Bridgwater postal workers show no signs of flagging in their fight against bullying bosses. They concluded their ninth strike day on Monday 19 August, and will seek the green light from their union, the Communication Workers Union (CWU), to launch a week-long strike from 2 September.
The strike has become a beacon for postal workers nationally, as burgeoning local disputes provided momentum for a national fight against the government's planned sell-off of Royal Mail.
Management culture in the postal service has become intolerable for many workers, and is described by union reps as based on "systematic bullying". Dave Chapple, Bristol CWU branch chair, said: "Managers have secretly spied on us, peeked under toilet doors, bullied us out of tea and fag breaks, refused legitimate overtime claims, taken us off our own duties, changed duty start and finish times without agreement, chivvied us in public for not walking or cycling fast enough, threatened temporary contract staff with reductions in hours, and banned and threatened CWU reps with disciplinary action for performing their legitimate union activities."
A local CWU statement commended the intervention of Unite general secretary Len McCluskey, who has instructed the 150 Unite members amongst managerial grades at Bridgwater (who had previously been going to work during the strike) to respect CWU picket lines.
