Postal workers on strike in south Bristol
POSTAL workers at a Bristol delivery depot are striking today over a dispute with Royal Mail.
The Commercial Workers Union (CWU) confirmed on Saturday that staff at the Mead Street depot in Bedminster would be striking for 24 hours from 12.01am today.
Bristol CWU official David Wilshire said the action would mean no deliveries would be made from the depot. He said that almost 100 employees were due to strike in the action over staff being over-worked and struggling to make their deliveries in the time allocated for them. And he has not ruled out further action before Christmas if the issues remain unresolved.
Mr Wilshire said: "We have been speaking to Royal Mail now for about 12 months on various issues and they have refused to change their position for the whole of that period.
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"Even despite the fact there was an 81 per cent yes vote for strike action they have refused to take it seriously up to last week. There are just short of 100 people in the office – we will expect them all to strike.
"We have consulted them every week for the past year and they are the ones that said enough is enough. They are just sick and tired of telling managers on a daily basis that they cannot cope with their deliveries.
"I think early next week another day of action will be announced as we have to give seven days' notice that will bring us nearer to Christmas."
Royal Mail spokesman Nick Martens said: "We met with the Communication Workers Union in London this week in an effort to resolve issues of concern at the Mead Street delivery office.
"'We agree with the union the need to replan the duties within the office to ensure a sustainable operation which provides a reliable service for customers.
"We asked the union to meet with us at ACAS rather than take industrial action and we regret that this offer was refused."
He said staff at Mead Street were being asked to work as normal today but added that Royal Mail had contingency plans to deliver post in the BS4 and BS14 postcode areas if staff were taking action.
Managers throughout the South West and beyond are being called upon to help deliver mail in the area.
Mr Martens said Royal Mail's helpline on 08457 740 740 and website at www.royalmail.com would include updates on the situation.
Comments
by ANDYJRM
Tuesday, December 11 2012, 5:19PM
“Hahahahahahaha more red arrows than Farnborough Air Show!”
by ANDYJRM
Tuesday, December 11 2012, 4:58PM
“Copy of an email just sent to Nick Martens' direct email address at Royal Mail just now(I managed to track it down eventually!):
"Hi Nick,
Please forgive this direct contact - it's been rather difficult to find a contact up to now, so hopefully I am in the right place.
As you'll doubtless be aware, the majority of Bristol's public are outraged at the strike action and threats of further strike actions by the CWU led employees at Mead Street.
To give you an insight, this strike has directly affected not only revenues into my business due to delays on receipt of samples from suppliers, but as a knock on, has impacted on my sales team's commission and subsequent take home wages. This is clearly unacceptable and it is high time the Royal Mail stood up to the bullies.
To that end, myself and and the cc'd in emails would like to try and help.
I would be more than happy to come into the depot early in the morning of the strike dates to help sort backlog ahead of managers going out on rounds.
Additionally, If there are likely to be longer term strike threats, I would also be more than happy to look at booking some holiday from work to actually help on delivery rounds, given that I live in the vicinity.
If you could come back to me with some suggestions how we can help, I'd be very grateful."”
by Rockyruss
Tuesday, December 11 2012, 4:35PM
“Yes me to Andy not sure where he the Grumpleduke is coming from ?”
by ANDYJRM
Tuesday, December 11 2012, 2:32PM
“GrumbleDuke - confused as to what you mean. As per my post, have done exactly this sort of work. Was pretty easy to be fair - not rocket science, and with a modicum of physical fitness and the honesty to complete the job, I can't see what the problem is.
Could you elaborate on what you mean by "less talk more action"? I'm a little confused.”
by GrumbleDuke
Tuesday, December 11 2012, 2:10PM
“Andy - less talk, more action. When I did flyer distribution it was hard work. Put up or shut up.”
by ANDYJRM
Tuesday, December 11 2012, 12:31PM
“Guessing that a "red arrow" is a stand in for when someone disagrees with a sensible comment but can't string together a coherent sentence to explain an alternative point of view.......”
by ANDYJRM
Tuesday, December 11 2012, 11:49AM
“@Grumbleduke
I actually used to work for a flyer design, print and distribution company - and I did plenty of door to door flyer distribution while I was at university to help pay my way. Was actually pretty damn easy. Certainly easier than the paper rounds I did as a kid, because the payload was considerably lighter than 2 massive bags of newspapers.
Hope that helps!
:-)”
by GrumbleDuke
Tuesday, December 11 2012, 10:48AM
“@Andyjrm
Offer your services to http://tinyurl.com/ayeksc8 who distribute flyers. Start with, say, 1000 flyers and report back here as to how easy it was.”
by ANDYJRM
Tuesday, December 11 2012, 9:57AM
“Hahahahahahahaha the old "hide cookies and post red arrows" brigade (or is that "comrades"?) are clearly back in action!!”
by denny
Tuesday, December 11 2012, 9:40AM
“great troops abroad this year will miss out this year”