Plymouth drivers will join in national post strike today

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POSTAL workers in Plymouth joined thousands of their colleagues across the country in a 24-hour strike today in an escalating row over jobs, pay and services. The walkout threatened to bring the worst disruption to deliveries for years.

Around 110 drivers from the Plymouth Mail Centre in Plymstock were due to walk out today. They are all members of the Communication Workers' Union (CWU).

Royal Mail and the union have blamed each other for the unrest, which comes as the company continues to modernise.

In Plymouth Tony Bouch, branch secretary at the mail centre, said: "The action seems to be having some effect because Royal Mail has called in the union for some tentative discussions.

"We're up for modernisation, but it has to be done with agreement. Plymouth has already modernised more than almost anywhere else in the country."

Royal Mail said almost all services outside London would be operating normally despite the strike. It added that modernisation and change had been implemented at most offices and was covered by the 2007 agreement drawn up to end the last national strike, calling the CWU's claim to have offered a three- month moratorium was misleading.