Post workers strike in jobs dispute

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The Communication Workers' Union said thousands of its members in London and Edinburgh walked out, setting up picket lines outside mail centres, with further action planned in Scotland on Saturday.

A union spokeswoman said the strikes had been "solidly supported", with workers in London staging a protest outside the Royal Mail's new head office in Blackfriars.

The union has accused the Royal Mail of cutting jobs and services which it said broke a national agreement and threatened modernisation.

Deputy general secretary Dave Ward said: "We are now seeing cuts but not modernisation in the postal industry and there's only so long before this is going have a major impact on services.

"We are offering Royal Mail and the Government a three-month no-strike deal if they fulfil the agreement to engage the CWU over modernisation and move to get the company on a sound footing for the future."

A company spokesman said: "All the union will achieve by strike action is to hurt customers and undermine our drive to build a successful future for this business and its people."

Royal Mail said the three largest offices in London were not involved in the action, adding that management volunteers would help deliver post in the capital during the strike.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "It is disappointing that CWU members in London have felt driven to take industrial action in a dispute over jobs and conditions.

"Royal Mail industrial relations need a real overhaul and I hope that they will act on the CWU's bold and imaginative proposals for three months of intensive talks on the modernisation of the industry and a new industrial relations framework, accompanied by a moratorium on any industrial action during that period."