No return for Cardiff postal workers

The Royal Mail has apologised for the disruption

Postal workers in Cardiff and Bangor appear to be continuing their strike action - despite their colleagues in Hertfordshire accepting a deal to end the dispute.

Members of the Communication Workers Union in Watford voted on Thursday to end their industrial action over changes to shift patterns after talks with Royal Mail managers.

Staff from Cardiff - some of the 15,000 workers from offices throughout the UK who walked out in sympathy - have pledged to continue their action until at least midday on Friday.

They say changes in working practices in Liverpool resulted in Royal Mail bosses trying to sort the city's post in Cardiff.

That situation still has not been resolved.

And in Bangor, workers are still deciding what their next move will be.

Strike disruption

Backlog of nearly 50 million items

19 mail centres affected

72 delivery offices hit

A huge operation to clear a backlog of 50 million letters was getting under way on Thursday evening at the 19 mail centres and 72 delivery offices affected across the UK.

The unofficial strike action, which began when talks broke down between management and staff, spread on Wednesday to Liverpool, Manchester, Preston, Chester, Stockport, Birkenhead, north Wales, Maidstone, and Cardiff.

There were further walkouts overnight at centres in Newcastle, Carlisle, Milton Keynes, Dartford in Kent and Harrow in London, resulting in an even bigger backlog of undelivered mail.

There were fears that if the dispute was not sorted out quickly, the delivery of postal votes in the run-up to the 7 June general election could have been disrupted.

Work is beginning on the backlog of 50 million letters

The settlement was thrashed out between union leaders and Royal Mail management during talks which continued into the early hours of Thursday morning.

The deal was explained to the workers at Watford, who voted in favour at a mass meeting.

Their CWU branch secretary, David Baulch, said: "They voted in favour of a return to work by a vast majority of staff. A long debate was had, a lot of reassurances were given (by management).

"We plan to make a return to work for 10pm tonight."

'Difficult'

Mr Baulch predicted it would take "a couple of weeks" for the backlog of mail to be dealt with but he was confident that general election post would not be affected.

"Of course we will help clear that backlog. We certainly hope there will be no more strikes in Watford.

"No-one has ever wanted to lose money or disrupt any services but you can see how angry they have been and how difficult it has been," he said.

The Royal Mail, which handles about 80 million items of post each day, apologised to customers for the disruption and condemned the walkouts.

Mick Linsell, Royal Mail's managing director of service delivery, said it was "particularly disappointing" workers had gone on strike when an independent team had recently been appointed to review industrial relations in the service.