Support for striking postal workers

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STRIKE SUPPORT: I read with interest your front page article and the second article on the postal strike.

I support the strikes as a CWU member based at Crewe MLO.

I support these strikes and the inevitable national strike to come because Royal Mail have refused to keep there side of the Pay and Modernisation Deal following the national strikes of 2007.

We the membership have kept our side of the bargain accepting wide ranging changes in section one to three of the deal.

Yet section four when it comes to negotiated modernisation the deal has been scrapped and Royal Mail want to dictate piece meal closures.

Locally we have Stoke being shut down and transferred to Wolverhampton.

We in Crewe are being closed down and put into a unit at Warrington with Liverpool and Bolton.

Downstream access, where we sort the competitors mail for them on the cheap, has increased postings well over the figures we were sorting in 1997.

All we are asking is a nationally agreed modernisation programme which takes the workforce with it.

A modernisation which takes into account CW and ST mail.

What we need is a new office for Crewe and Stoke Mail built at Junction 15 to give both areas the quality of service required.

Till such time we have a agreement I face a round trip of 72 miles and new shift patterns to give the public a poorer service.

This is why posties are striking for a fair deal for us and the public.

We have nothing to lose and only job security to gain from this dispute

MARK CULL

Fegg Hayes

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POSTAL workers went on indefinite strike today after branding Royal Mail managers a "disgrace."

Customers across Stoke-on-Trent will have to take letters and parcels to a post office to make sure they are delivered on time.

That is because normal collections will not be taking place in the ST1-6, 8-9 and 11-12 postcode areas for an open-ended period of time.

Employees at Stoke-on-Trent's main sorting office in Leek Road, Stoke, pictured, are furious at plans to close the depot and transfer operations to Wolverhampton.

Union leaders say the proposal will leave just 15 full-time employees at the depot, with the remaining 100 having to accept redundancy or face a 60-mile round trip every day.

Last-ditch talks to prevent the walkout broke down last night.

And this morning Leek Road staff went on strike – with no indication of when they will return.

Communication Workers Union (CWU) divisional representative Mick Kavanagh said: "I met directors and told them we would suspend the action for a period of time if constructive talks were taking place.

"But they refused to budge from their position. I think it is disgusting the way they are treating our members in Stoke and now there is no alternative to the strike action.

"They seem hell-bent on doing what they are doing without any agreement from employees at all.

"The way they are treating members is a disgrace and I would suggest that the people of Stoke-on-Trent should be asking Royal Mail and asking the politicians what is going on.

"This is a really serious dispute now."

The Royal Mail has condemned the industrial action, arguing that change and greater efficiency is needed as mail volumes fall and the organisation feels the effects of modern communication channels and competition.

Mail volumes are falling by around 10 per cent each year, with every one per cent costing about £70 million annually in lost revenue, a spokesman said, while strikes only serve to damage business and leave jobs under greater threat.

She added that the planned Leek Road walkout is "completely at odds with the CWU's repeated claim to support modernisation".

The spokesman said: "We continue to talk with our employees in Stoke and their representatives.

"We have listened to their concerns and worked hard to find solutions that will give the best possible set of options going forward.

"From these discussions we have already increased job opportunities in the Stoke area and reduced the need for our staff to travel outside of the area for work."

Workers have already staged two 24-hour strikes, but today's action is a significant escalation.

Union leaders say employees are prepared to stay out for as long as it takes to win concessions from senior management.

Mr Kavanagh added: "Our members have made the decision to go out on indefinite strike and it is our members who will decide when to go back."

Royal Mail has also revealed plans to close the cash transit office at Leek Road, which employs 15 people.

The CWU says seven workers have been asked to transfer to Sheffield, Chester or Birmingham, with the rest facing the axe.