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Union official Mark Dolan |
‘We want to deliver service for public’
Union official defends strike action as postal staff prepare for latest walkout over weekend
A STRIKING postman at the centre of the Royal Mail “modernisation” dispute has claimed the public would be “horrified” if they could see letters piling up in sorting offices as a result of management reducing the service.
Mark Dolan, who is based at Holloway, will join a 24-hour strike by postal staff planned for tomorrow (Saturday) and another next Thursday.
The Communication Workers Union (CWU) has also announced plans to ballot its members for a national strike in September, threatening the worst disruption to mail deliveries for two years. The union claims that Royal Mail has broken agreements.
Union official Mr Dolan said: “Since Royal Mail cut jobs and earnings, post is left on a daily basis and delivered later and later in the afternoon. It is often delivered by casuals who don’t know the area.”
Mr Dolan, 46, whose rounds have included Upper Street and Liverpool Road, said workers were not just fighting for decent pay and conditions, but for the future of the postal service, which he believes is threatened by privatisation.
“Postal workers are proud public servants,” he said. “When I started 28 years ago most people got their post before they went to work. Today, more and more people complain they don’t get their post early enough and, being out when the postal worker finally arrives, have to go and collect parcels from the sorting office.”
He said that while people may no longer send as many letters as before, due to email, the numbers of parcels has increased.
Mr Dolan said: “In the past few years they have cut the number of postal workers, increased our hours, and reduced our earning potential by up to £100 a week.”
More than 2,500 people are employed in the postal service in Islington, including 1,000 at Mount Pleasant sorting office at Clerkenwell.
The CWU say they have lost about 40,000 jobs nationally over the past few years.
An average postal worker is paid £22-23,000 annually, which is below the national average.
Mr Dolan said the job has become physically harder since he joined the service aged 16.
“We have a much heavier workload and the time spent delivering the post in all weathers is much longer,” he said.
“When I first joined you were probably outside for two hours. Now it can be three-and-a-half hours.”
Mr Dolan said he would like to see a public inquiry into how the service is run.
He added: “In my opinion they are running the postal service into the ground to justify privatising.”
Royal Mail has accused the union of breaking an agreement that ended the 2007 strike and of refusing to co-operate with modernisation.
A spokesman said: “Royal Mail has a clear vision of creating a modernised and market-leading business in which we are investing around £2billion.” |
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Your comments:
u getting money for it arnt u stop complaining u mug there are people starving like me!
Ozzy |
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