CWU gate meetings on Post CEO Simon Thompson stand in long labour movement tradition.
On Tuesday morning 22nd November postal members of the CWU held gate meetings across the UK ahead of more strike action at the end of the week.
The meetings proposed a vote of no confidence in the current Royal Mail CEO Simon Thompson. Aside from being man who needs a beard like no other, Thompson of the competitive advantage that the universal service requirement gives RM preferring instead to keep shareholders happy by bashing the terms and conditions of CWU members.
Pictures of many of the meetings can be found on the CWU’s twitter account @CWUNews. They make an impressive display of working class solidarity and democracy in action.
It is a long tradition.
Before working people got the vote in the 1840s the Chartists would rally at Election hustings and vote their candidate as an MP. A poll would then be called where only men of property could vote with obvious results.
The tradition of workplace meetings continued, often to vote by hand for walk out. The tradition was strong enough and democratic enough to make the Government by the 1970s act to demand postal ballots for union action.
The tradition is global. In the early days of Solidarity in Poland workers would gather outside discussions between employers and the union in shipyards pressing for a positive outcome.
Simon Thompson is a man who clearly pays attention to organised capital. He may find the democratic power of organised labour is greater still
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