Postal workers return to work

CWU members have voted to go back to work

Postal employees at Watford are returning to work after calling off their unofficial strike action which spread around the country.

Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) have voted to accept an offer from Royal Mail management to hold more talks about the introduction of new shift patterns.

Strikers in Maidstone and Cardiff have also reportedly agreed to return to work.

The rest of the 15,000 workers from offices throughout the UK, who walked out in sympathy with the Watford workers, are now expected to call off their unofficial action and return to work.

Backlog

The proposals accepted by the Watford workers included the promise of further talks between the Royal Mail and the union at national level over the next seven days.

A huge operation to clear a backlog of 47 million letters was expected to get under way on Friday at the 19 mail centres and 82 delivery offices that have been 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.

Election fears

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 rapidly, the delivery of postal votes in the run-up to the 7 June general election could have been disrupted.

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.

Branch secretary for the local CWU, David Baulch, said on Thursday: "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)."

'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.

Work will begin on the backlog of 50 million letters

"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, welcomed the deal to end the walkouts.

A spokesman said: "We are aiming to clear the backlog of mail as quickly as possible."

Post boxes are being unsealed and customers are advised to post outside areas where they remain blocked.

Meanwhile, a leading left-winger caused a shock when he won a ballot to be the CWU's new general secretary from July.

Liverpool-born Billy Hayes, 47, a CWU national official, beat the union's deputy general secretary John Keggie, who had been expected to win.