Picketing postal workers 'determined' as strike remains solid with warning of backlogs of cards and letters

Postmen and women who are members of the Communications Workers Union (CWU) have once again taken strike action in their long-running dispute with management.

Staffing two picket lines in sub-zero temperatures were Royal Mail posties who said they were ‘determined’ and ‘one hundred per cent sticking with the union’.

Huddled round a chiminea for warmth – a modern twist on the traditional brazier – the postmen say they will carry on until management agree to constructive talks.

Kettering CWU rep Tommy White said: “Morale is high. It’s freezing but we challenge the big cheeses to talk to the workers, to justify their ridiculous ‘modernisation’ plans.”

Workers and management are at loggerheads over the Royal Mail Groups’ (RMG) CEO Simon Thompson and their planned ‘Pathway To Change’ – a ‘rebalance’ to focus resources from letters to parcels.

Royal Mail members have been given a two per cent pay deal at a time when RPI inflation is currently running at nearly 12 per cent and when Royal Mail has announced Group profits of £758 million.

Mr White said: “It’s not just about pay and conditions – it’s a fight to save our jobs. We apologise to our customers – and I mean the the general public – for the awkward position we have been put in. People have been very supportive. They have been coming up to us on our rounds and saying ‘keep going’.

"If we don’t then that universal service for everybody will go.”

Pictures on social media have revealed sorting offices with large volumes of unsorted letters.

One postman who did not want to be named said: “We have been told to leave letters and deliver parcels. There will be a backlog of ordinary post – cards, hospital appointments.”

Des Arthur, branch secretary of South Midlands Postal Branch, has been touring the picket lines to give his support to postal workers.

He said: “In Corby support is rock solid. In Kettering there are two picket lines and support is rock solid. They (workers) are obviously losing money but they are more concerned about the service. What we need are meaningful talks so the strikes can be called off. We do not want to be on strike but we want to protect the service for the future.”