What will strike deliver?

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THE men standing outside the entrance to the Royal Mail depot in Leeman Road, York, appear to be in good spirits.

There are jokes and laughter. One man poses for photographs beside a car plastered with Communication Workers Union stickers.

When a young mother approaches pushing a pram, the group part cheerfully to let her through. "Good morning," someone says. "Oh! Good morning," she replies bashfully.

Then a postal manager is spotted inside the depot yard, trying to manoeuvre a post van, and the mood changes.

There is an immediate chorus of catcalls and ironic cheers. "What's he doing, for f***'s sake!" someone shouts out.

The bitterness unleashed by this latest postal strike is going to take some time to heal when - or if - the dispute can be resolved.

Striking postmen on the picket line are not allowed to speak to The Press. Instead, Paul Clays, the York-based regional secretary for the CWU union, speaks for them.

Postmen have to sign the Official Secrets Act, he says - and they will face disciplinary action if they speak out in public.

Really? "It's not a certainty. But it's easier if we say there is a blanket ban and we will deal with all the press."

It is the first day of the second 48-hour period of strike action. Some of the men have been here since just after 4am.

The four days of the strike will be costing them about £200 each, Mr Clays says. Proof enough of the anger they feel at the way they have been treated.

The strike is ostensibly about postal workers' terms and conditions of service. Not pay specifically, although they are not exactly overjoyed at the 2.5 per cent pay offer that was tabled.

The dispute has more to do with pensions, flexible working hours and overtime, according to Mr Clays. Royal Mail, under its relentless drive to modernise, wants to increase the retirement age from 60 to 65. "Somebody who has worked for 40 years will find he has another five years before he can get his pension," says Mr Clays indignantly.

Then there is the question of working hours. At the moment, there are set shifts, so postal workers know when they will start and finish each day.

Royal Mail wants a more flexible system, whereby postal workers hours will change from day to day, depending on demand.

But that would make it impossible for postal workers to have anything approaching a normal home life, Mr Clays says. "How could anybody who has children or responsibilities or any kind of a life cope with that?" he says.

Overtime payments, which boost low-paid postal workers' pay packets, would go, Mr Clays says - and Royal Mail also wants to move to a monthly payment system.

There is nothing wrong with that in itself, he stresses - but underpaid postal workers don't have the savings they would need to tide them over to the end of the month until pay day when the system first switches.

"You cannot expect somebody on £80 less than the average working wage to go on to monthly pay without some type of lead-up to it," he says.

There is also the shadow of job losses hanging over postal staff.

Royal Mail has not said how many jobs will go as a result of its modernisation programme, but it has made little secret of the fact that go some will.

"It is disgusting the way postal workers are being treated, by an employer that doesn't want to modernise at all," Mr Clays says. "It wants to go back to the dark ages when people were slaves."

Whatever the ostensible reasons for the latest dispute, that buzz word "modernise" lies at the heart of the disagreement between Royal Mail and its staff.

The company uses this expression at almost every opportunity - including in its most recent public statement, which followed a frustrating weekend in which marathon talks between the CWU and Royal Mail broke up with no apparent prospect of a deal.

"Further strike action will do nothing to change the harsh competitive realities we face and we need to press on with the essential task of modernising the company to enable it to compete successfully," the statement said.

Those "harsh competitive realities" are at the heart of the dispute. Since January 1, 2006, under a European directive, the mail market' in the UK has been open to competition. Royal Mail, which for centuries enjoyed a monopoly, now has no fewer than 17 rivals. Its solution is to ruthlessly modernise, cut jobs and become more efficient to enable it to compete effectively.

The unions, however, claim it is the customers who will really suffer - both business and individuals.

Deliveries are later and less reliable, there have been reductions in weekday postal collections - and thousands of post office closures, they point out.

So who is right?

Do piggy back' companies pose a real threat?

WHEN the UK mail market opened up to competition in January 2006, Royal Mail had an overwhelming advantage over its rivals - its collection and delivery network, set up and perfected over decades.

