Anger at Mail plan to hire temps

OK, the thing that really got my blood boiling in this article was this little revelation:

"Employing extra people to do the work of staff who are on strike is illegal under employment law."

I'm sorry, WHAT? That is fucking ridiculous. Obviously I am fundamentally biased, considering I hate strikes of pretty much any description and for any reason, especially financial ones. The only exceptions are general strikes, because that falls more under the line of civil disobedience. But why the fuck should it be illegal to replace the douchebags taking time off, especially temporarily? If their job is so fucking easy that temps can do it for at least minimum wage, then what right do they have to their job?

Quite simply, strikers should be able to be fired. The harder a job is to do, i.e. the more skilled you have to be do it, then the less likely a striking worker is to get fired, as the harder it will be to replace him. But with an easy job, like being a postman, in a broadly free market economy, and especially given we're still in a recession, why shouldn't we be able to tell them to fuck off, and replace them for someone who's happy and willing to do the job as it is? That's free market economics, supply and demand of labour. Hell, I'd probably work as a postman. It pretty much comes down to greed - they're striking over "pay, conditions and postal reforms. " How many other avenues did they really follow before striking? It fucks me right off that we have a culture, and, apparently, a legal system that bends over fucking backwards so far to protect strikers. Granted, we're not France or Italy yet, thank God - Lord Myners, Nick Clegg and various others have both condemned the strike explicitly or otherwise - "unjustified and irresponsible" industrial action, as the BBC paraphrases the Royal Mail.

I know we can't place all the power in the hands of the employer. But even with post-industrialisation and machinery, that can never totally happen - people will always be needed. But there are no safety issues at stake here. Nothing vital. It is greed and stupidity and, dare I say, laziness.