postal service

Accident and Emergency staff carried out a mass sick day strike at San Fernando General Hospital on the 16th of April in protest at overcrowding. Overcrowding has gotten so bad at the hospital, that the asthma room, a room supposed to be dedicated for those awaiting emergency asthma treatment, is being used as a holding bay for those awaiting hospital beds.

Unions have rejected the postal group's plan to overhaul its pensions scheme and are poised to ballot nearly 150,000 members over whether they back the plan or not.

Just outside of Paris at the Areva TD factory in Montrouge, 89 striking workers have been occupying and blockading the factory for four days.The movement began after management announced plans to close the factory, which produces electrical transformers. Workers are demanding large compensation payments, management is currently refusing to negotiate.

Workers, with the support of the SUD and CGT unions have given notice of an unlimited strike to begin Monday.

Beginning on the morning of March 18, the strike had been precipitated by months of stalling by union leaders and government officials. With no rights to collective bargaining, and having not seen wages increase between 1967 and 1969, anger amongst postal workers had been simmering for years.

The 100 strikers, member of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), are refusing to deliver mail until at least 16th January following a meeting between workers. The extension came ahead of talks between the union and Royal Mail.

Burslem Delivery Office has been the site of a large number of unofficial walkouts this year, alongside the official strike action in August and October.

The vote was on a 64% turnout.

Many workers have reacted angrily to the news, with one employee on Royal Mail Chat stating:

Thousands joined street protests in Paris, Rouen, Strasbourg, Marseille, Grenoble, Lyon and other cities.

The 24 hour strike left many schools closed, hospitals providing a reduced service and newsagents without newspapers.

The BBC reported that the French capital's two airports and Marseille airport in the south suffered delays and cancellations.

The problem, according to headlines in the mainstream press, was a 2.5% pay rise being offered by Royal Mail to its 190,000 workers, along with some vague problems to do with ‘terms and conditions’.

The reality of what is being faced by the postal workers is far more complex and vastly more damaging, not just for them, but for everyone who wants to be sure of getting their mail.

Belfast
Postal workers in Belfast have won an important victory against management after unofficial action on Friday of last week. It took the workers just one and a half hours to force down bosses’ attempts to change start times.

Managers insisted that the workforce put forward their start times by two hours.

The Royal Mail was granted an injunction to stop CWU members at sorting and delivery offices from striking. Royal Mail says an irregularity in the way the strike notice was issued makes the action illegal. The union insisted the strike was legitimate because it fully complied with the law. Rolling strikes similar to those in August were due to start on Monday.

130,000 Communication Workers Union (CWU) members returned to work today after the latest four day strikes, but the introduction of later starts by executive action has led to mass walkouts in Glasgow, Lancaster, Liverpool, and London, with more offices to follow.

Last-minute talks between Royal Mail managers and the Communication Workers Union (CWU) failed to reach a deal, and the strike started at noon. A second two-day strike is scheduled to begin at 3am on Monday, 8 October, after which rolling strikes will occur on a weekly basis with different functions on different days.

Rural and Suburban Mail Carriers in northern Alberta, Canada Wildcatted on Monday September 24th. Mail delivery was cut off in Stony Plain, Spruce Grove, Nisku, Edson, Hinton and Delton Depot in Edmonton. The strike action was in response to Canada Post offering a select group of employees at two depots in Alberta a 35% raise while bypassing the vast majority of Rural and Suburban Workers.

Taken from the CWU website:

Why was the strike called off?
The obvious answer is that the union called the strikes off because Royal Mail (RM) was willing to negotiate. Dave Ward publicly offered for the union that if RM would enter "meaningful" negotiations they were willing to call off the pending action.

While management tried to downplay the effects of the strike, the CWU claimed that members supported the strikes in overwhelming numbers. Post Office Limited (POL) Head Office was placed in disarray due to severe staff shortages as managers were once again forced to travel at great cost across the country to cover members’ jobs.

Postal workers were just about to resume a second two weeks of rolling strike action, which has already built up 10-14 days backlog at Royal Mail depots around the country.

The Post Office Ltd. wants to shut 85 post offices and shift services over to the much lower-paid workers at WH Smith, as part of its overall plan to close around 1,000 post offices. Post Office Ltd.