Union slams handling of conflict

The Communication Workers Union general secretary Billy Hayes has attacked the Royal Mail for not negotiating seriously, accusing it of putting only a "very low level manager" into the talks to resolve the dispute.

"It can be resolved if Royal Mail put their senior managers in to resolve it. It doesn't sound like they want to.

"It sounds like they just want to make political capital and bully and intimidate their workforce," he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

He denounced the Royal Mail's attempts to monitor the strikers, saying that it was acting as if it was operating in a "dictatorship".

"Royal Mail have videotaped and tape-recorded people at meetings. That is what is going on. If the Royal Mail are so proud of their tactics why aren't they on the TV defending it. This is an absolute disgrace," he said.

"They won't defend it because they are hanging their heads in shame at what they have done."

Shadow trade and industry secretary Tim Yeo urged the Government to underline the damaging consequences of an extended dispute.

"They should emphasise that a strike now, if it spreads, will be uniquely damaging because there are so many alternatives to using the letter post," he said.

"Unlike previous strikes, this strike will result in not just a temporary loss of business for Royal Mail, but a permanent loss."

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