British prime minister Gordon Brown today intervened in the latest 48-hour postal strike affectingdeliveries of mail and parcels across the country by calling on Royal Mail and the CWU postal union
to end the dispute.The UK premier described the protests as “unacceptable” and a “disruption to people’s lives”.At his monthly press conference, Brown continued: “When we, the government, are investing a hugeamount of money I the postal services, it is not something that we can condone or stand idly by. Iwant these people back at work.”
He was speaking as up to 130,000 members of the CWU launched the second of two 48-hourstrikes within a week. The first stoppage took place from October 4-6, and following variousone-day protests and other actions during the summer. Royal Mail has been forced to stop most homepostal deliveries across Britain due to the impact of the latest strikes.
Talks between Royal Mail and the CWU over the weekend broke down without agreement and littleprogress. The union is demanding higher pay and changes to modernisation plans that it claimsthreaten up to 40,000 jobs. The British national postal operator says cost savings are absolutelyvital to help it beat off rivals with lower operating costs in the fully-liberalised British postalmarket.
Royal Mail claimed on Friday that support for the stoppages was weakening, but admittedtwo-thirds of postal staff were taking industrial action. It aims to resume normal deliveryservices on Wednesday (October 10).
