A special conference of the Communications Workers' Union (CWU) held on 4 October unanimously endorsed its Executive Committee's rejection of the Labour Court report. The conference also endorsed a ballot for industrial action in pursuit of the full payment of the national wage agreement.

The Labour Court told postal workers they must make sacrifices to keep An Post financially afloat. After nearly a year of hearings in various state bodies, this report endorses the management's strategy of holding back the national wage increases for all staff to force through a rotten deal on collection and delivery staff.

The ballot on industrial action will be overwhelmingly passed. Yet we must not have a repeat of last December when industrial action was called off because of the "intervention" of Minister Noel Dempsey.

If a successful campaign of militant action is to be achieved, ordinary union members must be in control of this action. Meetings must be organised in each workplace to determine the most effective action to be taken. It is clear that the union want to achieve full payment of Sustaining Progress but there must be a guarantee of payment with no strings attached before industrial action is called off.

As a first step in a campaign of industrial action (that should include strike action), the CWU Executive should call on postal workers to impose a ban on overtime. This ban would cause major disruption to the postal service, and possibly bring it to a halt. An Post is severely understaffed and cannot function without overtime, yet management want to make 1,500 workers redundant and cut overtime hours!

The group of An Post unions must meet and agree a joint strategy of industrial action to defeat the common anti-worker agenda they face. A united campaign of industrial action by postal workers can put massive political pressure on the government and force them to back off from their attempt to lower the wages and conditions of public sector workers.

The Socialist Party calls for:

- The immediate payment of sustaining progress to all postal staff including all monies backdated with no strings attached.

- The introduction of a basic wage for postal workers of €600 a week as a first step towards a decent living wage.

- The reversal of all cutbacks in postal workers' jobs, conditions and services.

- For the government to pay an annual subvention to An Post to fund its social obligation.

The Socialist Party is organising to transform our trade unions from being tame partners of the government and big business into fighting organisations that stand up to management's attacks. Contact Terry Kelleher who is a worker director in An Post and Socialist Party member to find out more about our work and ideas at 087 2857665.