As postal services returned to normal yesterday following two days of strike action by postal workers, the Communication Workers Union has warned that a further three days of strike action is planned for next Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The postal workers are striking as part of a dispute about pay, modernisation and working conditions.
On Friday, more than 140 Derry postal workers staged a picket outside the Royal Mail sorting office in Great James Street and the PSNI had to be called in the early hours of the morning when those on strike refused to let two delivery lorries into th
e depot.
"The police had to be called when two lorries with mail tried to get through the gates and into the sorting office. But we intervened and we resolved the matter peacefully," said Charlie Kelly, a spokesperson for the CWU.
"There will be three further days of strike action next week," said Mr. Kelly. "There will be no post delivered to houses around Derry next Saturday but I would hope that between now and then that we can get both parties to sit down and resolve this problem.
"Our ultimate goal is to have the matter resolved and for our staff to get back to work as soon as possible."
Mr Kelly also expressed fears that if an agreement is not reached between the CWU and Royal Mail in the next few days, it could result in local job losses.
"My fear is that if this strike lasts any length of time we won't be able to get back the business we will lose. That will result in even more job losses across the board. As everyone knows there's an economic melt down affecting a host of different industries across the world and the postal service is no different."
He added: "The the only way further job cuts can be avoided will be if the two parties can sit down with ACAS [employment law advisers] and resolve the matter sooner rather than later."
According to Mr. Kelly there are 150 workers employed at the sorting office. The majority of workers chose to strike but Mr. Kelly claimed that five postal staff voted against industrial action and turned up to work as normal.
"At the end of the day people have their own decisions to make and we must respect anyone's decision to go to work," he said. "Anyone has the right to withdraw their labour but equally anyone has a right to go to work. It's not my job to criticise those workers and if they want to go to work then that's their choice and I have to respect that."
Mr. Kelly claimed that the decision to strike was a last resort but he explained that it was one they had to take because they had no choice.
"The last thing that anybody in our office wants to do is go on strike but the fact of the matter is that we are living in hard times. Derry is one of the most deprived areas and in recent times there have been quite a number of job losses. The men who are out on strike here are losing money. We all have families and we all have mortgages and the last thing they want to do is be out on strike.
