Talks staged in bid to end postal chaos
POSTAL workers staged a third day of unofficial strike action today, which further disrupted mail deliveries, in their bitter row over pay, jobs and pensions.
Thousands of postmen and women took wildcat action in Liverpool and parts of London in protest at new shift patterns.
Meanwhile talks aimed at resolving the long-running dispute will resume later today in a bid to avert a fresh round of official strikes called by the Communication Workers Union next week.
Up to 130,000 union members have taken two 48-hour strikes in the past week which crippled mail deliveries.
The dispute was inflamed when many postal workers took exception to being told their shift times had changed.
An estimated 600 postal workers across Merseyside were on strike again today affecting 17 offices in the area.
Union officials claimed that at Liverpool’s main sorting office workers were told if they started work they would be accepting the new shift hours.
Workers also took wildcat action in East, South-west and South-east London, including a busy mail centre at Nine Elms.
Talks between the two sides will resume later today.
The Royal Mail said about 30 offices were affected by today’s unofficial strikes out of a total of 1,500.
Mail centres including Cannon Park in Middlesbrough will strike for 24 hours from 6pm on Tuesday next week, followed by delivery staff striking from 6pm on Wednesday.
Since the dispute began Royal Mail has increased its pay offer from 2.5% a year to 6.7% over two years.
