Postal Strike Closes NI Mail Centre

Although postal services in Northern Ireland will be disrupted today during a second wave of industrial action by Royal Mail staff across the UK, NI customers should not be affected by strikes at data entry centres on Friday.

However, local and national disruption continues on Saturday.

Today, (Thursday), Northern Ireland's main sorting office at Mallusk is among the UK mail centres taking part in a 24-hour strike which began at 4am.

But, Royal Mail said that local deliveries and collections would continue as normal.

Post Office branches are also not affected by the strike and will be open as normal.

The new series strikes began after talks between the Royal Mail and the union broke down yesterday - despite hopes of a resolution.

About 43,700 staff in mail centres, network logistic drivers and garage staff walked out on strike.

They will be followed by 400 workers in Plymouth, Stockport and Stoke who redirect badly addressed mail, while 77,000 delivery and collection staff across the UK will strike on Saturday.

Royal Mail and the Communication Workers Union have been holding talks at TUC headquarters this week, under the chairmanship of the union's General Secretary Brendan Barber.

On Wednesday, the CWU's Deputy General Secretary Dave Ward described this week's talks as "the most useful and productive discussions" that had been held since the dispute over the Royal Mail's modernisation plans began.

However, Mr Ward said that a proposal tabled by the union on Wednesday morning had not been agreed by Royal Mail.

He said: "This series of strikes and future strikes can still be avoided and we remain available for discussions at any time, including tonight. We remain committed to reaching an agreed resolution."

However, the Royal Mail's Managing Director Mark Higson told the BBC that the two sides had been close to reaching an agreement when the union made "a fresh set of demands". He said that the union had decided to carry on with the strikes while those talks were in progress, a move which he described as "an extraordinary action".

Michael Kennedy, Royal Mail's NI Regional Operations Director, said their main priority was to get through the busy Christmas period.

"It is a very difficult time - disruption over Christmas will be bad for our customers, bad for the business and bad for all our employees," he said.

(BMcC/KMcA)