Thousands of customers affected across London and Scotland as postal workers take strike action.

Postal workers are striking in London and across Scotland on 19 and 20 June, in response to cuts by Royal Mail which break a national agreement and threaten modernisation.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU), which represents Royal Mail workers, has issued a statement to explain the reasons behind this latest action: “We are seeing cuts but not modernisation in the postal industry and there’s only so long before this is going to have a major impact on services.

“Royal Mail has broken the 2007 agreement which committed the company to negotiating modernisation with the CWU”, said Dave Ward, Deputy General Secretary.

He went on to say that postal workers have delivered their side of the agreement, but Royal Mail has abandoned the fourth phase of the deal, which involved “joint working groups to improve industrial relations and negotiate on the future of Deliveries, Mail Centres, the Distribution Network and the full introduction of new automation.”

Dave Ward continued: “We are offering the Royal Mail and the government a three month no-strike deal if they fulfil the agreement to engage the CWU over modernisation and move to get the company on a sound footing for the future.”

However, Royal Mail has said it is disappointed in the timing of this strike action as it comes at a stage when it is delivering a record quality of service for customers. The government run company said it will continue discussions with the CWU and staff, underlining the impact of strike action on both customers and the organisational reputation in these “challenging economic times.”

Postal workers in London are on strike for 24 hours today (19 June), along with postal workers in Edinburgh Mail Centre. On Saturday 20 June, further strikes will take place across Scotland.

Royal Mail has issued a service update for customers who may be concerned about how the postal strike may affect them. For more information, visit www.royalmail.com/serviceupdates