Postal chaos as talks fail
ROYAL Mail workers walked out today at the start of a second 48-hour strike that will further cripple the postal service.
Marathon peace talks over the weekend failed to break a deadlocked row over pay, jobs and pensions, and the strike began at 3am.
Talks between officials from the Communication Workers Union (CWU) and the Royal Mail broke up late last night with no prospect of a deal.
Some 130,000 workers staged a 48-hour strike which ended at noon on Saturday causing a massive backlog of mail across the country.
Striking postal workers will hold a rally in central London today, which will be addressed by union leaders and other supporters.
Picket lines will again be mounted outside mail centres across the country and the strike will cause more disruption, especially to companies that rely on the post for orders.
Business leaders have urged the two sides to keep talking until a deal is reached and have warned that the dispute is costing industry millions of pounds.
Last week saw a strong turnout by Tees Valley workers from sites including Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Stockton, Coulby Newham and Redcar.
And workers on Teesside could still be balloted separately on regional industrial action over plans to divert the processing of second class mail to Newcastle.
The Royal Mail said about 35,000 of its staff worked on Saturday despite the strike and it handled 45% of mail in the system. The volume of post was down on normal because it had urged customers not to post any letters while the strike was on.
But the union said support for the strike was “solid”.
The British Chambers of Commerce said the strike was causing “immense disruption” to the economy.
Natalie Evans, the group’s head of policy, said: “The reputation of Royal Mail is being battered and businesses are going without vital post. This dispute needs to be resolved and normal service resumed as quickly as possible.”
