Royal Mail postal strikes continue ahead of ballot for nationwide strike

Workers at the CWU have been striking on and off in different parts of the country since June in opposition to Royal Mail’s modernisation plans. The CWU claimed last week that its strike actions so far have caused a massive backlog of around 22 million items of undelivered mail, of which 20 million are located in London.

Representatives of Royal Mail however have rubbished the claim, saying that the real figure is around four or five million items of mail.

Today delivery offices in Cambridge, Ely, Haddenham, Isleham and Soham have gone on strike.

On Tuesday 12 night offices in London are to go on strike, followed by a drivers strike on Wednesday and a London wide walkout at delivery offices.

On Wednesday the CWU will open up the ballot to decide on whether or not to carry out a nationwide strike, such as was seen in 2007. The ballot will remain open until 8 October.

This week’s localised strikes will finish on Friday with walkouts from delivery offices in Ayr, Irvine, Kilmarnock and Kilwinning.