County posties defying strike (From York Press)

County posties defying strike

12:01pm Saturday 6th October 2007 in News By Jeremy Small

POSTAL strikes may have York in their grip but postmen elsewhere in North Yorkshire have been defying the industrial action against Royal Mail.

York postal workers - who have been striking since noon on Thursday - were engaged in the nationwide industrial action until noon today.

But the news for Royal Mail customers has been cheerier in Kirkbymoorside, where postmen at the town's sorting office have been ignoring the strike.

Dave Bojas, 54, a postman in Kirkbymoorside, who has been delivering mail during the industrial action, said: "I am working as normal because I think Royal Mail's pay offer of 2.5 per cent is reasonable. It seems daft to me that the postmen on strike have chosen to lose £60 to £70 a day instead."

During the strikes there have been limited mail collections and deliveries in York, which is bracing itself for further strikes on Monday, when workers are set to walk out at 3am until 3am on Wednesday.

Communication Workers' Union chiefs today said only a resolution to the dispute between it and Royal Mail would halt the strike action, as talks between the two continued.

Paul Clays, the York-based regional secretary of the union, said: "About 97-98 per cent of Royal Mail staff have been striking in York. I'm very pleased with how it's been going - happy that our members have decided that they can't accept the draconian measures that the business is trying to impose on us."

Mr Clays said that between ten and 30 workers have been picketing in York, the number of them depending on the time of day.

"Obviously it's absolutely devastating that the mail in York doesn't move," he added.

Graham Skelton, who runs a small farm that grows worms for composting and fishing, in Acklam, east of York, said that the postal strike had "ground the business to a complete halt".

"We are not able to supply any order placed on eBay and have had to offer refunds - we use Royal Mail for all our parcels but now because of the strike we have no income," he said.

But Royal Mail said that official payroll figures showed that the support for the strike among CWU members was weakening, with 50 per cent more people working than in previous national strike days.

The company said: "Attendance at sites across the country varied hugely with up to 90 per cent of our people working as nor-mal in some offices. We expect this level to rise over the next few days."