Last week, London Postal workers staged a 24-hour strike - but the government managed to use a legal technicality to stop 3 of the largest offices from taking part in the action.

Earlier the same week, one of Europe's richest companies (Total) sacked 900 workers without having to comply with any legal requirements.

These are the rules of the game. To boost their profits they can do what they want. But to defend our livelihoods, we must jump through endless hoops - and even if we do, they find other obstacles to put in our way.

This time around, however, their system is coming up against the resistance of a section of workers. At the time of writing, at least 9 power stations and refineries are still affected by unofficial walkouts against the sacking of the 900 workers at the Lindsay Oil Refinery in Lincolnshire.

These workers were sacked when they responded to a threat of redundancy against 51 of their fellow workers, by walking off the job.

Obviously, Total was caught by surprise by the wave of solidarity which immediately developed right across the industry.

So much so, that they had to climb down and retract the 900 sackings, but they then came up with a process whereby 647 workers were meant to reapply for their jobs. Which of course allows the company to embark on a selective sacking exercise.

This hasn't worked. Workers turned up to the plant and collectively burnt their dismissal notices and re-application forms.

The solidarity action is still going on, even while Total is said to have agreed to talks. This is probably the only language that the profit sharks at the likes of Total can understand. These workers deserve our support.