Posties defy call to strike

More than 270 postal workers in the Black Country and Staffordshire defied the pickets and refused to join around 130,000 colleagues on strike today.

In Wolverhampton, Dudley, Kidderminster and Stourbridge 134 turned up for work. In Sandwell there were 15; Walsall, Cannock and Lichfield 87; and Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent 38.

The bitter row over pay and jobs crippled deliveries across the UK today after the Communication Workers Union (CWU) turned down a 2.5 per cent pay offer and rejected Royal Mail's business plan, claiming it would lead to 40,000 job losses.

The union is demanding postal workers' pay rise to the national average over the next five years, which Royal Mail says amounts to a 27 per cent increase - a salary leap from £19,000 to £24,000. Royal Mail is investing £1.2 billion in modernisation to stay competitive.