Postal strike:extent of disruption to emerge after meeting

[Geezer]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... eting.html



Published: 2:45AM BST 12 Oct 2009

Leaders of 120,000 postal workers are today expected to set dates for nationwide strikes in a bitter row over jobs, pay and services which will cripple mail deliveries across the country.


The postal executive of the Communication Workers Union will meet to discuss when to call out their members following a huge vote in favour of industrial action.

The union will have to give seven days' notice of a strike so the first walk-out could be on October 19.

Options before the leadership include calling all 120,000 Royal Mail workers out on strike or deciding on a rolling programme of action involving different groups of workers such as delivery and sorting office staff taking action on different days.

This tactic would maximise disruption to post deliveries while minimising the effect on the pay of workers involved in strikes.

The union is also expected to call for mediation to try to resolve the long-running row following months of talks which have failed to break the deadlock.

Further talks are due to be held later this week but there is little sign of a breakthrough.

The union insists that the Royal Mail is imposing changes onto postal workers, cutting jobs and pay which officials maintain is leading to a worsening service.

The Royal Mail denies the charges and counters that managers are merely implementing an agreed deal between the two sides to modernise the service which was drawn up after the last national dispute two years ago.

The union accused Royal Mail of recruiting agency workers in several parts of the country to stand in for postmen and women in the event of national strikes going ahead.

''We don't think Royal Mail want to reach an agreement with us. The plan seems to be to keep talking until after Christmas and then impose more changes in the New Year.

''We don't think there is much chance of a deal between us without the involvement of mediators,'' said a union spokesman yesterday.

Royal Mail denied it was recruiting staff in readiness for a strike, saying that extra workers were always hired in the run-up to Christmas.

Members of the union voted by three to one last week to go on strike following months of regional stoppages which had caused huge delay of deliveries in parts of the country.

Business groups have warned that a national strike will have a huge impact on companies trying to recover from the recession.

The Government has refused to intervene in the dispute leading to accusations from the union that it has ''walked away'' from its responsibility to protect the postal service.

[baldrick]

Royal Mail denied it was recruiting staff in readiness for a strike,
saying that extra workers were always hired in the run-up to Christmas.

Yeah but Xmas casuals are usually taken on in December, not in October.

[Ahebban]

Was it not the case that RM and Manpower were warned about their conduct during the last dispute? It would certainly seem to be an issue that CWU should make known to the appropriate department.

The employment and trade union laws are so complex and biased in favour of the individual and the employer against the trade union now