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“Chaotic” heaps of post left outside a major Royal Mail centre has sparked concerns for Christmas.
The ECHO previously reported on mountains of packages which were piled up in cages outside of Warrington delivery office as postal workers continue to strike for better pay. But this week, photos show post is still piling up.
Undelivered post was pictured at a mail centre in Bristol on Monday and Tuesday, December 12 and 13, with some of the same post in place. But Royal Mail said the scenes were “typical for this time of year”.
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A total of 10 days of strike action has been planned by the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU), with over 115,000 members walking out in the run up to Christmas. With more strike days planned, many fear not getting their deliveries on time for Christmas.
A CWU spokesman said: “Millions of letters and packages are backlogged across the UK as the Christmas mail mounts up. The CWU and postal workers want to save Christmas but Royal Mail must step back from their all out assault on our members jobs, terms and the service they provide.
“Simon Thompson risks ruining Christmas for millions of people. The ball is in his court.”
(Image: SWNS)
The last first class posting date for Christmas has been brought forward to December 16. Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed items should be sent by Wednesday, December 21, according to Royal Mail’s website
The CWU have rejected a pay offer of 7% plus a £500 lump sum, as they claim Royal Mail wants to cut jobs as part of this pact. Royal Mail is currently losing over £1m per day, and says the potential pay offer is being eaten away by the costs of CWU strikes.
Royal Mail spokesman added: “We are doing all we can to deliver Christmas for our customers and minimise the impact of damaging industrial action. The CWU is striking at our busiest time, holding Christmas to ransom for our customers, businesses and families across the country. We apologise to our customers and strongly urge them to post early for Christmas.
“The pictures show busy mail centres with thousands of parcels moving through our network and this is typical for this time of the year. The sites shown are processing 30,000 parcels an hour so volume moves very quickly through the centres and on to the next stage in their journey.
“We have been doing a good job of quickly recovering from days of industrial action and have well developed contingency plans in place to minimise delays and keep people, businesses and the country connected. However, we cannot fully replace the daily efforts of our frontline workforce on days the CWU are taking strike action”
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