Post strike costs London 500m as talks restart
POSTAL strikes are set to cost London more than £500m in lost business, the London Chamber of Commerce (LCCI) will reveal today.
The news comes as fresh talks open up between Royal Mail and the Communication Workers Union (CWU), mediated by Brendan Barber, the general secretary of the Trades Union Congress.
CWU members walked out on Thursday and Friday last week over modernisation concerns. The LCCI calculated that the two days of strike action last week cost the London economy an estimated £200m.
“This is a colossal amount of money for the London economy to lose and will delay the capital’s economic recovery,” the body’s chief executive Colin Stanbridge said.
He also called on business secretary Lord Mandelson to intervene personally in the talks.
Royal Mail chief Adam Crozier welcomed Barber’s intervention in the talks during a BBC interview.
“I’m very pleased we seem to have found a sensible and positive way forward,” he said.
Disruptions have already lost the Royal Mail a lucrative Amazon contract believed to be worth £25m.