Post workers: We have no choice

Staff from centres in towns across the region walked out, demanding changes to working conditions within Royal Mail.

Eighty people normally work at Wolverhampton's North West Delivery Office in Dunstall Hill Industrial Estate. Most were on strike, although 25 crossed picket lines to go into work.

Gavin Woodward, of Perton, has been a postman for 22 years. The 43-year-old said today: "It is not about pay, it never has been, it is about working conditions.

"We want to offer a first class service to the public, we don't want to let them down, but we don't agree with the changes Royal Mail want to bring in."

Sixty postmen work at the Oldbury delivery office in Bridge Street, where workers have been on the picket line since 5.30am.

David Callear, Communication Workers Union rep, said: "We don't want to be striking but we've got absolutely no choice. We're doing this for our future and the future of Royal Mail.

"We've got a lot of support. We were out yesterday working and most people said they could understand why we were doing it. There's only one worker gone in today." In Stafford, more than a dozen workers manned a picket outside the delivery office in Newport Road and 200 staff walked out. Only four went into work.

Staff were handing out leaflets to passers-by explaining the reasons for the strike and the picket received support from passing motorists.

"We are fighting for the future of the service. This is not about pay. If we don't do something now Royal Mail will fail naturally on its own because of the changes they have brought in.

"In Stafford you used to get post delivered before 9.30am now we have a less reliable service and later deliveries, which are set to get even later next year. There has been a reduction in weekday postbox collections and no collections on Sundays and Bank Holidays."