Oldham posties set for further walk-out

POSTAL workers are preparing for two days of all-out strike after taking to the picket lines again on Saturday.

But their leaders have denied Royal Mail reports that up to a quarter of staff worked normally.

Dave Mann, delivery staff representative for Oldham’s Communication Workers’ Union members, said: “The managers are including people who would not have been at work anyway, like me.

“Saturday was my day off and they are not classing me as being on strike. But I was at the picket line at Hamilton Street before 5am on Saturday.

There are 250 delivery staff at Oldham who are set to walk out on Friday and Monday. but Mr Mann said there would not be a large backlog of mail as all mail was cleared on Friday, with no collections after 11.30am on Saturday.

He added: “No-one wants this strike. Over the last 12 months in Oldham we have saved 1,000 hours of overtime, as part of modernisation, working with the union, by agreement, and we have stuck by it.

“Now management are trying to cut more hours, bring in three new machines, employ part-time staff, and won’t tell us our new finishing times, which will have knock-on effects for people with young families and will mean people getting deliveries even later. We are not against modernisation but management has to talk to us.”

Ted Stead, CWU branch secretary for Oldham and Rochdale, said: “Support for the strike was excellent and we are optimistic that things will get sorted.

“There is pressure being brought to bear on the managing director of Royal Mail, Mark Higson, to come to the talks.

“The things we are hearing back from our executive are that we are getting somewhere and there is a positive feeling to the talks.

“We have had members of the public bringing stuff to the picket lines and wishing us well.”