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Post Office hardliners in last stand as peace deal is signed
Last updated at 22:22pm on 13.10.07Hundreds of militant workers carried on striking yesterday despite a peace deal signed by union leaders and Royal Mail bosses to end walkouts that have brought chaos to the post system.
Staff in Liverpool and East London stayed out as the postal executive of the Communication Workers' Union prepared to vote tomorrow on a formula thrashed out between the two warring sides late on Friday night.
The Left-wing diehards are regarded by management as one of the last bastions of Seventies-style union militancy.
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Militant workers carried on striking yesterday despite a peace deal signed by union leaders and Royal Mail bosses to end walkouts
They are making a last stand over Royal Mail's plans to end so-called 'Spanish practices', which have crippled its modernisation plans.
The hardliners said their members might return to work on Tuesday – provided the CWU, led by Liverpool-born general secretary Billy Hayes, approved the deal.
Scroll to the bottom of the page to watch Joan Collins starring in a new TV commerical for the Post Office...
This seemed the most likely outcome after both Gordon Brown and Business and Enterprise Secretary John Hutton refused to intervene in the dispute which has cost Royal Mail tens of millions of pounds in lost revenue.
On Friday, the Government won a High Court injunction banning strikes by the CWU this week.
A loss in wages of up to £650 each for the last eight walkouts will also make it hard for the militants to keep workers on strike.
The 'Spanish practices' include payment for a whole shift when only part of a shift is worked, three hours of overtime pay for as little as 20 minutes of extra work, and being paid double to clear mail backlogs after strikes.
The deal includes a backdated lump sum of £175, a 2.5 per cent rise for the rest of this financial year and 4.2 per cent next year.
A Royal Mail spokesman said about 98 per cent of its 1,500 sites were working normally yesterday.
VIDEO: Now watch Joan Collins starring in a new TV commerical for the Post Office...
