Bristol postal workers on new strike

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Tuesday, August 18, 2009, 07:00

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Postal workers at the Severn Beach distribution centre will strike tomorrow as part of an ongoing national dispute over pay, jobs and conditions.

More than 300 employees who are members of Communication Workers' Union (CWU) will walk out for 24 hours as part of the dispute with Royal Mail.

The strike is expected to disrupt the delivery of mail to homes and businesses in the Bristol area, which was affected by a separate strike involving 1,100 workers at Bristol Mail Centre in Filton on Friday.

The Severn Beach regional centre mainly handles "bulk mail", or advertising mail, but also deals with standard letters and parcels.

Dave Wilshire, the CWU Bristol and District branch secretary, said: "This will be the last of those units which voted 'yes' to a strike to actually take their industrial action.

"It's a big distribution depot dealing with a lot of bulk mail taken in by lorries and distributed around the South West. But they pick up other stuff as well, so it will affect residents in Bristol.

"There is a backlog which has built up because of the earlier strikes and because of this latest strike, it means it will take longer to clear."

Mr Wilshire said the result of a ballot for a strike action in Weston-super-Mare would be revealed on Friday.

The strikes in the Bristol area have been mirrored across the country as industrial relations between postal staff and Royal Mail continue to worsen ahead of a national ballot for action.

Members of the Communication Workers Union in areas including the Midlands, London, Yorkshire and Northern Ireland will walk out throughout the coming week in the long-running row.

The union has accused Royal Mail of cutting pay and jobs – leading to worse services – without agreement, in breach of a deal which ended the last national strike two years ago.

The company has denied these claims and maintains that the union is going back on an agreement to modernise the postal service.

Spokeswoman for Royal Mail Jaquie Stenson said: "Customers will receive deliveries as normal and the impact will be on getting mail through our network rather than on the local service.

"We have contingencies in place, including the use of managers, to minimise the impact of the strike and to return service to normal as quickly as possible.

"Having met the union more than 50 times in recent months, it is increasingly clear that the CWU refuses to believe that mail volumes are declining despite the clear evidence of this in the UK and in every other postal market around the world."