Postal strike fear amongst small businesses

by James Agate

Postal workers have voted in favour of a national strike, threatening widespread disruption to deliveries over the coming weeks and causing untold damage to small businesses who depend on Royal Mail for vital post including invoices, remittance advice and cheques.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) said that its members had backed a nationwide walkout by a margin of 3 to 1 in protest at the “imposition” of changes to working practices as well as cuts in their pay and job losses.

The postal affairs minister, Lord Young, quite rightly pointed out that a disruption of services will only further reduce the numbers of individuals and businesses who use mail as a form of communication. If less people are using the services of Royal Mail then there will have to be more job cuts to compensate this – the very thing that postal workers are threatening to strike over.

One expert noted that “the bottom line is that there are no winners in this dispute. Royal Mail customers are already finding alternatives and many will not return once the dispute is over”.

A WeLoveBusiness.co.uk suggested alternative is Parcel Monkey who offer next day delivery and free collection on business parcels.