'Three more days' of Royal Mail strikes planned
Updated on 22 October 2009
Two days of industrial action begins bringing Royal Mail services to a halt, with further industrial action expected to be held next week.
As thousands of postal workers mounted picket lines in the first of two 24 hour walk-outs, further industrial action is expected to be announced in an escalation of the bitter Royal Mail dispute.
The next wave of strikes is likely to be held for three days at the end of next week, involving different groups of workers. The move would cause further disruption to mail deliveries, which are already facing big delays because of this week's stoppages.
The Communication Workers Union is embroiled in a dispute with Royal Mail over pay, conditions and modernisation. Leaders launched a ferocious attack on the Business Secretary Lord Mandelson last night, accusing him of working "hand in hand" with Royal Mail to undermine failed negotiations.
The union said it had been forced to strike after agreements reached with Royal Mail negotiators last night were vetoed by the company's managing director. Royal Mail said strike action was "wholly unjustified" and it was willing to keep on negotiating.
Up to 42,000 mail centre staff and network drivers launched a 24 hour strike today, while 78,000 delivery and collection workers will walk out tomorrow. The union is set to announce further strikes after hopes of reaching a last minute deal collapsed, leading to bitter recriminations.
Click here to read our Q&A on the Royal Mail strikes.
Workers joining picket lines early today insisted they had been forced into taking action.
And some hit out at Business Secretary Lord Mandelson, accusing him of having a "vendetta" against union members. At the Nine Elms mail centre in Vauxhall, south London, dozens gathered from 6am on one of the three main picket lines in the capital.
Some were brandishing banners with the message: "It's your service, it's my job."
At Birmingham's main Royal Mail centre in Aston almost all of the workers are expected to join the picket line throughout the day, the union said.
Steve Reid, of the Birmingham district branch of the CWU, said the way workers had been treated was "appalling" and said he hoped the strike would bring about a resolution.
"People are saying we are against modernisation as a union but we are not," he said.
"Sixty thousand jobs have gone from this business in the last five years in agreement with the union.
"That's not a union against modernisation. What we want to do is get Royal Mail fit for the 21st Century, but it's got to be through agreement, not dictatorship or imposition."
Post backlog grows
Some areas of the country have already been affected by industrial action in the past months. Yorkshire depots have seen strike action since August which, according to the CWU, has already created a backlog of "hundreds of thousands" of items.
In London the CWU says the backlog of items amounts to "the size of 40 buses". Royal Mail has been employing agency staff for nearly a month to clear the London "paper Everest" some of which is stored in a rented warehouse. Strike action has been taking place for the past 15 weeks with the backlog expecting to worsen over the next 48 hours. Scotland has also suffered from recent walkouts and a considerable backlog has grown since August.
The latest strikes are expected to be well supported from across the country.
Small businesses suffer
The backlogs of undelivered post will have huge repercussions on UK business. According to the Federation of Small Businesses, 70 per cent of the 4.8 million small firms in the UK rely on the Royal Mail for their post. Find out about alternative postal services here.
The federation says that on average every postal strike costs their members, who have up to 20 staff, £300 each.
Stephen Alambritis, its chief spokesman, said: "Britain's small businesses will be hardest hit. Large companies can negotiate with other service providers whereas small businesses are locked in to Royal Mail, who provide a good service when it is up and running.
"But every time there is a strike it affects their reputation, products don't arrive and they seem inefficient."
