POSTAL workers in Poole joined the first of two national 24-hour strikes yesterday as union leaders announced that a fresh wave of strikes would be held next week.
The Communication Workers Union served notice of further walk-outs starting next Thursday, and a million letters and parcels in Dorset were delayed as some 400 staff at the Poole Mail Centre at the Nuffield Industrial Estate joined the walkout.
And today 900 more Royal Mail workers at the 24 delivery offices for the BH and DT postcodes will follow suit with second day-long strike – affecting tens of thousands more items of mail.
Nationally more than 100,000 Royal Mail staff will be involved in the industrial action after talks failed to resolve disputes over modernisation and changes to working practices.
The chaos and backlogs it will cause may not be cleared before Christmas.
Yesterday staff manning two pickets at the Nuffield centre from 5am said they had “no other choice”.
Derek Clash, Bournemouth and Dorset branch secretary for the CWU, said around 98 per cent of staff at the centre backed the action.
“We don’t want to take strike action. We don’t want to lose a day’s pay. We’ve come to the point where we have no other choice,” Mr Clash added.
Distribution driver Andy Rook and deputy branch secretary said staff were fed up with management “bulldozing changes through”.
“We’ve got to modernise, but if modernisation just means job cuts it’s not acceptable,” he added.
Fellow picketer Andy Excell said the decision had not been taken lightly.
“The last thing we want to do is upset the public,” he added.
The strike was condemned as “reckless and unjustified” by Royal Mail.
Mark Higson, Royal Mail managing director, said an agreement had been reached in talks on Tuesday and accused union leaders of failing to get the support of their own national executive.
He said: “I am urging them again today to meet me so that we can all sign that agreement, get the strikes stopped and give us some peace in which we can get on with delivering Christmas for our customers.”
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