Union announces more postal strikes

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The Communication Workers' Union said its members from several parts of the UK, including the Isle of Wight, London, Bristol and Manchester, would be the latest to take industrial action in a long-running row over jobs, pay and services.

Meanwhile, Royal Mail announced that targets for delivering first- and second-class letters were exceeded in recent months.

More than nine out of 10 first-class letters were delivered on time, while 98.9% of second-class letters were delivered within three working days of being posted.

Fresh talks aimed at resolving the bitter dispute will be held next week, but hopes of a breakthrough were not high.

Dave Ward, deputy general secretary of the union, said: "Royal Mail need to accept that there has been a big breakdown in trust between staff and management.

"The way to resolve this and get the modernisation programme back on track is to have serious negotiations with the CWU to reach a fair and workable agreement.

"We welcome the planned meetings with Royal Mail next week, however, until there is a material difference for our members, we will not be in a position to call off strike action. While Royal Mail has today boasted about service targets, we advise the public to treat this with caution because there is an investigation being undertaken by Postcomm, which may well call the validity of these figures into question."

The Royal Mail called on the union to end its series of local strikes, adding that it would be working to mitigate the impact of next week's industrial action. A spokesman said more than 60 meetings had been held with the union in recent months and fresh attempts would be made to end the deadlock.

"At the moment, however, it is clear that the union's real focus is on damaging customer confidence, undermining the universal postal service and looking for any route to block the change and modernisation it claims to support," said a spokesman.