LONDON, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Britain's postal union will meet with Royal Mail on Monday for further talks aimed at resolving a dispute that has disrupted mail service throughout the country, the Royal Mail said on Saturday.
Two days of industrial action have already created delivery mayhem, with a potential 180 million parcels and letters caught up in the backlog and further strikes planned from Thursday.
The strikes, part of a dispute over pay and jobs, and the pace of modernisation at the state-owned company, are a potential embarrassment for Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his Labour Party which receives a large chunk of its funding from the trade union movement.
The talks between the Royal Mail and the Communication Workers Union (CWU) will be held through the Trades Union Congress, which assisted the 2007 pay and modernisation agreement.
'I'm very pleased we seem to have found a sensible and positive way forward,' Royal Mail Chief Executive Brendan Barber said in a statement.
About 42,000 mail centre staff and drivers walked out last Thursday, followed by 78,000 delivery and collection staff on Friday.
Before the backlog will have been cleared, a fresh wave of strikes are due to begin on Oct. 29.
Royal Mail, whose business has declined by some 10 percent annually in recent years, says modernisation is essential if the state-owned company is to fight off competition from more specialised delivery services and the Internet.
(Reporting by Avril Ormsby; Editing by Michael Roddy) Keywords: BRITAIN ROYALMAIL/ (avril.ormsby@reuters.com ; +44 207 542 1816; Reuters Messaging: avril.ormsby.reuters.com@reuters.net ) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
Two days of industrial action have already created delivery mayhem, with a potential 180 million parcels and letters caught up in the backlog and further strikes planned from Thursday.
The strikes, part of a dispute over pay and jobs, and the pace of modernisation at the state-owned company, are a potential embarrassment for Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his Labour Party which receives a large chunk of its funding from the trade union movement.
The talks between the Royal Mail and the Communication Workers Union (CWU) will be held through the Trades Union Congress, which assisted the 2007 pay and modernisation agreement.
'I'm very pleased we seem to have found a sensible and positive way forward,' Royal Mail Chief Executive Brendan Barber said in a statement.
About 42,000 mail centre staff and drivers walked out last Thursday, followed by 78,000 delivery and collection staff on Friday.
Before the backlog will have been cleared, a fresh wave of strikes are due to begin on Oct. 29.
Royal Mail, whose business has declined by some 10 percent annually in recent years, says modernisation is essential if the state-owned company is to fight off competition from more specialised delivery services and the Internet.
(Reporting by Avril Ormsby; Editing by Michael Roddy) Keywords: BRITAIN ROYALMAIL/ (avril.ormsby@reuters.com ; +44 207 542 1816; Reuters Messaging: avril.ormsby.reuters.com@reuters.net ) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.