UK postal workers vote for national strike
LONDON — Workers for Britain’s Royal Mail approved a nationwide strike Thursday after months of rolling regional strikes over pay and job security that have caused a massive backlog of undelivered letters and packages.
The series of localized halts in pickup and delivery across the country have played havoc with business and personal deliveries. One of Royal Mail’s biggest customers, the online retailer Amazon, said it was working on contingency measures that would shift its deliveries to other carriers, although it has not yet canceled any contracts with the government-owned Royal Mail.
The Communication Workers Union said that 76 percent of more than 80,000 union members voted in favor of the action. The union must give seven days notice before any strike and Dave Ward, the deputy general secretary, said there was still a chance to reach an agreement.
Business leaders warned that more disruption in deliveries will harm Britain’s struggling economy.
“Just when business was looking for the green shoots of recovery, the postal workers ballot threatens to stamp on them,” said Graeme Leach, chief economist at the Institute of Directors, a business lobby group.
The vote comes amid disputes over how to best modernize the mail service that the union says has led to unfair job cuts and increases in workloads.
Mark Higson, Royal Mail’s managing director, said changes had been made in response to falling volumes of mail.
Letter volumes were falling by 10 percent a year as people switched to other forms of communication such as e-mail and texting, Higson said, and Royal Mail faces competition from other carriers for parcel delivery.
Tony Young, the postal affairs minister, said the strikes would further undermine Royal Mail.
“A national postal strike is completely self defeating and will only serve to hurt consumers and businesses who rely on the post and drive even more people away from using mail as a means of communication,” he said. “Royal Mail must modernize, and these strikes will slow down that essential process.”
The union and the Royal Mail blamed each other for the dispute amid claims that postmen and women were being put under “unbearable pressure” to implement changes.
Business Secretary Peter Mandelson has refused to intervene, but the union says the government, which owns Royal Mail Group PLC, has a responsibility to act.
There also have been complaints from a number of communities, including those in some rural areas, because post offices have been shut down as part of a cost-cutting effort. Inhabitants of remote towns have complained that the lifeblood of their communities has been cut off.
The government decided two years ago to close around 2,500 small post offices — in both rural and urban areas. There are now around 11,500 post offices left around the country.
Associated Press Writers Meera Selva, Robert Barr and Greg Katz contributed to this report.
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