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Fresh bid to solve postal dispute Court halts latest postal strike
(1 day later)
Talks will resume between the Royal Mail and the main postal workers' union later to try and resolve the dispute over pay, pensions and job security. The High Court has blocked a 48-hour official postal strike planned to start on Monday.
Royal Mail chief executive Adam Crozier is expected to attend the meeting with officials from the Communication Workers' Union scheduled for 1700 BST. The Royal Mail was granted an injunction to halt next week's official strike by up to 130,000 Communication Workers' Union members.
It is hoped a deal will be reached, as unofficial walkouts in some areas hit delivery services further. Royal Mail says an irregularity in the way the strike notice was issued makes the action illegal.
The wildcat protests began on Wednesday after an official CWU strike ended. The union insisted the strike was legitimate because it fully complied with the law.
On Thursday, staff at a further seven sites joined workers from 24 depots in London, Glasgow and Liverpool to picket over a change in working hours. Meanwhile, talks to resolve the dispute are continuing at the TUC in London, with few signs that the two sides can reach an agreement.
The government has condemned the strikes but ministers have insisted they will not intervene in the dispute. With the question of pay seemingly resolved, the negotiations are focusing on two issues, pensions and flexible working.
Business and Enterprise Secretary John Hutton told MPs there was "no justification" for the dispute and urged strikers to return to work, echoing comments made by Gordon Brown on Wednesday. Ongoing dispute
More than 40 Labour MPs signed a motion calling on the government to take a more assertive role in securing a "fair and just" settlement. The CWU wants talks on the closure of the Royal Mail's final salary pension scheme to be separated out from any deal to end the strike, while Royal Mail insists they must be part of any settlement.
And the Conservatives criticised the government for showing what they said was a lack of urgency in trying to end the "devastating" dispute. PLANNED 24-HOUR STRIKES 15 October from 1800BST: Mail sorting offices and airports 16 October from 0300BST: Deliveries and collection hubs17 October from 1200BST: Royal Mail drivers 18 October from 1200BST: Manual data entry centres 18 October from 1400BST: Heathrow world distribution centre Source: CWU class="" href="/1/hi/business/7039138.stm">What is the strike about?
New row Negotiations on ending the practice of workers going home early if they have finished their work are also in deadlock.
Across the country's 1,400 delivery offices, hundreds of workers are taking part in the wildcat action. If talks between the two sides fail, rolling strikes are expected to begin on Monday and go on until Friday.
The staff came into work this morning and it was the same scenario as yesterday Mark Walsh, CWU class="" href="/1/hi/business/7039138.stm">What is the strike about? Royal Mail says staff should be available to help with other jobs if their work is done - so-called flexible working.
Outside Liverpool's Copperas Hill sorting office in the city centre, about 300 postal workers had gathered. But the union says that in practice that will lead to staff working rigidly to the rules, which will lead to less work getting done.
Mark Walsh, branch secretary of the Communication Workers Union in the area, said that while feelings were "running high" among workers the local union had not lost control of the situation. Wildcat walkouts
"There has been no agreement again. The staff came into work this morning and it was the same scenario as yesterday," he added. The unofficial protests - which began on Wednesday - have been sparked by what the union calls "management's imposition of unagreed changes" to working hours.
"They came into work and were told that their starting hours had been changed and they would not be paid for some time and they would be expected to stay later at the end of the day." Workers at all 21 delivery depots across Liverpool walked out over changes to shift patterns, with CWU branch representative Mark Walsh saying staff felt they were being "being bullied into having their contract changed".
Mr Walsh added the changes had been imposed on staff without their agreement - triggering the action. HAVE YOUR SAY The postal workers need to start work again now Chris, Durham class="" href="http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?forumID=3629&edition=1">Send us your comments
Gregor Gall, professor of industrial relations at Hertfordshire University added there was a "pressing need" for swift Government intervention because of the entrenched position of both sides in the dispute. But Royal Mail condemned staff in Liverpool for the mass walkouts, saying they were "wholly unacceptable" and not supported by the CWU nationally.
He told the BBC that while the government should step in and take measures to resolve the situation. "The issue of later start times is one we have been talking to our people about for months and has been accepted in 95% of our offices up and down the country," a spokesman added.
Hours dispute Postal workers in east, south-west and south-east London also rejoined the picket lines over the dispute.
The union said that Wednesday morning's unofficial strike action was caused by "management's imposition of unagreed changes, particularly over later starts, and reflects the frustration felt by postal workers at Royal Mail's executive action". Meanwhile, staff in Edinburgh and Grangemouth walked out over pay deductions following recent official action.
Some of the returning workers went back to picket lines after complaining that changes to flexible working hours - including the end of the freedom to leave early once staff had finished their round - had been made. Staff complained that cuts for strikes this week and last came out of one weekly wage. Royal Mail said the payroll calendar meant all deductions had to be taken at once.
New Royal Mail rules, which postal workers have not consented to, prevent them starting work before 0600 BST and leaving before 1415 BST. However, despite calls from MPs to intervene in the dispute, the government has said it will not take action.
Historically, most postal workers began their shift between 0500 BST and 0530 BST and were free to go when they had finished their round. On Thursday, Business Secretary John Hutton said that the current offer on the table from the Royal Mail to end the official disputes was a "decent and fair one" and he hoped the dispute would end as "quickly as possible".
The comments came after Shadow Business Secretary Alan Duncan accused ministers of "lacking the will or direction" to end the strike.