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Town strike to hit Father's Day

From the Bridgwater Mercury, first published Friday 8th Jun 2007.

STRIKE action is set to be carried out by angry staff at Bridgwater's Royal Mail delivery officer this Father's Day weekend.

A series of protests are planned starting on Friday (June 15) and ending on Monday (June 17) after a vote of 71 to 22 was cast in favour of the moves on Thursday (June 7).

A total of 119 people are employed at the delivery office and the strike is being held in response to the introduction of new working practices.

Communication Workers Union branch secretary David Wilshire told the Mercury: "Our members in Bridgwater are upset at the short-sighted approach that the local managers have adopted when introducing changes that can only be described as panic-driven.

"The CWU is still willing to hold meetings in an attempt to avert a strike but this will need an innovative approach from both sides."

Royal Mail spokesman Richard Hall said the firm would do everything to minimise disruption over the days of action.

"We had thought that we had agreement with the union but in light of the ballot that is clearly not the case," he said.

"We will bring in managers to deal with as much as the work as possible but there will be disruption if the action takes the form they are describing - we apologise to customers for that.

"We will do everything we can to avoid action."

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