Thousands of British postal workers started a second day of strikes today, with a fresh wave of action set to be held next week in an escalation of the bitter Royal Mail dispute.
The Communication Workers Union served notice of further walk-outs starting next Thursday as thousands of delivery and collection workers mounted picket lines across the country today.
Up to 78,000 union members will join today’s walkout, following a “solidly supported” strike yesterday by over 40,000 mail centre staff and drivers.
Details of how long next week’s strikes will last and which group of workers will be involved are expected to be announced today.
A new opinion poll showed that twice as many people sympathised with the postal workers rather than the Royal Mail management.
Half of the 840 adults questioned by BBC Two’s Newsnight sympathised with the postal workers and the union as opposed to the Royal Mail management (25%) and most didn’t want the company privatised.
The union offered “unconditional” talks at the conciliation service Acas in a bid to break the deadlocked row over jobs, pay and modernisation.
Mark Higson, Royal Mail’s managing director, said it was “appalling but sadly not surprising” that more strikes had been called.
The new stoppages will cause further disruption to mail deliveries, which are already facing big delays because of this week’s action.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged Royal Mail management and postal workers to get “round the table” to solve the dispute, saying the strike was “self-defeating”.
He warned: “If more and more customers leave the Royal Mail and more and more customers stop using the Royal Mail, then more jobs will be lost, so this is self-defeating.”
Union leaders stepped up their attack on Business Secretary Lord Mandelson, accusing him of telling “untruths”.
Pickets were joined yesterday by other union activists, waving banners and flags, with slogans including Defend Our Postal Services, and Protect Our Pensions, attracting hoots of support from passing motorists.
The atmosphere was peaceful, with pickets expressing strong support for the industrial action and hitting out at the Royal Mail and Lord Mandelson — one accusing the Business Secretary of having a “vendetta” against postal workers.
PA