Large mail customers have called on the British government to resolve the regional postal strikesand end the uncertainty over mail deliveries before the ongoing dispute escalates into a national
postal strike.The Direct Marketing Association (DMA), representing more than 900 ‘direct marketingcompanies’, including advertisers, agencies and suppliers, has written to Lord Mandelson, theSecretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, asking for him to intervene in the disputebetween Royal Mail and the postal workers union CWU.
Meanwhile, the CWU will ballot 130,000 members between September 17 and October 8 over anational postal strike. Strike action would require a seven-day notice period after the ballotresult. “CWU continues to pursue talks with Royal Mail in an attempt to avert the need for furtherstrike action,” it declared. Further 24-hour strikes will take place at delivery offices aroundBritain this week.
British newspapers reported today that Royal Mail managers had been driven to sort letters inthe street to try to cope with the backlog from several weeks of 24-hour strikes at variouslocations. The Daily Mail newspaper published pictures of mailbags that had been emptied out ofpost vans into a street in Wimbledon, south-west London.
Robert Keitch, DMA chief of membership and brand, said: “It is quite clear that businessescannot sustain these interruptions indefinitely. Should relations deteriorate further and anational postal strike take effect, this would have a significant impact on businesses that rely onissuing invoices and receiving payment via post. We are seeing evidence that the economy might bestaging a recovery from the recession and yet strike action could be the final blow for manystruggling companies.”
The CWU strike action will also be counterproductive to reaching their ultimate aim, hestressed. “Like the management of Royal Mail, the CWU ultimately wants the same thing; namely, asuccessful, vibrant Royal Mail. However, these strikes will only serve to undermine the commercialvalue of post as a communication channel.”
Large mailers could take business away from Royal Mail and switch to other communicationschannels, Keitch warned. “A significant portion of the Royal Mail’s turnover stems from directmail. Disruption to the post will drive companies away from using mail to sell their products,which will not be particularly helpful to the Royal Mail and its employees when mail volumes arealready down year-on-year.”
According to the DMA, UK companies and organisations spent £4.8 billion on direct mail in2007, and sales attributed to direct mail activity totalled £12.2 billion. The direct marketingindustry directly and indirectly employs more than one million people, accounting for 3.4 per centof employment in the UK.
