Threatened post strike called off

A postal strike which would have thrown Bridgwater’s mail into chaos this week was called off at the eleventh hour on Wednesday.

Last minute talks between bosses from the Communication Workers’ Union and Royal Mail finally resolved an overtime payment dispute which threatened to wreak havoc at the Friarn Street sorting office.

Staff at the office agreed in a ballot at 6am on Wednesday to drop the strike threat, which was due to begin on Wednesday night.

If the action had gone ahead, mail deliveries in the Bridgwater area would have been disrupted for three days until Friday night, with managers from Royal Mail taking on some of the work.

The row had been over whether Bridgwater staff should get overtime payments for covering sickness, which Royal Mail had intended to scrap but is now reconsidering.

CWU spokesman Mike Sell said:

“We had a meeting at 6am and we put it to the members who accepted the agreement.

“It basically means a return to the working practices before Royal Mail pulled out of the overtime payments.

“The strike action has been averted and we will be reviewing the situation in the coming weeks.

“We are prepared to work with Royal Mail and have agreed a framework to put things into place in the future.”

A spokesman for Royal Mail said:

“We are delighted that an agreement has now been reached which should mean that service for our Bridgwater customers will not now be disrupted.”