Postal workers set to continue strike action in Stratford district as ‘last resort’.

INDUSTRIAL action by postal workers in the Stratford district shows no sign of ending in the immediate future with further strikes planned for Thursday and Friday next week.

The nationwide dispute between the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) and Royal Mail about pay and conditions led to no postal deliveries on Friday last week and Wednesday, 30th August.

Nick Willmore, CWU’s industrial relations representative in Stratford, told the Herald that the union achieved a 100 per cent walkout of its 100 members in the town last Friday with 40 of them manning a picket line outside the sorting office in Maysbrook Road.

He said that Royal Mail had offered a pay increase of only two per cent. “They claim they’ve offered five per cent, but there are strings attached, such as targets,” he said. “The only solid offer is two per cent.”

Mr Willmore said the union wanted a pay increase that enabled its members to cope with the cost-of-living crisis and inflation. “Two per cent is just nothing,” he said. He added that Royal Mail was also demanding later start times and Sunday working. Postal workers would in effect be getting “a pay decrease, not an increase”.