Thirteen years after privatisation, Royal Mail bosses have rid themselves of the Universal Service Obligation (USO) to deliver mail to all 32m addresses, 6 days a week. Instead, they're prioritising profit-making parcel delivery and have cut the workforce by 40,000.

    There was no fight against these latest USO cuts. Union officials organised a "consultative" ballot which, after years of leadership betrayal, had the lowest ever turnout - only 32.9% even voted. Seven out of nine voted against the agreement or did not vote at all. So the result, i.e., a 65.4% acceptance reflecting only 22% of the members' acquiescence - can only be considered inquorate and invalid.

    Being let down by union leaders isn't only a problem for postal workers. A blatant case is currently going down on London Underground, where train drivers' union leaders from ASLEF agreed a lengthening of night and weekend shifts, while RMT leaders (rightly!) refused. So now RMT drivers are left to strike on their own. That said, RMT leaders could have involved all their Underground members in this dispute - it affects them all - to strengthen the strike. But they have not.

    The union officials' excuse is that the law doesn't allow "solidarity" strikes. But the law doesn't stop them calling multiple strikes simultaneously, does it? This is nothing new, of course. During the strikes of 2022, the RMT, ASLEF, CWU, UNITE, RCN, NEU, UCU, etc., all called for one- or two-day strikes... separately! Union leaders have always been afraid of upsetting the status quo. That's why they're accepted by the political establishment as "leaders" in the first place! The lesson for the rest of us is that we'll have to organise our own fight back when and where needed. And there's no time like the present!