Second day of postal strikes begins
Second day of nationwide postal strikes begins
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By Lewis Bazley. |  |
Friday, 23, Oct 2009 08:41
By Richard James.
A second day of nationwide postal strikes began this morning with delivery and collection workers at Royal Mail staging a mass walkout.
Around 78,000 members of staff began industrial action at 04:00 BST.
The strike action follows the 24-hour walkout by mail centre staff and postal drivers on Thursday.
The Communication Workers Union (CWU) also announced late yesterday that there will be further strikes taking place on Thursday, Friday and Saturday next week.
Gordon Brown has called the strike action, over working conditions and plans to modernise the Royal Mail, as "self-defeating" and urged both management and the work force to continue talks to resolve the dispute.
Union bosses claim to have offered "unconditional" talks at the conciliation service Acas with Royal Mail, maintaining that further strikes can be avoided through negotiations.
Royal Mail on the other hand has described next week's strike action as "appalling".
The talks though appear deadlocked with Dave Ward, CWU's deputy leader, accusing business secretary Lord Mandelson of interfering in the negotiations and external forces of attempting to derail any chance of an agreement.