Strike? What Strike?

Before leaving the house this morning, I thought that there would be no postal delivery today, as the postal workers are on strike. But there was a delivery, and I’ve seen several posties out and about during the day, which suggests that support may be less than total.

And perhaps this is a sign that, in an occupation that is not massively well paid, there is a need for some of the workforce to keep money coming in. Even in the days when trades unions wielded rather more power than they do today, postal strikes could be broken: during the time that Sailor Heath occupied 10 Downing Street, the power workers won their dispute over pay, and the miners eventually provoked the three day week and Heath’s “Who governs Britain” election, but the postal workers lost in their attempt to gain a better pay deal.

Maybe this memory is spurring on Baron Mandelson of Indeterminate Guacamole as he watches the progress of the dispute, but doesn’t get involved. Allegedly.