Postal workers in new strike action

Hundreds of Shropshire postal workers took part in a fresh wave of strikes today after the collapse of talks aimed at resolving the bitter mail dispute.

About 500 workers from the Royal Mail sorting office in Castle Foregate, Shrewsbury, joined thousands of fellow members of the Communication Workers Union across the country in the 24-hour action, which began at 4am.

It is expected to cause huge disruption to mail deliveries.

The strike went ahead after the failure of three days of talks between union leaders and Royal Mail, under the chairmanship of TUC general secretary Brendan Barber.

A war of words has erupted as the Royal Mail accused the union of walking away from the talks and "playing havoc" with customer confidence.

About 43,700 workers across the UK in mail centres, delivery network logistic drivers and garage staff walked out today, 400 workers in Plymouth, Stockport and Stoke who redirect badly-addressed mail will walk out tomorrow, and 77,000 delivery and collection staff will take action on Saturday.

Nearly 700 workers from Shropshire delivery centres such as Oswestry, Wellington and Oakengates are expected to take part in the weekend's action.

Further strikes could be called by the union unless the deadlocked row over jobs, pay and modernisation is broken.

Pete Kelly, area delivery representative for the Shropshire and Mid Wales branch of the CWU, said staff were hoping for an agre- ement between the union and management.

He said: "People don't want to lose pay intentionally but the fact is that when you are pushed into a corner and you have got management that doesn't want to listen to you, what alternative have you got? We're protecting our rights."

Royal Mail said that after three days of intensive talks and mediation at the TUC, it was increasingly evident that the CWU leadership, the national officers and the postal executive had "very different views" on the reason for the strikes and how the dispute can be resolved.

CWU general secretary Billy Hayes said there was "every prospect" industrial action will now be stepped up.