21.10.09 - Industrial Action update
With postal workers in the UK due to take industrial action from tomorrow, Jersey Post is working closely with the Royal Mail to try to minimise the disruption to Island services.
The action by the Communication Workers Union will be spread over Thursday and Friday, with the processing centres and network services on strike for the first 24 hours, and delivery offices for the next 24 hours.
Jersey Post’s General Manager of Postal Services Andy Jehan said although the Island was independent from the UK postal services, Jersey Post relied on the Royal Mail to deliver and collect 99% of mail to and from the UK. While Jersey Post has no control whatsoever over the proposed industrial action Mr Jehan added they were optimistic that a last minute agreement would be reached.
‘In the meantime our advice remains the same: post as normal, or as early as possible. We recommend that time sensitive items of mail are posted by Special Delivery but due to the action Royal Mail has suspended the guarantee of specific timed delivery for items posted on Thursday and Friday. However, Royal Mail will continue to make every effort to get these items delivered during any industrial action. Customers can rest assured that it expects to be able to reinstate the guarantee from Monday,’ he said.
The industrial action will have no impact on International Courier or parcels services, local mail and mail between the islands, and the new Ship2me delivery service.
Mr Jehan said the mail aircraft would operate as normal over the next 48 hours and outgoing mail would be dispatched to the UK as usual.
"Once the action is over we will be working hard to ensure that any delayed mail is delivered as quickly as possible. To assist us in this we advise our customers that, as always, it is important to ensure that they use the correct address and post code. This helps to maximise the amount of mail that can be sorted quickly by machine and will help to minimise any potential delay,’ he said.
Jersey Post will issue further information as and when it is available and apologies in advance for any inconvenience to customers.