Royal Mail strikes to paralyse postal services

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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Homes and businesses face postal delays from Saturday due to a fresh wave of strikes in a continuing row over jobs, pay and the modernisation of Royal Mail.

Up to 20,000 members of the Communication Workers Union are expected to take strike action over the coming week as the threat of a national walkout comes closer.

The union is planning to ballot all 130,000 postal members next month for a national strike in the increasingly bitter dispute, which will coincide with the Labour Party conference.

A week-long chain of 24-hour strikes across Britain beginning on Saturday is likely to delay deliveries by up to four days as drivers and depot workers take industrial action.

The co-ordinated move comes amid rising fears by staff over compulsory redundancies, office closures, pay freezes and claims of "daily bullying and harassment from managers" to meet unrealistic targets.

CWU Deputy general secretary Dave Ward said: "Never before have postal workers experienced so many attacks from all sides. Whether it's pay, job security, workload or dignity and respect at work, our members are facing a beating on all aspects of their working lives.

"Pressure and stress are rising to breaking point. It won't be long before services are dramatically affected.

"Our members do not want to lose money or disrupt services by taking further strike action. However, while Royal Mail refuses to acknowledge the serious issues facing its own employees we feel there is no alternative but to press ahead with a national strike ballot."

Saturday's strikes will see delivery offices close in Carrickfergus, Stockport, Boston, and Hadfield, as more than 400 staff walk out.

The coming week will see thousands more take action across Britain, including staff in London, Birmingham, Coventry, Middlesbrough and the Isle of Wight.

The CWU has accused Royal Mail of reneging on a deal to negotiate how plans for modernisation, announced in 2007, would be implemented.

Staff are also angry over pay freezes, which came as Royal Mail announced record profits, and over managers "piling extra and unrealistic workloads on them in order to meet impractical budget targets", it said.

Royal Mail has pleaded for the CWU to call off the strikes, which could cost businesses millions of pounds. Meanwhile, Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, has refused to intervene in the row.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: "We again urge the union to call off its strikes and to join Royal Mail's drive to complete the modernisation of the business as we tackle the intensifying competition from electronic media and the impact of the recession on mail volumes, now falling at around 10 per cent a year.

"The business climate is very tough but Royal Mail has a very clear, firm policy that everything we ask our people to do is reasonable and all of the changes we are making, which have already been implemented in many offices around the country, are in line with both the letter and the spirit of the 2007 agreement."

Mr Ward added: "We will call off all strike action in return for meaningful negotiations on modernisation, pay and job security. As the recognised union this is the least Royal Mail should do.

"We are also encouraging the Government to honour its responsibility to the Royal Mail pension scheme by taking on the deficit and also addressing the ongoing problems of regulation which put Royal Mail in a disadvantaged position in the mail market."

The strikes follows several walkouts this summer, which have affected London and various parts of the country.

Wildcat strikes by postal workers in 2007 cost businesses in London an estimated pounds 304 million.

Business leaders have said that continuing strike action will "kick businesses when they are down'' and deal a severe blow to the cash flow of thousands of companies.

[upmyroad]

I'm still not convinced our union is up for this fight. For month's now they've expected a few to carry the fight alone. Pulling 10% out for single day strikes has ment we haven't had a full week's wage's for sometime now and still we're some way of the national ballot. I trully believe that the only way we can win this is for us ALL to strike and stay on strike. The union seem's more concerned with maintaining it's lucrative income from our wage packet's then it does with getting us decent working condition's.