POSTAL services across Britain were halted for seven weeks in early 1971 as postal workers went on strike.
The dispute began on January 20 when 210,000 members of the Union of Post Office Workers stopped work in support of a claim for a 15 per cent pay rise, the union having rejected the Post Office’s offer of eight per cent. At the time, the Heath government was seeking to introduce anti-union legislation, but the UPW insisted its fight was with the Post Office,
“From tonight”, said the Glasgow Herald, “mail deliveries and collections will be suspended, and tomorrow operator assistance will cease on the telephone system. There will be no alarm calls, fixed-time calls, or directory enquiry service”. UPW members, working without pay, would, however, staff the 999 emergency service and the doctors’ emergency service.
On January 27 Tom Jackson, UPW general secretary, predicted that the strike would “really begin to hurt during the next seven days”.
Peace talks broke down on January 31. On February16 a PO offer of nine per cent was turned down by the union, which had reduced its demand to 13 per cent. Four ‘renegade’ postmen in Dunfermline started a local delivery service. Across the country, people wrote to newspapers to complain about the strike’s impact.
On March 3, Glasgow postal supervisors (above) stopped work in support of the strike. The following day, it was reported that the strike was over, subject to a ballot, after 13 hours of talks paved the way for an inquiry into the pay claim. In the end, UPW members voted overwhelmingly to return to work. “They will have a lot of bills to catch up on”, said one Glasgow official.
On March 8 the workers began to tackle the huge backlog of 11 million mail items. A Willie Gall cartoon in the Evening Times had a postie complaining to a colleague, “Ma knuckles is killin’ me, chappin’ doors after seven weeks aff!”
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