backlog of letters

A series of regional strikes in recent months has also created a backlog of letters and parcels.

The backlog of letters in this year’s strikes has reached 50m, suggesting thousands of letters could be delayed beyond 14 days.

Work has begun to clear the backlog of letters and parcels from the two-day strike last week, which Royal Mail estimates to total 30m items.

Overwhelmed by a backlog of letters, Eppie calls Popo (who is living in California) and asks for her help.

The CWU has warned that the current backlog of letters and packets could rise from around 65 million to 150 million as the autumn progresses.

The CWU claims that the action has produced a bigger backlog of letters and parcels than the last national dispute in 2007, which cost an estimated £300m.

The U.K. newspaper The Telegraph said the rolling walkouts were likely to aggravate a building backlog of letters and packages that began piling up Monday.

Britain’s postal union is preparing a potential High Court challenge to stop Royal Mail from using agency staff to clear the backlog of letters and parcels caused by strikes.

The backlog of letters is expected to grow again after the Commercial Workers’ Union last Friday announced two days of strikes this Friday and on November 9.

The row came as Royal Mail disclosed that the damaging dispute with unions, which led to huge backlogs of letters and parcels across Britain, cost the business around £10 million in lost revenue.

Royal Mail says it has reduced the backlog of letters and parcels delayed by recent regional strikes from 9m to 4m, but it is feared that national stoppages could send that soaring to 100m or 200m items.

The union has been a give a legal opinion by John Hendy QC arguing that the use of 30,000 agency staff to handle the backlog of letters caused by the strike is unlawful and warrants a high court injunction.

The result was a major backlog of letters and parcels (30 million items, according to the CWU; 9 million items, according to Royal Mail), leaving hundreds of thousands of households waiting for up to two weeks for cheques, bank statements and credit card bills.