Postal workers deliver better than average service

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POSTAL workers in North Staffordshire delivered a better-than-average performance over the past 12 months despite a series of strikes.

Latest Royal Mail figures show that 88.2 per cent of first-class post arrived on time in the ST postcode area during the year to March – better than the national average of 87.9 per cent but still some way short of the company's 93 per cent target.

Residents in South Cheshire enjoyed a slightly better service, as posties in the CW postcode delivered 92.1 per cent of first-class mail on time.

Royal Mail has put the below-par performance down to a combination of industrial action and severe winter weather.


Last summer the service was hit by a series of local strikes, including at depots in Stoke and Burslem. Processing and distribution staff at Royal Mail's Leek Road office in Stoke held walkouts in July and August in protest against plans to move their work to Wolverhampton, while their delivery colleagues staged an unofficial strike in sympathy.

In Burslem, delivery workers took part in three bouts of action in August and September in response to changes to their working conditions.

And a long-running dispute over Royal Mail's modernisation proposals, which the Communication Workers' Union (CWU) claimed would result in cuts in jobs, pay and services, culminated in two national strikes in October.

A third walkout planned for November was called off after the CWU reached an interim agreement with Royal Mail bosses, and in April union members voted to accept a deal to bring the row to an end.

Although the service improved in the final quarter of the year, from January to March, January's extreme weather meant first-class deliveries were still not up to the company's target.

Royal Mail managing director Mark Higson said: "Everyone in Royal Mail is focused on restoring quality of service to the target-beating levels we achieved a year ago and I'm delighted to say that the modernisation agreement we've reached with the CWU provides the stability and framework to complete our transformation."

Malcolm Brundrett, below, CWU representative for the Midland number seven branch, which is based in Hanley, said: "If there's any comment on performance in Stoke-on-Trent or nationwide, no doubt Royal Mail will blame the dispute last year. But we know performances have been getting better and Royal Mail is back in operational profit and we know that change has been achieved by our people."

Last month the new coalition Government revealed it was reviving plans to part-privatise Royal Mail, a move which has been condemned by the CWU as "old politics". General secretary Billy Hayes said: "Privatising public services is deeply unpopular. Breaking up Royal Mail Group and flogging parts to private companies will damage services and lead to price hikes."