Year: 2003

Postwatch, the postal watchdog, has called on Royal Mail to improve its Mailsort services by giving at least 3 months’ notice of any contract changes, making sure that discounts are not unfairly withheld and ensuring any disputes with customers are openly resolved.

Peter Carr, Chairman of Postwatch, in support of the recommendations said,
“Within Royal Mail there is a growing awareness that customers must come first.
Unsympathetic responses to legitimate customer concerns should increasingly be a thing of the past.

Milkmen were preparing to deliver thousands of letters as Royal Mail chiefs warned that wildcat post strikes could “destroy” the loss-making company.

Executives at Express Dairies have confirmed they are preparing to deliver mail on 3,500 milk rounds to help businesses desperate to get letters and bills out to customers.

However, the milkmen are not able to collect or sort mail posted in letter boxes – and will not be used to clear the backlog in Royal Mail depots.

A deal to end a strike by British postal workers has been agreed between the Royal Mail and the Communications Workers Union.

Talks resumed on Sunday 2nd November between Royal Mail and labour union leaders to end a growing wildcat strike that has thrown postal services in Britain into disarray.

The government pleaded with both sides in the postal strike to resolve the conflict before serious damage was done to the economy. Patricia Hewitt, the Trade Secretary, said that both the Royal Mail and the wildcat strikers, whose unofficial action has brought the postal system to a halt, should resolve their dispute. “Customers are losing their mail, postal workers are losing their pay, and neither megaphone diplomacy nor unofficial action will solve the problem,” she said.