Legal threat to UK mail staff over strike

Royal Mail today threatened legal action against union officials representing postal workers on wildcat strike in Northern Ireland. The company said it did not think they had shown any real will to try to get the unofficial action in Belfast called off. It has written to a number of Communication Workers` Union representatives warning it could take action against them to recover financial losses caused to the firm by four days of unofficial action which has halted postal deliveries to much of Belfast.
David Peden, Royal Mail commercial manager, said: “We have written to some individual union officials advising them they we may consider legal action.

“Let`s be clear – there has been four days of unofficial action. We feel that there is no real evidence from union representatives to demonstrate any real will to get people back to work and are taking action accordingly.”

As the letters went out, the unofficial strike action by the Royal Mail staff spread today.

Half the first shift at the main sorting office in Mallusk, Co Antrim, walked out in support of 200 colleagues who have been striking at the Tomb Street depot in Belfast for four days.

Mr Peden said around 40 drivers and sorters at Mallusk had stopped work.

“We hope that the other shifts will not follow them – an escalation is something that would greatly concern us,” he said.

However, Royal Mail pledged that whatever happened 11-plus results would be delivered as normal tomorrow.

“The 11-plus results are completely ring-fenced. We have more than enough management volunteers to get them out, people need not worry about the results at all,” said Mr Peden.

The four-day strike in Tomb Street has halted deliveries in North, West and South Belfast.

It started, according to the company, when it took disciplinary action against a number of employees and the workers did not like the outcome.

The Communication Workers` Union said management must deal with the issue before its members return to work.

But Mr Peden said the strike had to be halted first.

“We cannot get into a situation where, in the middle of wildcat action, we start to negotiate about things which are processed through laid-down procedures.”

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) expressed concern at the disruption of postal services to small business owners in Belfast as a result of the escalating strike.

Harry McGimpsey, FSB branch chairman for North and West Belfast, said small businesses in the city were getting increasingly worried about the impact.

He said: “Many small business owners depend on Royal Mail for the delivery of cheques and other essential mail to keep their business running and are beginning to express alarm that this strike shows no sign of ending and indeed seems to be escalating.”

The FSB appealed for both sides in the dispute to “go the extra mile” for a deal to end the strike, he said.