Court Halts Postal Strike

by liamssoft | October 12, 2007 at 10:02 am

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Royal mail brought the strike to a head this evening with a court order. The workers have been striking on and off for months for what they see as real concerns for their jobs.

Most of the public are unaware of the details, but in short, Royal Mail have to cut cost dramatically. Their income has dwindled due to new players in the market who use Royal Mail to deliver their customers mail but pay Royal Mail at almost half the cost. This has effected the profitability and the workers jobs and working practices.

The union is taking action over a planned modernisation programme which it claims will result in job losses and lower pay for its members.

The strike has spread from England to Scotland with most areas in the UK effected..

Today the unofficial action hit Edinburgh and Grangemouth along with the previously affected areas of south and east London and Liverpool. The wildcat action is halting work at major mail sorting centres and delivery operations, leaving some areas without post for more than a week.

Mail has been slow arriving and up to 7 days late in some areas.

Up to 130,000 union members have taken two 48 hour strikes in the past week which crippled mail deliveries across the country.

The dispute was inflamed when many postal workers took exception to being told their shift times had changed.

The workers do not like the managements attitude towards working arraignments and vice-versa.

Postal workers staged a third day of unofficial strike action today in their dispute with the Royal Mail over pay, pensions and working practices.

The wildcat action in Liverpool and parts of London, which involves thousands of postal staff, comes as the Royal Mail and the Communication Workers Union plan to resume talks today in an attempt to end the dispute.

The strike is effecting the running of business and must be resolved quickly if business is not to stall any further.

The CWU had announced a series of rolling strikes from Monday, starting with mail staff, which would cripple post deliveries across the UK.

The move came as both sides in the increasingly bitter dispute continued to hold talks in a bid to resolve the row over pay, jobs and pensions.

The strike is outlawed but the dispute remains.

The Royal Mail was granted an injunction banning the Communication Workers' Union (CWU) from going ahead with national walkouts at the start of next week.

Mr Justice King upheld an argument by the Royal Mail's lawyers that the union had failed adequately to comply with legal requirements to state accurately the number of employees likely to be affected by the action.

The court action appears to be upheld on a technicality but at least the different sides are still talking so there is every chance of a truce.

Royal Mail chief executive Adam Crozier met union leaders for several hours yesterday and the meeting was adjourned just before midnight.

The two sides met again today at the TUC headquarters in central London and the negotiations were continuing despite Royal Mail’s legal action.

There is a lot of resentment on both sides and worker/management relations are at an all time low.

Royal Mail chief executive Adam Crozier accused the CWU of talking "cobblers".

Responding to accusations of "slavery", Mr Crozier said the Royal Mail was only trying to make people work the hours for which they were paid.

Lets hope that this argument concerning our once wonderful postal service can be resolved amicably. I don't hold my breath though.

Other parts of the Royal Mail, such as drivers, may still strike later in the week but it is understood the injunction against workers at sorting and delivery offices taking industrial action next week is a major coup for the struggling company in its efforts to reach a deal with union officials.

Royal Mail has said that the High Court injunction covers the whole of the UK.