Whilst the strikes due to take place on Friday of this week and Monday of next aren’t inevitable, it would appear pretty likely that they’ll go ahead. Talks are still continuing between Royal Mail and the CWU so there’s the potential agreement might be reached, but the good news is that so far the mail is getting through.
Currently Royal Mail say the backlog caused by last weeks strikes is down to 14 million items and Royal Mail expect them to be cleared tomorrow. To put 14 million into perspective Royal Mail handle around 75 million items of mail every day so it’s only about 20% of one day’s mail that’s currently delayed by no more than a couple of days for most of the country. The exception is London where a few SE and SW postcodes have experienced longer delays.
At the moment Royal Mail are suspending delivery guarantees for Special Delivery from Thursday 5th November to Monday 9th November but will prioritise delivery of these items along with their other premium service – Royal mail tracked.
The CWU is also in the High Court on Friday to apply for an injunction against Royal Mail using temporary staff to clear mail backlogs. They claim that Royal Mail is breaking the law because it is illegal to take on staff to cover workers involved in a strike. Royal Mail dismiss this claim stating that temps are being used to clear mail backlogs in the run up to Christmas and not to replace striking workers.
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