Post staff return to backlog of letters
Saturday 24th October 2009, 11:11AM BST.
Postal workers today began clearing a huge backlog of mail as this week’s strikes ended, with further disruption planned in the bitter row over jobs, pay and modernisation.
Two 24-hour walkouts led to 30 million letters being delayed – about 40 per cent of an average daily postbag.
The huge backlog is set to grow next week because of another three days of strikes planned by the Communication Workers’ Union from Thursday.
The union said up to 120,000 workers “solidly supported” this week’s strikes, attracting support from members of the public and other workers, including nurses who joined picket lines yesterday.
In Shropshire, 700 workers were out on strike, with picket lines in Oakengates and Wellington, Telford.
A Royal Mail spokesman branded the strikes “unnecessary and irresponsible”, adding: “We are very grateful to the 20 per cent of our delivery staff who have chosen to come to work today and who are doing everything possible to get all delayed mail delivered to customers as quickly as possible.”
The union said it was reiterating its offer of unconditional talks at the concil- iation service Acas to try to break the deadlocked row.
The managing director of Royal Mail, Mark Higson, said: “We are really calling on the CWU to accept the agreement that they looked at last Tuesday night.”
Shropshire Star on Twitter
Keep updated with the latest breaking news and content on our Twitter feed.
Lifestyle
Interactive Dining Out map
Hundreds of reviews by the Shropshire Star and Express & Star's teams to help you decide where to eat.
Entertainment
All the film reviews
Before you plan a trip to the pictures, get our critics' verdicts on all the latest movie releases.
OUR NEW APP
Get the new Shropshire Star app
Download the Shropshire Star’s new app to your iPad or iPhone to get one week of access to our digital newspapers absolutely FREE.
shropshirestar.com
Popular sections
Useful links
What strike and what backlog. I received my insurance documents this morning which were posted on Thursday from Hampshire.
Report abuse
‘attracting support from members of the public’
Who are these members of the public because I haven’t met or spoken to one person yet who is in support of these strikes.
Report abuse
these leftie striking lay abouts ashould all be sacked as traitors
Report abuse
Suellan Fowler said:
“Who are these members of the public because I haven’t met or spoken to one person yet who is in support of these strikes.”
You have now!
Report abuse
Ref. #4: That would be because “Rob, Telford” is an old school Militant dinosaur.
Report abuse
H. St. John Peasbody said:
“Ref. #4: That would be because “Rob, Telford” is an old school Militant dinosaur. ”
Errr, no actually. Just someone who wonders why “modernisation”, as in reducing pay/job security/quality of working conditions only seems to be regarded as a good thing when it is applied to ordinary working people, i.e. the majority of the population.
As for your reference to “Militant” I remember them only too well – the supposedly left-wing mirror image of the BNP.
Perhaps you could help me understand why incentives (such as multi-million pound bonuses), ever-improving pension schemes etc. are apparently essential to encourage and reward the great and the good, but a symptom of Bolshevism when applied to the majority.
If I am a dinosaur it’s because I think the purpose of government is to achieve the best quality of life for the majority of its people, not a small self-perpetuating elite.
Report abuse
If the postal workers have all these issues, they should resign and get another job and let others fill the positions. In most businesses, the workers aren’t consulted yet the staff don’t strike.
At the end of the day, delivering letters is one of the most basic jobs in this country. If the staff have such a big issue, perhaps they should’ve tried harder at school?
Report abuse
H. St. John Peasbody said:
” In most businesses, the workers aren’t consulted yet the staff don’t strike.”
Perhaps if more were to strike we wouldn’t be living in a country where the gap between rich and poor is increasing year on year?
Report abuse
Rob, Telford, Don’t you think there should be a gap between the rich and poor? What motivation would our most talented people of Britain have to excell in the field they choose if they are to be paid the same as people who could not give a flying fig about the job they are employed in?
The way you suggest would lead to Britain becoming more of a 3rd world country than it is at the moment.
Report abuse
what a way to make more work for themselves. we would all like more money but im sure the majority cannot afford to strike and need whatever they earn! I know i do. I know for a fact if my boss could get a machine to do our jobs to save money they would. modernisation is the way forward. do you still have a horse and cart? no didnt think so!
Report abuse
…a gap between rich and poor maybe – but surely there’s something wrong when that gap means that on average a director of a public company is getting twenty times the salary of their staff? And that gap is widening.
The argument about “our most talented people” doesn’t really stand up to close scrutiny either. Correct me if I’m wrong but I thought the credit crunch was the result of crass stupidity and greed on the part of high-paid financial executives – anyone remember Fred Goodwin?
Report abuse