Wildcat strike set to cause post disruption

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THOUSANDS of pieces of mail are expected to go undelivered today after postal workers in the south of the Capital launched a wildcat strike.
Around 50 members of staff at the city's south-east delivery office walked out yesterday after a delivery driver was asked to cross the picket line of an official strike at the main Sighthill sorting office.

When the driver refused, he was sent home without pay, leading his colleagues to walk out in protest at his treatment.

Employees at Sighthill had been observing a 24-period of official industrial action as part of a nationwide campaign aimed at resisting Royal Mail's modernisation proposals.

Wildcat action was also taken by staff working in Livingston and Bo'ness after colleagues there were asked to cross picket lines.

Royal Mail said it was working to minimise disruption to customers, but staff involved in the walkout said around 60,000 customers could be affected in the south of Edinburgh alone.

Union officials accused Royal Mail bosses of "bloody-mindedness" and said the company had attempted to cause as much "pain" as possible amongst its workforce.

Branch secretary of the Communication Workers Union, Willie Marshall, said: "The actions of Royal Mail bosses have been unbelievable. It should be up to people's own conscience whether they cross a picket line or not.

"For some reason they (Royal Mail] are being bloody-minded and trying to cause as much pain as possible. They're stuck in the trenches."

A member of staff at the south-east delivery office, which is based in Old Dalkeith Road, said trouble had started when a delivery driver had been asked to cross the picket line to collect a handful of mis-sorted mail.

He said: "Royal Mail have let down 60,000 customers for the sake of just picking up a few pieces of mail from Sighthill.

"Normally management would have done it, but they were intent on forcing the driver to cross the picket."

A Royal Mail spokeswoman said: "Unfortunately staff in the Edinburgh south-east delivery office have taken unofficial and unlawful industrial action.

"This strike action will have an impact on our services to customers but we will be aiming to deliver special delivery and tracked mail items.

"We would urge our people to get back to work, this is unofficial and unlawful action that only hurts our business and our customers, who now have many other options for mail deliveries."

She added the company faced an "absolute need" to change and modernise to improve the service it offered customers.