Postal strikers look to court battle
Royal Mail plans to hire agency workers may face a legal challenge
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Tuesday, 27, Oct 2009 04:40
By politics.co.uk staff
The union behind the postal strikes wreaking chaos across the country may go to court to prevent the use of agency staff to undermine the strike.
The Communications Workers Union (CWU) plans to go to the high court to stop Royal Mail's use of agency staff, who would be tasked with clearing up the backlog of mail from last week's strike.
The union is currently taking legal advice and will come to a decision later today.
Workers downed their tools on two days at the end of last week, but three more days of strike action are planned from Thursday to Saturday this week.
Do you agree with the strike? Complete our strike poll.
The dispute, over pay and conditions, remains hotly tempered and angry, with the CWU accusing Royal Mail of breaking employment laws.
The two sides nevertheless held a second day of talks at the TUC in central London to avert this week's strikes.
The CWU is understood to be preparing to announce tomorrow afternoon whether it will go head with next week's strikes.
But the two have very different estimates as to the size of the backlog which workers met on Saturday morning, when they went back to work, with unions putting forward a far larger number than Royal Mail.