Mail delays expected as postal staff strike set to escalate

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Postal workers went on strike yesterday in disputes over jobs and services, and an escalation of the action is expected today, bringing disruption to mail deliveries.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) said workers in the Lothians, Fife and Ayrshire were today expected to add to those in London and the 100-plus from Edinburgh who went out yesterday.

Around 330 in the east of Scotland alone, including in Alloa, Dunfermline, Cowdenbeath, Broxburn and Bathgate, will be on strike for 24 hours today. More could follow, with further ballots in Glasgow expected.
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Management volunteers were said to be helping deliver post during the strike.

The union accused the Royal Mail of cutting jobs and services that it said broke a national agreement and threatened modernisation.

John Brown, Scottish regional secretary for the union, said it was not known how many branches would walk out as action escalated, but today it will spread as far as Irvine. Mr Brown said: "It is expected to reach into other areas such as Grangemouth and Falkirk on Saturday and across the west of Scotland."

Billy Marshall, CWU east region spokesman, said: "There are now more offices in Glasgow and Edinburgh looking to ballot.

"We are sorry for the disruption but we have no choice. At the end of the day the standards Royal Mail are trying to impose will mean a poorer service.

"They are cutting jobs and the remaining jobs can't be done. The members are being asked to do more in a new job but they are not going to get paid more for that."

Royal Mail in Scotland insists the ongoing sporadic action has not had a significant impact. It said that yesterday Edinburgh city collection and distribution drivers took industrial action, and no postmen or women were taking industrial action in Scotland.

But today postmen and women in the Dunfermline, Cowdenbeath, Grangemouth, Edinburgh, Bathgate and Irvine delivery offices are understood to be taking part in industrial action. This involves 333 people in total.

A spokesman said: "Royal Mail has robust contingency plans in place and we will be doing everything in our power to minimise disruption to our customers.

"It is a very small number of our people in Scotland - fewer than 500 out of a total staff of 12,000 - who are involved in the industrial action.

"Royal Mail is calling on the union to honour fully existing agreements, including the agreement the union signed in the presence of the TUC in 2007, which have led to the successful introduction of new ways of working in units throughout Scotland and the rest of the UK.

"These agreements cover the improvements we need to make as mail volumes fall by 10%. Royal Mail has already made exactly the same changes in a number of other offices across the country to help us become more efficient in the increasingly competitive marketplace.

"Industrial action will not modernise Royal Mail - it will simply disrupt the service, annoy customers and lead to an even greater loss of business, leaving Royal Mail less able to protect full-time jobs."

Brendan Barber, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, said: "It is disappointing that CWU members in London have felt driven to take industrial action.

"Royal Mail industrial relations need a real overhaul and I hope that they will act on the CWU's bold and imaginative proposals for three months of intensive talks on the modernisation of the industry and a new industrial relations framework, accompanied by a moratorium on any industrial action during that period."