Royal Mail staff to go on strike in Coventry

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Royal Mail staff are to strike in Coventry next week - disrupting deliveries to thousands of homes.



A 24-hour walkout will go ahead on Tuesday after talks broke down in a long-running dispute over working hours.

The stoppage will affect about half the city’s post and involves workers at the Coventry City North Delivery Office, off the A444 in Foleshill.

The strike, which comes after a Bank Holiday, means thousands of residents and businesses face at least a three-day wait until their next post arrives.

There could be further delays as workers clear the backlog.

Mick Kavanagh, Coventry union leader for the Communication Workers’ Union, dismissed any chance of a late change of heart and insisted negotiations had now broken down.

He claimed management at a local and national level had gone back on agreements over working hours. He also hinted there could be further industrial action in the future.

He said: “Staff are continually being forced to work over and above their agreed working hours.

“We had tried for the last three to four weeks to come to an agreement. There was an 82 per cent yes vote in favour of strike.

“The strike action will take place from midnight on Monday to midnight on Tuesday. That will affect deliveries in about half of the city.

“It’s too late to be averted now. As a union we have done everything we can to avoid the strike action and solve the dispute.

“We need to get these issues sorted or similar action will be taking place in the future. Relations at the depot are not the best and we need to try and resolve them.”

Members of the union are scheduled to picket the entrance to the north delivery office on Tuesday from 6am until 11am.

Royal Mail bosses hit out at those taking part in the strike action by suggesting it could damage the organisation’s attempts to make the company sustainable.

Barbara Roulston, spokesman for Royal Mail, said: “It is disappointing that our colleagues have decided to take industrial action in Coventry North Delivery on Tuesday and we are doing everything we can to minimise the disruption to our customers.

“Royal Mail is fully committed to the process of trying to resolve the concerns of postal workers based in Coventry North Delivery Office by continuing to follow the national jointly agreed framework with the Communication Workers Union.

“We have made significant progress in recent months, thanks to the efforts of our colleagues and have worked hard to engage the CWU locally.

“We remain hopeful that the issues can be resolved locally and we urge the CWU to call off this strike which goes against the spirit of what we have agreed locally and the progress we have made in working through the issues raised.

“Any strike will only hurt our customers and damage our drive to build a strong and sustainable future for Royal Mail.”

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Striking Royal Mail workers warn of further walkouts in Coventry



Royal Mail workers in Coventry walked out on strike today - and warned there could be further industrial action if talks fail to settle their dispute with bosses.

Royal Mail staff at the Coventry North Delivery Office, off the A444 in Foleshill, staged 24-hour stoppage from Tuesday morning in an ongoing dispute over working hours.

Pickets were set up at the depot as deliveries to thousands of homes were disrupted.

The Communication Workers’ Union claimed none of the site’s 160 staff turned up for work - as far as they were aware.

Union officials said they were confident negotiations would move forward - but they had not ruled out the possibility of further industrial action if talks failed to progress.

Neil Robinson, CWU local branch secretary, who was at the picket, said: “It’s gone very well. No one turned up to work, as far as the union’s aware.

“We want managers to stop pressurising workers into doing longer hours and working beyond what they are called to do. I am hopeful the strike will lead to a resolution as soon as possible.”

Mr Robinson said they would aim to take action short of a strike in future if the dispute wasn't settled.

He said: “We are sorry that we have had to take this action. We want deliveries to go back to normal.”

Mick Kavanagh, leader of Coventry CWU, said: “We are not going to rule out the possibility of further action but we hope we can reach a resolution without the need for action.”

Royal Mail apologised to customers for disruption to mail deliveries and said contingency measures were in place as the firm aims to deliver all Special Delivery items, take some mail out on delivery rounds and respond to customers calling into the enquiry office to pick up undelivered parcels.

Paul Whitehouse, Royal Mail delivery director, said: “We are disappointed that today’s strike has gone ahead as Royal Mail is fully committed to the process of trying to resolve the concerns of postal workers based in Coventry North Delivery Office by continuing to follow the national jointly agreed framework with the Communication Workers’ Union.

''We remain hopeful that these issues can be resolved locally.

"This strike goes against the spirit of the talks we have been having and the progress we are making to resolve the issues and will only hurt our customers and damage our drive to build a strong and sustainable future for Royal Mail."

He added that customers with queries could contact customer services on 0845 7740 740.