The imminent national postal strike —your questions answered

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The imminent national postal strike — your questions answered

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So we are going to have a nationwide postal strike. When will it start?

On Monday the leaders of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) will meet to decide what type of strike action to take. This could include a 24-hour or 48-hour walk-out, or rolling strikes involving different workers over three days or more. There has been no decision over timing, although the union has to give Royal Mail seven days’ notice of any walk-out, so the earliest strike date would be around October 19. Others could be staged in the build-up to Christmas.

What does it mean for my Christmas cards?

Post offices in London are already dealing with a backlog of more than 20 million items after sporadic unofficial strikes over the past 15 weeks. A national stoppage of even two or three days would build up backlogs all over the country and would be bound to lead to delays in Christmas cards and parcels.

The national strikes in 2007 brought most deliveries to a standstill and the London Chamber of Commerce estimated that it cost the capital’s economy alone more than £300 million.

What about presents and other items bought online?

Amazon, the online retailer, has threatened to withdraw its contract with Royal Mail during any period of strike action and send its business elsewhere. Other online companies will do the same if they can afford to. Royal Mail claims it handles less than 50 per cent of the packaging and parcel market at the moment, but it is the most lucrative area.

How did the dispute start?

In 2007 Royal Mail suggested a radical modernisation to update practices in sorting offices and delivery rounds, which involved more flexible working and computerised equipment to cut down manual labour. After a series of national strikes the CWU reached a deal with Royal Mail including a 6.7 per cent pay rise over two years. But the two sides now dispute what was agreed and the deal has unravelled. The unions are resisting job losses, pension cuts and more flexible working.

What does management want?

Royal Mail wants postal workers to cover for each other on holidays and when people are off sick, rather than having to hire agency staff. In the summer months they want workers to deliver on a couple of extra streets. They also want postmen and women to be able to swap between jobs where necessary so sorters can deliver or collect mail. Managers want to introduce more part-time employees and are investing £2 billion in new equipment in the next two years to sort mail more quickly, which will jeopardise jobs.

What does the union want?

It claims that it has not been fully consulted on changes and wants to negotiate a new agreement. The CWU is also demanding reassurances that there will be no compulsory redundancies and a binding ratio of full-time to part-time workers. They want “better rewards” if they agree to management demands and are resisting attempts to make postmen and women carry heavier workloads or walk more quickly along streets.

Is there any chance of stopping the national strike?

Further negotiations between the Royal Mail and the Communication Workers Union take place today but it seems unlikely that either side is ready to move much. The prospect of a series of strikes over the winter will be highly damaging for Labour so ministers will be pushing for an early settlement.

What is the future for the Royal Mail?

Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, who has declined to intervene in the dispute so far, recently shelved his proposal to privatise 30 per cent of the Royal Mail. This followed a backlash from Labour backbenchers and failure to find a buyer. The Tories have yet to spell out their plans but it is widely expected that they will push for total or partial privatisation of Royal Mail to help to sort out the mess.