Postal staff must think about future

Oct 13 2007 Liverpool Daily Post

FOR many of us, the interruption of the postal service is an inconvenience, rather than a catastrophe. But, as the Liverpool Daily Post reveals today, it has had a paralysing effect on businesses and services.

Firms are losing thousands of pounds because of the dispute, which appeared to have been settled late last night.

But, in the meantime, staff at many of our hospitals have had to resort to hand-delivering appointment letters to patients.

Official strike action in the postal workers’ row over conditions, pay and job losses ended last Wednesday.

But staff at all 20 delivery depots and a mail centre in Liverpool, along with colleagues in parts of London, opted to continue to strike unofficially, after falling out with bosses over shift patterns. It is sad that Liverpool is making the national news for the wrong reasons – especially when 97% of depots across the country went back to work without a murmur.

And the mood music from business organisations in Liverpool is far from supportive. Businesses, especially small firms, may rely almost totally on the mail for their cashflow.

And, while many might support official, authorised action, they have no sympathy or support for those staging wildcat strikes.

Chamber of Commerce CEO Jack Stopforth said members were disappointed at Liverpool’s stance.

And his further warning – that, unless the Royal Mail modernises, it should have no right to operate without competition – should be heeded by those striking postal workers.

Perhaps they need to look to the future and ask themselves whether the Royal Mail – and with it their jobs – will still be around in a few years’ time.

It was good to hear last night that agreement had been reached in what has been a bitter and divisive dispute. We can only hope that postal workers bear in mind the many issues involved before considering any such further action.