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Royal Mail postmen to return to work in Wirral tomorrow



MAIL workers in Wirral are to return to work tomorrow following their unofficial strike this week.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) said an agreement had been reached with Royal Mail to negotiate over the workers' complaints.

The workers stopped work on Monday over disputes on changes to their working conditions which would have seen fewer postmen delivering more and concerns over the allocation of jobs.

Mark Walsh of the CWU said they had agreed to return to work in return for the promise to negotiate by management.

He said: "Hopefully management will see sense and work with us.

"If they had worked with us at first then the people of Wallasey would not have had four days without deliveries."

According to the union 82 people work at the office in Wallasey – one of 10 delivery offices in Wirral – and estimated that some 70 of those were involved in the industrial action.

It is believed that the undelivered mail is still at the main sorting office for the area in Chester, and according to Royal Mail the CH44 and CH45 postcodes so far have been affected by the strike.

THE ECHO

That"s a bit strong Matt,The postal service has been shafted. The money making parcel post, giro,ect given away along with the likes of the oxton road post office which I have never been in without queing and is now stuck at the back of a shop in the middle of town. This had nothing to do with the guys on the shop floor who thruogh stealth are being robbed of earnings and conditions which would of been well earned and affordable if the post office had been left alone in it"s old form. Gordon Browns take on Churchills speach
I HAVE NOTHING TO OFFER YOU

i got post today-thurs

Very True!

There are thousands of peeps who would love to take their jobs!

Dont rush into judging the postmen! You obviously dont know the full circumstances. I support their action and Im not the only one. You sound very out of touch.

You need to get out more......

I do have empathy with the postmen - split shifts/horrible consequences of this but I cannot see much improvements over the years. The cuts, closures and relocation of workers has maintained a system geared towards profits. The privatisation of the postal service may see rogue players bidding for contracts but these will definately state they would not be allowed to go on strike. It has worked with the bin service - no strikes and a local authority introduction of recycling which has been enforced via European legislation. It is about time someone challenged the unions - afterall, the workers will be losing out on income with the strikes.

The workers are the union and no one takes strike action lightly and what people seem to forget is they don't get paid when their on strike, it is very rare they even get strike pay from the union. Every worker should have the option to strike and withdraw their labour, without that option the workers in this country would still be working 100 hour weeks for next to no pay, no holidays, no sick leave, no health and safety in the work place etc,etc,etc. How do you think you got the benefits you have today, they wasn't handed to you on a plate, workers had to strike and in some cases die for them.

I remember the miners strikes and the Mersey Docks and Harbour strike about 14 years ago - it was appauling. Wifes of the dockworkers were looking for handouts - this was so embarrasing and condescending of them to be in this situation - the union involved still took its subs from the 'striking' workers!! And those actual union workers still had their full pay to live on whilst encouraging workers to strike for no pay, not even handouts from the union. People look for solidarity when in their work - perhaps they should look further afield than the unions. European legislation and Employment Law cover some working conditions. Anyway, you can tell what I think of unions. The Royal Mail should not be interfered with - its the Queens Mail and it is illegal: the unions should be prosecuted for encouraging its workers to interfere and with-hold mail. Workers should realise times are changing, profits and capitalism are priorities and they are expendable. Perhaps in face of the changes, they could recosider their job satisfaction - stay and strike or move on.

Workers are expendable, its because of like minded people like you, unions had to be formed in the first place.

Wallasey postal workers back in work today after four day strike





A BACKLOG of mail built up at Wallasey Sorting Office over the last four days because of industrial action was starting to be delivered today as striking postal workers returned.

Around seventy workers in Wallasey's main post office walked out on Monday in a row over working practices.

They were protesting at a new system - involving fewer staff - that they claimed was being imposed on them without proper consultation.

The row was over Royal Mail's plan to reduce staffing levels while spreading the workload onto existing "walks" - post rounds.

Earlier this week one worker told the Globe: "The Royal Mail are trying to use bully boy tactics on us and we’re just not having it.

"There’s always been a lot of goodwill that goes into this job and they're essentially taking that away.

"They’re cutting seven posts but still expect the same amount of work to be done. It’s fundamentally unfair and they haven’t consulted properly."

But today the workers were back in work starting to clear the four-day backlog of post, which has mainly affected the CH44 and CH45 postcode areas.

Communications Workers Union spokesman Mark Walsh confirmed that the striking employees had now returned as negotiations with Royal Mail over the proposed new working practices had finally got underway.

He told the Globe: "We've started talking to them [Royal Mail] this morning.

"It's a shame this didn't happen at the start of all this instead of at the finish, but at least we're talking.

"It's too early to say where we'll end up, but we're happy with the way things are going so far."

THE GLOBE

Is this still going on?
The last coupla weeks our post has been delivered at 3 4pm by a plastic postie. He had the royal mail bag but no uniform? Also, he struggled wiv how to post an a4 envelope. Tuk him 3 attempts b4 he then wrapped it round the small letters so he obviously not trained.

MY post has been the same.They could be short handed. The game is if you think a strike is coming hit the pat and mick a few weeks before I think it is six or you don"t get your dosh made up by employer.

I am afraid the backlogue hasn't been sorted. I've been waiting on ebay/amazon parcels for nearly 2 weeks. Postie seems to call in the morning and afternoon.