Now the Guardian has run a hit-job on the CWU – but it backfired

The CWU rally at parliament and the Guardian logo


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The Guardian seems unable to hide its centre-right, divide-and-conquer agenda anymore – once again it’s gone on the attack over striking workers. This time, it thinks it’s being subtle – when in reality a sledge hammer would be more discreet. However, it didn’t go quite according to plan.

Guardian: shameless

As the Canary previously reported, some media outlets have been undermining striking workers recently, when they should know better. First, the supposedly impartial BBC ran a divisive piece on the National union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) strike. It was about how people’s Christmas travel plans had been affected by the industrial action. However, one of the stories had obvious holes in it – and the BBC had to remove it.

Then, the Guardian joined in. As the Canary previously reported:

First, the supposedly left-wing outlet has put a call-out for stories on its website. It was around the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) Union Border Force strikes happening over Christmas.

The Guardian was asking people if their:

holiday travel [had] been affected by the strike?

It wanted readers to send in their stories. This was at least the second time the Guardian had run this kind of article. A previous call-out was for hospitality bosses and workers regarding strikes more broadly. Clearly, this kind of cheap, divisive hackery suits the Guardian‘s editors, because it’s now done another one of these ‘reader stories’ requests.

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Aiming for the CWU

This time, the Guardian has striking Communication Workers Union (CWU) staff in its sights. It tweeted:

The shameless rag asked its readers:

how they’re dealing with disruptions to their deliveries this winter. Were you aware of a delay when you bought the item or have you been taken by surprise? Are you doing more shopping on the high street instead?

It was clear what workers and companies the Guardian was referring to, as it had tagged the article ‘Royal Mail’. People on social media had mixed responses. However, many people were calling out the Guardian for this obvious hit job on CWU members:

However, as well as the CWU the Guardian call-out was also causing a pile-on against underpaid and overworked gig economy couriers, too – with some people defending posties but complaining about companies like Evri. So, the Guardian managed to not only pit Royal Mail workers against the rest of us, but also courier workers against their CWU colleagues, too.

Divide and conquer

As the Canary previously wrote:

Guardian editors surely must know better than to put out content that is divisive and playing into government agendas.

Of course, the Guardian is merely aiding and abetting the Tories with this content – at a time when the government is actively blocking resolutions to disputes for the likes of the RMT.

But don’t worry – if you thought the Guardian couldn’t sink any lower, it just did. It also did a call-out for people who’ve ‘had to take someone to a UK hospital due to ambulance delays’. You can fully expect the shitrag to do a call-out for people affected by the nurses’ strike, next.

Featured image via Channel 4 News – YouTube and the Guardian – screengrab

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