I can't pretend to have fully grasped the underlying issues in the postal dispute, but it was certainly startling to see the results of the ComRes opinion poll tonight showing 50% of the public sympathised more with the CWU and the workers, and only 25% with Royal Mail management. The commentariat/blogosphere consensus that the public always have zero sympathy for a striking workforce regardless of circumstance was so overwhelming that I as much as anyone fell into the trap of taking it as read that it was true.
I'm not naive enough to think that the public's patience won't start to wear thin if the strike is protracted, but this is still a valuable object lesson in how the 'silent majority' can sometimes surprise the very people who claim to speak for them.
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