UK postal strike is to go ahead



A nationwide postal strike will go ahead on Thursday and Friday, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) says.

The action, to begin at midnight, comes amid a row over pay, conditions and Royal Mail's modernisation plans.

The CWU said it also planned further strikes and that it would announce details later in the week.

The union criticised Royal Mail bosses and Business Secretary Lord Mandelson for not getting involved in talks to end the dispute.

Mail centre staff and drivers will strike on Thursday while delivery and collection staff will take action on Friday.

'No trust'

Government sources told the BBC the strike was "something of a tragic matter" and revolved around a dispute over implementing working practices and changes agreed two years ago.

Meanwhile Royal Mail condemned the strikes which it said were "wholly unjustified".

It had earlier issued a last-gasp plea for a "strike-free period of calm" in the run-up to Christmas, saying industrial action would bring "huge damage and distraction" and cause "pain and disruption" for customers.

The CWU's deputy general secretary, Dave Ward, said that progress had been made in the discussions.

But he claimed that agreements struck with negotiators on Tuesday night had been vetoed by Royal Mail managing director Mark Higson - who it accused of overruling a key part of the agreement.

Royal Mail denied this and said it was prepared to sign the agreement it had reached to prevent the strikes being necessary.

The CWU had "no confidence or trust" in either Mr Higson or Royal Mail's chief executive Adam Crozier, Mr Ward said.

And it accused Lord Mandelson of working "hand in hand with Royal Mail" to deliberately undermine the talks, saying the minister had privately expressed his doubts about the capabilities of Royal Mail's management.

Billy Hayes, the CWU's general secretary, labelled Lord Mandelson the "minister without responsibility".

Contingency plans

The decision to go ahead with strike action came after more than 30 hours of talks between Royal Mail and the union this week.

The prime minister had urged unions and managers to agree a deal saying a strike would be "counter-productive".

Earlier, in the Commons, David Cameron accused Gordon Brown of lacking the "courage and leadership" to intervene in the postal dispute to prevent two days of planned strikes.

Since plans to part-privatise Royal Mail had been shelved "union militancy has got worse," the Tory leader said.

Mr Brown said that had nothing to do with the dispute and urged unions and managers to agree a deal.

If the strikes continue for a prolonged period, contingency plans for delivery of hospital appointments and medical test results have been drawn up, MPs were told earlier this week.

And it has emerged that the Ministry of Defence may charter extra aircraft to ensure serving troops get their Christmas post.

THE BBC

I just got post??

I spoke to our postie this morning and he said the postmen are out tomorrow just for the one day.I got post as well!

We've just had a delivery in Prenton. Either the strike is not as solid as they're making it out to be or casual staff are doing the deliveries.

I don't know about Prenton but it was our regular postie that I spoke to this morning. I live in Little Neston, by the way.

Think it's no sorting on Thursday and not delivery on Friday.

Saw a Royal Mail wagon on the M6 at about 00:15ish last night/this morning, so mcuh for the transportation and delivery network being on strike lol.

Here's an insight I stumbled across. A blog of an unhappy postal worker.

The Diary Of Roy Mayall.

I do believe that figures are often manipulated to suit politicians and big business
Reading the blog it looks like someone underbids the mail then gets them to do the delivering
Just like selling gas and electricity by various companies but all get it from the same source

Hehe go royal mail! im off work on full pay till my CRB check comes through and while royal mail are on strike it cant come through.

Things like CRB checks etc, anything governmental that is of importance or can directly affect a persons life, is sent via priority mail - not sure how it works, but say the council send you an eviction notice or summit like that, it will get sent out today and bypass the usual crap and be delivered tomorrow (unless it is hand delivered).

They must have special postal bags/collections that such mail gets sent in, so I would'nt count on your mail CRB check being delayed for very long, if at all.

They all massage figures to their own ends, statistics can be manipulated to which ever meaning you desire. Fact though, TNT have just taken an £8m contract from Royal Mail and more will be found to follow. If losing business like that helps the posties then the best of luck to them. No one ever wins in a strike, least of all the actual working man. You're born, you work, you die. That's the way it goes, enjoy it while you can because you only get one shot at it.

Anyone had post 2day?

yeah i got a letter from me bank but that's about it.

Are the French posties on strike? I wonder what's happening to their letters.

