking, rail workers are on strike, bus workers strike. Victory to rail workers, nurses, teachers, most of all victory to CWU!’
In his remarks, RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: ‘For too long we’ve been too quiet.
‘All the right wing media and politicians hate us because they’re scared of us.
‘We’re moving forward to a society where people can have a fairer life.
‘The trade unions are the hope of the working class and we are going to deliver change for our people.
‘The Labour Party and all those professional politicians, where were you when we were fighting for jobs?
‘I say to Starmer which side are you on?
‘We are going to stand up for trade unions and we are going to win.’
