New postal strikes loom

LONDON (Reuters) - Thousands of striking postal workers returned to work on Wednesday but deliveries will be delayed by a huge backlog and the threat remains of more industrial action next week.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) said talks with Royal Mail have failed to resolve a long-running dispute over pay, conditions and flexible working.

Walkouts by up to 130,000 members have caused severe disruption to the postal service. A further wave of one-day strikes is due to start next Monday.

A Royal Mail spokesman there was a backlog of about 60 million undelivered letters. Deliveries resumed on Wednesday morning after a 48-hour strike, although it is not known how long it will be before all the delayed post is processed.

"Many people have been heeding our advice not to post during the strikes," the spokesman said. "We've also been able to sort and process about 50 percent of the mail in the system during the strikes, so that it is in the right places to be delivered."

The backlog will be cleared "as quickly as possible", but no date has been fixed, he added.

The government called on the union to scrap plans for further strikes and return to talks.

"There cannot be any justification for this industrial action," Business and Enterprise Secretary John Hutton told Sky News. "They should call it off."

Royal Mail Chief Executive Adam Crozier said the service has to modernise because it is still weighed down by dozens of old-fashioned working practices.

"You cannot have that situation in the modern world," he told the BBC. "These are practices that went out in the 1970s in practically every other company."

CWU Deputy General Secretary Dave Ward accused managers of enforcing working conditions that amount to "slavery".

"To get their work done within their hours, postal workers are carrying more mail than they should, not taking their breaks and using their own cars to take mail out on deliveries," he said.

Royal Mail is fighting private competition from rivals after losing its 350-year monopoly on postal services last year.

The growth of email, text messages and the purchase of vehicle tax discs and television licences online have also dented profits.