Postal Workers and other Key Workers are the New Rock Stars
Postal April 29 2020Today is National Postal Workers Day which we celebrate every year, it’s an opportunity to say thank you to the blue army that has connected the citizens of the UK for over 500 years;
‘neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds’.
Postal workers have continued to work through all major disruptive events in our history, be it world wars or extreme weather that has brought the country to a standstill, ‘the Postman always delivers’, never has that old adage been more tested than in the last few weeks.
Postal workers along with other key workers have literally been on the frontline of the Coronavirus war, walking, delivering, sorting and driving, all in harm’s way of an invisible enemy, to deliver what everyone now recognises as a vital service. Today also serves as a day of remembrance as Postal Workers have in the course of carrying out their duty been infected by and succumbed to this dreadful virus.
This pandemic has heightened what is really important in life, what has been sacrificed or under invested in through years of corporate greed, selfishness and the ‘no such thing as society’ mentality that has blighted meaningful social evolution over the last 50 years.
Fat cat industrialists, pop stars, footballers and those who crave celebrity, have all been exposed as superficial and shallow. People used to look up to them but see them now locked in their gilded cages and know ‘those emperors wear no clothes’, they are detached from reality and have lost their hero status. They complain about their boredom, get tested before anyone else, cry that they are losing money or refuse to give up a small percentage of their obscene wealth to support others. Exposed, irrelevant and trivial.
No, today’s heroes wear uniforms of pride. The bus driver, the train driver, the NHS worker, the shop worker, the policeman, the Post Office worker and the Royal Mail Group worker, are the new ‘Rock Stars’ that keep the heart of our nation pumping.
Clearly it is now recognised that Royal Mail Group and the Post Office play a unique role in the social and economic life of the UK. They are a vital lifeline, even more powerful when interconnected, they should never have been split and hopefully an enlightened nation will call for and support their reintegration in the interest of everyone. Together they are one of those rare institutions that say something about who and what we are as a country and it must be protected.
Of course postal workers do so much more than deliver the mail and parcels to over 30 million addresses six days a week at a uniform price. They regularly go the extra mile to serve the communities they deliver to all year round and keep an eye out for the vulnerable and elderly. They are the eyes and ears of the local communities and many play the role of ‘Good Samaritan’, helping people and customers they encounter while out on their daily deliveries.
So please, today more than ever, just think about the role postal workers are playing whilst everything around you has changed so dramatically, the one thing you have been able to rely on all of your life is still holding true, ‘the Postman Always Delivers’ so please say thank you to all postal workers today – they absolutely deserve it.
Terry Pullinger is Deputy General Secretary of the Communication Workers Union.