Many of the company's competitors had already operated parcel or express delivery services before deregulation.

But none could come near to matching Royal Mail's delivery network.

Setting up and maintaining that kind of huge network of collection, sorting and delivery offices - not to mention the thousands of postmen who go out delivering mail door to door every day in all weathers - would not be feasible for a new business just starting out.

Instead, what most of the new companies do is piggy back' on Royal Mail's delivery system.

They collect and sort mail, before delivering it to a Royal Mail delivery centre.

From there, Royal Mail postmen carry it the last mile or so to the customer's door.

It is known as an access' deal - and, while Royal Mail still has more than 90 per cent of the mail market - it does make it economically feasible for a newer, smaller rival to make a go of things. Hence the competition.

But why would Royal Mail help its rivals if it feared the competition they would then offer?

According to Paul Clays, York-based regional secretary of the Communication Workers Union, Royal Mail voluntarily entered into deals with its rivals that allowed them to piggy-back on its own delivery network.

That meant other companies could provide a service without having to support the huge infrastructure and delivery network Royal Mail has to maintain.

"It was like turkeys volunteering for Christmas," he says.

Nonsense, says Royal Mail. It was obligated to enter into details with rival companies following mail deregulation - and the charges for doing so were set by the mail regulator, Postcomm.

Postcomm, however, begs to differ.

The deals Royal Mail set up with its rivals to offer them access to its delivery network were "commercially negotiated" between itself and its rivals. "They Royal Mail were not forced into it."

So what would have happened if they had not entered into such agreements?

"We would have stepped in and become involved in negotiations between the parties - but it never came to that," the Postcomm spokesman says.

Royal Mail was not forced into deals, in other words - it felt it was by the threat of a harsher deal being imposed if it did nothing.

And all most of us want is for a cheerful postie to deliver our mail on time each morning.

How is business being affected by the strike?

ROYAL Mail has urged striking postmen to call off their action "in the interests of our customers".

"It's clear that support for the strike has weakened and we know that many postmen and women do not want to heed the union's call for more strikes," the company said.

"Further strike action will do nothing to change the harsh competitive realities we face and we need to press on with the essential task of modernising the company to enable it to compete successfully."

Paul Clays, York-based regional secretary of postal workers' union the CWA, said it was unfortunate that businesses were being disrupted. But it was Royal Mail's fault, he said. Anybody who had been affected by the strike should write to their MP to complain about the way Royal Mail treated its staff.

But how badly are businesses being affected by the strike?

Penny Hemming, regional director for Yorkshire and the Humber of employers' confederation the CBI, said the strikes were certainly unhelpful.

"They are hurting smaller businesses especially, particularly those who rely on marketing," she said.

York estate agent Kevin Hollinrake, who is a partner in Hunters, agreed the strike had caused some headaches.

"From everybody's point of view it's caused quite a lot of problems," he said. "We haven't been able to send or receive any post for three days now, which is not good.

"A lot of completions are being delayed because we can't get documents between solicitors. A lot of solicitors do have another form of postage called DX a private postal service which means you can get some documents through, but the strike certainly doesn't help."

Mr Hollinrake said he worried whether there would be any more strikes. "It needs to be resolved, both from a business point of view and a postal service point of view," he said.

Jenny Bell asked York residents how the Royal Mail strike had affected them.

Ramon Lutz, 29, of Barbican Road, York: "I sent post to London for my sister's birthday which was on Friday and it still has not arrived."

Stewart Scott, 31, of Lawrence Street, York: "I have been affected, yes. I have had no bills delivered in the past few days, bills that I need to pay."

Richard Grey, 60, of Stamford Bridge: "Yes, I have been affected. I am awaiting a lot of mail, including cheques. I have also had to personally deliver my mail instead of popping it in the post."

Jan Breider, 40, of Hollybank Road, York: "I own a business in York and I haven't received any important mail which I am waiting for."

Nick Thomas, 48, of Thief Lane, York: "I'm a bike delivery man and as businesses have been so affected, my workload has doubled."