Ive just read that most of the postal workers are on unofficial "go-slows" to try and hamper the postal service even further, and that the CWU are applying for a court injunction to prevent the Royal Mail taking on 30,000 more staff to help them get out of the dire situation they are currently in, as well as the Xmas period.

I think the government need to pull their finger out of their arses, Mandelson has talked a fair amount of sense with regards the strikes being self-defeating and the process only affecting customers and not bosses, its about time he yeilded an axe, outlawed the CWU, and called for the sacking of any and all postal workers who do not want to work.

At a time when there are 2.5 million people in this country seeking employment, and this figure rising by thousands every day, the Royal Mail would soon find employee's to replace the selfish Grrrs who don't want to do an honest days graft for a fair wage and only want to cause disruption for everyone.

I hope the Royal Mail employ 30,000 agency workers to be honest, most of them seem African and the like, and they don't want to know about the union, they are just happy to be in employment and to be able to afford to live a comfortable life. Again, it's the British attitude of "we don't want to work" that is bringing yet another industry down.

The strikes of the past should be a lesson from history, obviously the CWU and postal workers don't have much in the way of brains to realise that their strike will achieve nothing in either the short-term or the long-term. No matter what happens, there will be job losses in the future, and the service will need to be seriously modernised. Just like every other industry has had to do over the past 30 years.

The main lesson from history should be the lack of rights workers and working class people of this country and many other countries around the world had prior to the formation of trade unions. We can't go back to the dark days of cheap labour and slavery, where the working people of this country were treated like something off the bottom of your shoe. A lot of rights taken for granted in this present day and age are rights that have been fought for over many generations and they should not be allowed to be eroded at the expense of working people. The fact that you may not be in a trade union you are still classed as a working person. One of the rights fought for over many years was to legally withdraw your labour, though the goal posts have been changed a few times over the years, trade unions still have the right to do so, after a ballot and should have no fear of retribution, they also have the right to work to rule, without fear of retribution. If trade unions stick to their side of the bargain then why can't employers, Trying to break a strike by employing whats known as scab labour will never solve anything.

I've never been in a trade union but I agree with Bert

Anyway about modernising industry - what industry?
Greater profits are made by buying from other countries
How often do you see Made in England or UK on anything now
All been sacrificed for the "We must have more profit crowd"

When I left school there was no reason to be on the dole because there were loads of jobs available

give them all the sack,

He's got the sack

Argh, that means my RRT4 won't get delivered till next week now!! I recieved another TopUp TV card today, they sent one out to me via DHL yesterday... the original card was sent out in September and the lazy barstard at the Royal Mail have still not bothered to deliver it... either that or one of the theiving barstard has nicked it!!

So now TopUp TV are using DHL for pretty much all their logistics, another major Royal Mail customer lost thanks to the lazy barstard postal workers not wanting to do an honest days work for a change.

And still, the bosses will get their 6 figure pay packets, and there will be more loss of custom, leading to far more job losses, and at the end of the day, the service (or whats left of it) will still need to modernise to survive and remain viable. As for us mere customers, well as far as the postal workers are concerned, we are all pieces of shit who can go to hell. Meanwhile, hundreds, in fact thousands, of small businesses, some who rely on the postal service, are struggling to survive, and in some cases going out of business as a direct result of these selfish barstard.

Can someone tell me what exactly they are achieving here?

BBC News Report

judging by the news reports very little at the moment. all they want is extra pay (for the millionith time already) and be treated as if they were the dog's balls. for god sake either accept the pay you've got or get another job it's that simple. there's millions looking for jobs atm so unless the lazy posty's want to join the ranks i would say they need to get over it.

Well imho, they already overpaid - I mean ffs, who else, in the current climate, can take 5 days unpaid... obviously they are earning far too much money because if they wernt, they wouldnt be striking.

They should have their pay cut, and the savings should be passed on with no stamp price-increases, their way of an apology to the millions of customers being affected by the good-for-nothing lazy Grrrs.

Cheers!

BBC News Report

Rmember folks, it is the CWU and their members and supporters, ie YOUR POSTMAN, who are trying to stop you recieving a postal service. They are even being hostile towards other companies such as UK Mail who are simply trying to do their jobs.

The postman involved in this action are arrogant, selfish and pathetic Grrrs who should be sacked; hopefully the take-on of these 30,000 temp workers, will pave the way for the eventual sacking of the ... who don't want to do an honest days work and instead want to make everyone elses life a misery.

BBC News Report