Postal staff set to walk out as Royal Mail fails to deliver
ROYAL MAIL yesterday condemned plans by London’s postal workers to strike over job cuts and modernisation next week, causing further chaos for Royal Mail.
A Royal Mail spokesman said: “Customers will not understand how the union can claim to support modernisation but then announce strike action to halt existing efforts to modernise Royal Mail in London.”
The walk-out, by staff belonging to the Communication Workers Union (CWU), will start on Wednesday in a protest over job cuts and Royal Mail’s plans to modernise working practices.
Postal workers will kick off the strikes, followed by distribution workers on Thursday, and postal centre staff on Friday.
CWU says Royal Mail is cutting jobs, working hours and services, but not modernising the business.
“They are expected fewer people with fewer working hours to do the same amount of work,” a union spokesperson said.
Mandelson told the House of Lords yesterday that current market conditions meant there was no prospect of finding a buyer for a 30 per cent stake in Royal Mail, ending a bitter dispute over plans to part-privatise the group. The government faced a backbench revolt over the plans.