As industrial action by hundreds of postal workers continues this week across the UK, including in Fermanagh, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) is warning of a “Christmas meltdown” in letters and deliveries as the union claims that Royal Mail’s management refuse to enter negotiations that would avert strikes.

Members of the CWU – which represents postal workers – are sounding the alarm over the huge numbers of parcels and deliveries stacking up in every Royal Mail Group workplace across the country.

Throughout this year, 115,000 postal workers have been taking industrial action over a number of issues, including senior management’s attempts to enforce massive real-terms pay cuts, and to force through thousands of compulsory redundancies.

Fermanagh CWU members were striking yesterday (Wednesday, November 30) and are continuing to strike today, Thursday (December 1).

CWU General Secretary Dave Ward said: “Royal Mail bosses are risking a Christmas meltdown because of their stubborn refusal to treat their employees with respect.

“Postal workers want to get on with serving the communities they belong to, delivering Christmas gifts and tackling the backlog from recent weeks.

“But they know their value, and they will not meekly accept the casualisation of their jobs, the destruction of their conditions, and the impoverishment of their families.

“This can be resolved if Royal Mail begin treating their workers with respect, and meet with the union to resolve this dispute.”

When asked by The Impartial Reporter this week what impact will the ongoing strike action have on Christmas deliveries, a Royal Mail spokesperson said: “We apologise for any inconvenience the CWU’s industrial action is causing.

“We have well-developed contingency plans to ensure our customers are looked after, and to minimise any delays to keep people, businesses and the country connected.

“We continue to advise customers to post items as early as possible in advance of the strike dates; to continue to post items at postboxes or post offices – however, collections will be less frequent on days when strike action is taking place; and to visit royalmail.com/latest-news for the latest detailed information on services.

“Details of our Christmas posting dates are available at https://www.royalmail.com/christmas/last-posting-dates, and will continue to be updated to reflect any new guidance should the CWU proceed with strike action in the run-up to Christmas,” added the Royal Mail spokesperson.