by René Lavanchy
THE Government’s proposals to part-privatise the Royal Mail this week collided with a campaign supported by the TUC, its member unions and other activists to stop the plans, which could tear the Labour-union link apart.
At a packed rally in Westminster, organised on the eve of Business Secretary Lord Mandelson presenting the Government’s bill in the House of Lords, the Communication Workers’ Union gave its strongest indication yet that it will split from Labour if the plans go ahead.
Ministers want to sell around 30 per cent of Royal Mail to a private company, in violation of its commitment at Warwick’s National Policy Forum to a “wholly publicly owned, integrated Royal Mail group”. The Dutch firm TNT is considered the frontrunner.
CWU members vote on affiliation annually, but the union leadership have apparently decided not to mobilise their officials in support of remaining within Labour, for which they pay around £1 million in funding a year.
The GMB union meanwhile is set to slash funding to MPs’ constituencies if they do not rebel against the Government.
A heated CWU general secretary Billy Hayes shouted at the audience: “If they privatise the postal service, I don’t care who wins the next election because there won’t be any difference between them.”
His deputy Dave Ward said: “When Mandelson publishes his bill on Thursday, it may be time for us to publish our own manifesto of ‘we will disaffiliate from the Labour Party’.”
GMB general secretary Paul Kenny told Tribune his union would strip MPs who voted for the bill of constituency funding: “We’ve got a register. It’s not just a threat. We’ve done it before.”
The Government has indicated its bill will guarantee that further privatisation will need new legislation.
However, Tribune has learned that relations between Gordon Brown and Labour-affiliated unions are at stalemate after union representatives told Downing Street officials that no sweeteners would persuade them to drop their opposition.
An argument is expected to break out with postal minister Pat McFadden at Labour’s National Policy Forum tomorrow (Saturday).
Labour peer Lord Clarke told the rally he would try to derail the bill as soon as it is presented in the Lords, and promised to write to every Labour peer asking them to vote against it.
But although at least 125 Labour MPs had signed an Early Day Motion opposing the plans as Tribune went to press, the Government is likely to win – but only with the support of the Conservatives, who have promised it.
The Government has promised to underwrite Royal Mail’s pension deficit, and released a letter from its pension fund chair warning of “potentially devastating consequences” if the pensions are not bailed out.
But Dave Ward said: “This government chose to have a pensions holiday when the times were good for 13 or 14 years.”
A number of opposition MPs are expected to vote against the Government. Daniel Kawczynski, the Conservative MP for Shrewsbury and Atcham who attended the rally, told Tribune: “I represent a very rural constituency. A lot of senior citizens live there. A foreign owned company will cut services. I will be defying the whip on that.”
