Billy Hayes ‘Stronger than Scargill’ He Says

By David Sanderson and Tom Baldwin
The Times Online

The trade union leader planning two days of crippling nationwide postal strikes next week has said he is more powerful than Arthur Scargill was in the 1980s.

In an interview with The Times, Billy Hayes signalled that he was willing to order further industrial action in the run-up to Christmas if Royal Mail and the Government fail to accede to demands for independent arbitration.

The leader of the Communication Workers Union said he was “not ruling anything out”, including an indefinite stoppage by 120,000 postal workers angry at Royal Mail’s plans for reforms. Comparing the action with the miners strike in the 1980s, he said that Mr Scargill had failed to authorise the strikes through a ballot and faced a long stand-off because the Tory Government of the time had stockpiled supplies of coal.

By contrast, he said, the CWU had secured a majority vote in favour of industrial action and there was little anyone could do to mitigate the impact of a Christmas postal strike.

“Mail volumes increase by three times in the run-up to Christmas and the thing about mail is that it’s not something you can stockpile,” Mr Hayes told The Times. “What this means is that the impact of any future action will not be unimportant. Royal Mail is a key sector of the economy.”

Asked whether he was in a stronger position than Mr Scargill, he replied:

“Yes. I think in terms of the impact of the Royal Mail on the economy, it’s stronger. There’s no doubt.”

Mr Hayes said that although the union was striving to reach agreement with Royal Mail, the planned 48-hour walkout starting this Thursday, may not be the last.

The CWU leader stressed that he was willing to compromise and once again offered talks with Royal Mail through Acas, the arbitration council. He added that it would “be foolish of me not to be mindful of the impact of a strike” on the economy and the Government’s fortunes. He called on Lord Mandelson to intervene. The Business Secretary has backed Royal Mail so far in its refusal to involve Acas in resolving the dispute, which centres on plans to modernise the workplace and reform conditions.

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