UK Royal Mail strike threatens to spread nationally

The prospect of a national postal strike grew as wildcat action spread across the south-east and Royal Mail remained locked in emergency talks with the Communication Workers’ Union.

The unofficial strike, which started in west London last week and soon spread to most areas of the capital, meant 17,000 out of London’s 28,000 postal workers stayed away from work, according to Royal Mail. They were joined by staff in Oxford, Maidstone, Chelmsford and Southend, and CWU members suggested walkouts were also brewing in Slough and Birmingham.

Postal workers at a Royal Mail logistics unit in Lanarkshire, Scotland, also took action yesterday, although a local union representative said the dispute was unrelated to the London strike.

Royal Mail said the pattern of industrial action was patchy across London, with some offices achieving a 90 per cent attendance rate.

The number of staff at work was swelled by large numbers of management from across the south, who had been recruited to keep some mail moving. But despite their efforts, most addresses in London were unlikely to receive post for the fourth day today and serious knock-on delays were expected around the country.

The industrial action was triggered by the suspension of a driver at the Greenford sorting office, in west London, last week.

The rapid spread of the walkouts reflects the deteriorating relationship between Royal Mail management and staff, and harks back to the late 90s when wildcat action in London was commonplace.

The Sawyer Report in 2001 proposed ways to ease relations between the two sides and led to a period of uneasy calm, but many fear that any progress has now been erased.

Union representatives have complained that Royal Mail is using “bullying tactics” to implement redundancies and changes to working practices, part of a vital restructuring designed to turn around the loss-making postal company.

The CWU does not officially back the London strike but has blamed “management provocation” at the local level, including penalties imposed on staff who took official action over London weighting earlier this month.

One local union representative, speaking from the picket line at the Mount Pleasant sorting office in north London, said: “Relations between staff and management never really got better over the last few years. The union tried to control unofficial strike action, but there was nothing given in return by management and their style is more aggressive than ever.”

Royal Mail and CWU negotiators held talks on how to end the strike yesterday afternoon. The meetings were expected to continue into the night, indicating that strike action would remain widespread across London.