Old Labour - Alive and well

The Post Office wants the government to give 20% of its shares to its workforce, in the hope that this might motivate them and share the benefits of its future success. The government is reluctant and the unions are completely opposed to the plan, despite the obvious benefits to its membership.

I am surprised that this important political story is being treated by the media as a "business" story - see the Times and the front page of the Telegraph's business section today.

The reason the unions oppose it as they are worried it is a "backdoor privatisation".... this is politics through and through. And here's me thinking we had moved beyond these old lefty arguments. The fact that the Post Office has quietly pulled itself back from the brink of financial oblivion in the last few years by becoming more independent of government control - not less.

Still, I can't help but think that the unions oppose this measure as they see it as something which will undermine their control of the Post Office workforce. Sad that after 20 years of successful privatisation in this country, some people still don't get it.