Privatisation

Big investors, and a fair few middle-class people who can afford £750 to bid for shares, stand to make large windfall gains as Royal Mail shares are allocated and start trading, from 15 October. The government has deliberately set the share price low to get a successful sell-off, and the moneyed classes are confident that new private bosses will be able to get good profits by beating down postal workers’ pay and conditions. On 16 October the postal workers’ union CWU will announce the result of a ballot on strikes to win guarantees on terms and conditions. However, the union’s campaign so far...

On 19 September, Justice Secretary Chris Grayling announced that the majority of probation services across England and Wales would be “up for sale”. 70% of offender rehabilitation services will be privatised by Autumn 2014. The remaining 30% of probation work, which will comprise “high risk” only cases (offenders categorised as posing a significant threat to the community), will be placed under the control of 35 new government companies. The high risk work will form a new and hugely slimmed down National Probation Service. The shift from an accountable, public and largely successful public...

The Government has speeded up the sell-off of Royal Mail so that the shares will be sold and trading on the market before the strikes for which the Communication Workers' Union is now balloting can start. The share offer went out on 27 September, the same day that the CWU ballot started. Applications to buy shares must be in by 8 October. The allocation of shares to buyers will be announced, and some limited trading will start, on 11 October, and then full trading on 15 October. The CWU ballot closes on 16 October, and the first legal date for strikes will be 23 October. Dave Chapple, Bristol...

I was really pleased to be part of the student bloc for much of the 50-60,000 strong TUC march in Manchester on 29 September against the Tories as they met for their conference. Among many other contingents were activists from Manchester University, where there is a vibrant group called Manchester Save Our NHS. The important thing about protests like this is to feel positive and buoyed up by is size and passion and take that feeling back to your student union and workplace, and build local campaigns to defend the NHS. Use the success of this demo to keep working hard, and get students who are...

The government has promised that the privatisation of Royal Mail will take place “within weeks”. Shares in the privatised company will be offered to Royal Mail workers for a minimum spend of £500 (which can top up a free share bundle every worker will receive, with the total shares going to staff amounting to 10% of the business). The Communication Workers Union (CWU), which organises Royal Mail staff, began balloting its members for strikes on 20 September, with the results due on 3 October. The ballot focuses on a number of ongoing industrial issues, including pay and pensions. In an attempt...

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) has announced that it will ballot members working for Royal Mail and Parcelforce for strikes from 20 September unless Royal Mail agrees a “legally-binding” deal that guarantees to protect workers’ pay, pensions, and conditions in the event of the privatisation of the service. The ballot would be due back on 3 October, with strikes expected by 10 October if it returns a yes vote. It would be the first national ballot of CWU’s 125,000 Royal Mail members since 2009. CWU deputy general secretary Dave Ward said: “We are dealing with a company that is preparing...

The government plans to sell off Royal Mail, in what will be the largest privatisation since British Gas 26 years ago. Labour MPs have branded the proposals “desperate”. The government hopes to raise £3 billion from the sale, with some Labour figures suggesting it is a quick-fix attempt to claw back some of a £245 billion overspend in government borrowing. 10% of Royal Mail shares will be distributed to employees. It is not clear whether they will be given the shares for free or have to pay. The rest may be sold off on the open share market or as a lump to a big company. The Communication...

Sussex University branches of the University and College Union (UCU) and Unite have both returned large majorities for strikes against outsourcing in indicative ballots. UCU members vote returned a 75% majority on a 60% turnout, and the Unite ballot returned a 93% majority on a 70% turnout. Unison, which conducted a “membership survey” on industrial action, has yet to release its results. They are due on Thursday 9 May, but many workers say they have yet to receive their papers so are fighting for an extension in order to allow them to vote. Workers could strike against the outsourcing of 235...

In a late-night session on 24 April, Lords voted through secondary legislation that will drive forward NHS privatisation. The “section 75 regulations” provide the detail on how the new Clinical Commissioning Groups will sell the NHS to the private sector. Health academic Lucy Reynolds explains: “The Health and Social Care Bill was passed in a form as if it were an aeroplane without any jet engines. The structure was there but [...] they couldn’t find the thing in it to accomplish the privatisation. The regulations provide the jet engines and will make that privatisation go ahead.” Prior to...

The government plans to privatise 70% of the entire national probation service by 2015, leaving just “high-risk offender management” to public probation trusts. The proposals are not evidence-based; there is not a single shred of evidence to suggest the service will be more effective with a privatised, payment-by-results system. The probation service has in fact been successful in reducing re-offending rates year on year, so there is simply no reasonable argument to privatise. It’s purely ideological. In my office, many workers of all grades are no longer content with their position within the...