Disruption as Royal Mail union strikes

Thousands of postal workers will launch fresh strikes this week as industrial relations worsen ahead of a national ballot.

Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) will walk out this week in a long-running row over jobs, pay and services.

The union has accused Royal Mail of cutting pay and jobs – leading to worse services – without agreement, in breach of a deal which ended the last national strike two years ago.

The company has denied the claims and says that the union is going back on an agreement to modernise the service.

The CWU plans to ballot all its postal members next month for a national strike after several weeks of localised action.

The 24-hour strikes will hit Coventry, Leamington Spa, Nottingham, Stoke-on-Trent and London today; Birmingham, Coventry, London, Essex, Peterborough, Bristol and Leeds on Wednesday; Peterborough on Thursday and Friday; and Boston and Carrick Fergus on Saturday.