Workplace notes

Postal workers take action against coronavirus

From the editors of Going Postal, the ACG postal workers bulletin

Following actions in March and April by postal workers in different parts of the UK, including Alloa, Greenock, Winchester, etc., over concerns about the coronavirus and workplace safety, there were walkouts in High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire and Peterborough in Cambridgeshire.

At the delivery office on Queen Victoria Road in High Wycombe, one postal worker was diagnosed with coronavirus. As a result workers, already concerned about the low standards for safety at the office, went out on unofficial strike.

At the Werrington delivery office in Peterborough, after a manager tested positive for COVID-19, workers walked out on 16th May. They were angry that he had been walking around the delivery office without observing social distancing. Ninety five per cent of the workers at the office joined in the wildcat strike.

Meanwhile in Belgium in late May, postal workers walked out at Ixelles after their workload was increased, with an almost doubling of parcel volume as a result of online shopping increasing during the pandemic. Management then agreed to hire additional temporary staff.

Dyson revolt

Workers at the Malmesbury and Hullavington engineering factories in Wiltshire owned by James Dyson recently revolted over being forced back to work.

James Dyson, is the richest man in the UK, with a fortune of £16.2 billion. He is also the biggest farmer in the UK, owning 14,000 hectares of land with his Beeswax Dyson Farming agribusiness.

Workers working from home were ordered back to the workplace with no notice. They refused to give in under pressure and management were forced to make a U-turn.