Peoples Post Rally Manchester Monday 5th October 2015
I attended this rally on behalf of the branch, the rally was held inside and outside of Manchester Cathedral
“We can go away from here and build something special – let’s do it for the millions, not the millionaires,” urged Dave Ward as he brought the tumultuous Manchester People’s Post rally to a close last night. With around 1,000 people crammed inside the city’s historic cathedral and several thousand more filling the Cathedral Gardens area outside, this was one of the biggest ever CWU-organised actions – it was certainly the liveliest!
Forewarned that the huge venue was likely to be packed out, event organisers had taken the innovative step of setting up an extra speakers’ platform outside the iconic building, and speakers rushed from addressing the full-to-the-rafters Cathedral Hall to give their contributions again to the massed ranks thronging the precinct known locally as ‘The Triangle’.
Some of the younger attendees had even climbed up on the sills of first-floor windows to get a better view, as Dave Ward, Terry Pullinger, Jane Loftus, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and others explained the People’s Post campaign as an integral part of the struggle to build a positive alternative to austerity, cuts and the so-called ‘free market’.
With every seat in the hall having been filled almost an hour before the scheduled start, the audience was entertained with a selection of music and as the final chorus of the classic 1970s Strawbs hit “I’m a union man” ebbed away, David Holgate, Manchester Cathedral’s Canon for Theology and Mission, opened the meeting with a warm welcome to everyone.
Canon Holgate reminded the assembly that “this cathedral is yours, not ours” and then led a short prayer in which he appealed to “God the communicator” asking Him to “please inspire all who speak and all who listen. Help us to communicate well, Amen.”
And communicate well everyone did, from first to last, chairman for the evening Kevin Maguire kicking off with a strongly worded criticism of Chancellor George Osborne for making the UK’s poorest workers worse off through tax credit cuts.
Maguire, the associate editor of the Daily Mirror, then had the audience laughing when he told them that he had “always wanted to introduce JC in a cathedral,” in a reference to the Labour leader’s initials.
Our general secretary and his deputy were the first speakers, both of them setting out in detail the arguments for defending our postal industry, as a vital public service and as a defence of workers’ jobs, pay, terms and conditions.
“We’re sending a defiant message to the Tories,” said Dave, adding: “You may have privatised Royal Mail, but this will always be the People’s Post.”
Our general secretary pledged that the union will “refuse to accept” postal workers terms and conditions being “dragged down” by competition and urged all workers in our industry, in all businesses to “join the CWU and we’ll fight to raise your pay, terms and conditions.”
Dave also highlighted plans to launch an online petition backing the campaign’s aims, with a target of 100,000 signatories.
DGSP Terry continued the focus on the social importance of the universal postal service, describing it as a “natural monopoly” and “one of the great inventions of our social history.”
And he also had strong words of praise for all the union’s front line reps and activists, who he described as “heroes.” Terry explained: “Those people don’t just protest on one day, they protest every day of their working lives, standing up to the employer.”
The CWU is “a fighting union,” he continued and vowed that, if postal workers’ pay, terms and conditions are attacked “We will fight.”
Next up was Green Party leader Natalie Bennett, who predicted that the philosophy of neo-liberalism, which “rose with Mrs Thatcher, is going to fall with Cameron.”
Other memorable speakers were author Owen Jones, the ‘Artist Taxi Driver’, Mark McGowan, and Abby Tomlinson the creator of #milifandom.
Both inside and outside, the arrival of the new Labour Party leader was greeted with enormous enthusiasm – in the Cathedral Hall, Jeremy Corbyn was cheered to the rafters, receiving prolonged standing ovations before and after his speech, while his appearance outside was greeted with an explosion of noise that visiting Conservative Party conference delegates may have heard in their hotel rooms.
The Labour leader spelled out exactly why he fully supports the People’s Post campaign, stating that the privatisation of the company had been “a massive rip-off.”
He vowed to push for the renationalisation of Royal Mail and to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the CWU in protecting the universal postal service and postal workers’ pay, terms and conditions.
To the crowd outside, Corbyn asked: “Are we going to allow Royal Mail to be destroyed on the altar of profitability?” The mass of people outside shouted: “No”.
And, sending his own defiant message to those who would destroy the USO and attack the workers, Corbyn vowed: “They’re not getting away with it, we’re not having it, we’re protecting Royal Mail.”
In the hall, Corbyn promised to work to build “a society that cares for all – that is the fundamental principle of what our party is all about.
“Our election victory in 2020 won’t be won in the four weeks of the campaign,” he warned, “it’ll be won by winning the hearts and minds of people right across this country.
“We’re creating a movement that cares for everyone – and we’re going to do it together.”
Closing the rally, Dave Ward thanked members of Manchester CWU Branch for their invaluable assistance in organising the event and the union’s telecoms and financial services members for their support, as well as Canon Holgate and everyone else for their attendance and support.
“This is an exciting time in politics. We don’t have to be victims, we can build a positive alternative,” he stressed.
“We can go away from here and build something special – for the millions, not the millionaires.”
Andy Beeby
Branch Political Officer
CWU Eastern No5 Branch 
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