More workers join postal strike

Postal workers have gone on unofficial strike

About 40 postal staff at Royal Mail's main sorting office in Mallusk, County Antrim, have walked out in support of colleagues on strike in Belfast.

The unofficial action was started on Tuesday by more than 200 postal workers at the city's Tomb Street depot.

So far, deliveries in north, south and west Belfast have been disrupted for the past four days. The east of the city has been unaffected.

Royal Mail has said deliveries in the rest of NI will not be disrupted.

For a short time on Friday, some workers at Mallusk stopped postal vehicles moving in and out of the depot.

Royal Mail has written to union representatives warning them that it could take action against them to recover financial losses caused to the firm by the unofficial action.

David Peden, commercial manager for Royal Mail, said union officials had not demonstrated "any real will to get people back to work".

"We have written to some individual union officials advising them we may consider legal action," he said.

"Let's be clear - there has been four days of unofficial action.

"We feel that there is no real evidence from union representatives to demonstrate any real will to get people back to work and are taking action accordingly."

Senior managers at Mallusk have been talking to workers in an effort to contain the dispute.

Concern

However, the workers involved said they had no intention of returning to work until the original dispute in Belfast was resolved.

Royal Mail said that whilst Friday's mail deliveries would not be affected, they were very concerned to contain the problem.

"We hope that the other shifts will not follow them - an escalation is something that would greatly concern us," Mr Peden said.

He added that mail deliveries on Friday and Saturday would not be disrupted.

David Peden said staff must come off picket lines

However, Owen Davey from the Communication Workers Union said the dispute could affect deliveries all over Northern Ireland.

"It is very unfortunate, we want an early resumption of this service," he said.

"This union has set about these past four days trying to broker an agreement that will get those members back to work."

The unofficial action is being blamed on difficulties between staff and management over disciplinary procedures and other issues in the north Belfast section.

The Communications Workers Union has said management must deal with the issue before its members return to work.

Earlier on Friday, Mr Peden insisted workers needed to come off the picket line first.

"The issues which are at the heart of this dispute which stem from bullying and harassment and subsequent conduct cases that come out of that are not negotiable," he said.

"We cannot get into a situation where, in the middle of wild cat action, we start to negotiate about things which are processed through laid down procedures."

On Thursday, staff on strike in Belfast said they would return to work on Saturday to deliver the results of the 11-plus transfer test to pupils.

Royal Mail has assured the Belfast Education and Library Board that the results will be delivered on time, by management if postal staff are not back at work.