Royal Mail: Wildcat strikes spread as post piles up

Thousands of workers at Glasgow mail centre were on an unofficial strike when thirteen drivers who refused to cross the picket line of the official strike at Edinburgh airport were suspended.

Workers at Motherwell followed suit, going wildcat yesterday when three of their drivers were sent home for refusing to cross the Glasgow picket line.

After returning to work today, workers walked out after just 45 minutes after starting work, when management suspended yet another driver for refusing to cross the line at Glasgow.

The Communication Workers Union told the Evening Times "There are hopes of a resolution to the row over the delivery drivers. We are holding out the olive branch. We want to get our members back to work."

The Daily Mirror reported that now 200 million items of post are left undelivered, following another 24-hour national strike of 30,000 sorting office workers yesterday.

Meanwhile, up to 1,000 staff in Bristol are to ballot for a strike over Royal Mail's illegal use of casual workers during the dispute. Staff in South East London are to ballot for action over changes in leave arrangements.

One local government worker told libcom:
"Postal workers are leading the way fighting back against the pay cut across the public sector and cuts in public services. To win, we need to try to spread and generalise their struggle across the whole sector, and not allow different groups of workers to be beaten one after the other."

Update 10.50am
Morning shift at the Edinburgh mail centre has gone out on unofficial strike due to mail arriving from strike areas in the west. Reported on Royal Mail Chat

Update 7pm
Postal workers in Liverpool held a mass sit-in for several hours, it is not yet clear whether the issue was resolved or if they're now on wildcat as well (via royalmailchat).

More information
Discussion about the unofficial action on Royal Mail Chat