About 77,000 postal workers will go on strike on Saturday in the final part of a second wave of action after talks failed to end an escalating dispute over pay, jobs and modernisation. The Communication Workers Union said delivery and collection staff across the country will walk out following two days of smaller strikes on Thursday and Friday.
CWU General Secretary Billy Hayes announced more one-day, all-out strikes for November 6 and November 9 on Friday after negotiations between the union and Royal Mail chiefs at the Trades Union Congress failed to reach a deal. "The union is consistently frustrated that Royal Mail keep walking away when we get close to a deal but we hope that that will not be the case next week," Hayes said.
"It is not necessary for this strike to take place and the union remains focussed on reaching an agreement." Royal Mail Managing Director Mark Higson condemned the new strikes as "destructive" and said progress had been made in the talks. Neither side will give details of the disagreements that are preventing a deal to end the strikes.
"The CWU's irresponsible behaviour underlines just how muddled and confused the thinking of the union is and how little it really cares about customers or the future of the UK postal service," he said in a statement. The state-owned postal operator said this week's strikes have delayed 35 million items of mail, while it has cleared the backlog from the previous week's action.
Royal Mail has hired an extra 30,000 temporary staff to cope with the strike and the Christmas rush. Managers have also been drafted in to help clear the piles on undelivered post. The TUC, the union umbrella body hosting talks between the two sides, said the union and the company had agreed to look at new proposals to end the dispute, with a view to resuming talks next week. The Royal Mail is losing 10 percent of its mail volume each year to private firms, the Internet, email and mobile phones.