Signed, sealed, undelivered: Britain grapples with wildcat postal strikes

Signed, sealed, undelivered: Mail strike hits UK

LONDON — In Britain, the check is in the mail — for the indefinite future.

A rolling program of local postal strikes that began in July threatened to turn worse Thursday with a union’s call for a national walkout. The strikes over higher pay and job security have already caused a backlog of 20 million letters and parcels — about a quarter of the Royal Mail’s daily volume.

Online companies such as eBay have been warning customers of delays. Magazines have gone undelivered. And coveted passes to such events as London’s Fashion Week or Britain’s annual political conventions have gone missing. Businesses say they are being fined for unpaid invoices and orders are in limbo.

“The timing is particularly unfortunate as businesses are just beginning to pick up,” said Stephen Alambritis, spokesman for the Federation of Small Businesses. “There is huge reliance on the Royal Mail for the receipt of checks, the signing of contracts and it is very much a part of business life.”

State-owned Royal Mail has struggled to make money since it lost its 350-year-old monopoly, and has had to deal with falling mail volumes as customers switch to e-mail.

An independent review recommended last year that the company be partly privatized but the government failed to win support to sell off a 30 percent stake in the service.

Royal Mail has said most of the mail delays have been in London. Guarantees are still being given on special delivery services. But second class mail such as personal letters and other types of post are often incurring the longest delays.

“While the amount of delayed mail is a fraction of the daily mailbag, we are concerned about every single letter and we apologize wholeheartedly to customers,” said Mark Higson, Royal Mail’s managing director.

The Communication Workers Union, which represents 120,000 people, called for the strike over pay, job security and equipment. About 20,000 workers have launched the local strikes since July.

“We believe that Royal Mail management has completely mishandled the current situation,” said Dave Ward, deputy general secretary of the Communication Workers Union. “Small businesses stand to suffer more with reduced services in the future, if Royal Mail doesn’t reach a national agreement.”

While people aren’t likely to abandon mail altogether, some have questioned the postal service’s role in the digital age.

“You can pretty much do everything online these days,” said 21-year-old Steven Mclaughlin, a student. “I use it to pay my university fees, phone bills. I do occasionally get birthday card from my gran, though.”

Strikes have continued across England this week. More walkouts are expected in Scotland next week.

The result of the ballot on the national strike is expected next month.

Associated Press Writer Karolina Tagaris contributed to this report.