UK mail flood expected after strike lifted

Maltapost employees are getting ready to deal with the backlog of mail from the UK after the Royal Mail's two-week strike was lifted and staff there began returning to work yesterday.

The strike had forced Royal Mail to seal 15,000 post boxes and left mail piling up for days - reports in the British press said the backlog of tens of millions of letters would take weeks to clear.

About 25,000 postal workers were thought to be taking part in the "wild cat" strikes at 15 of the 73 postal centres across the country, the Royal Mail was quoted as saying.

A spokesman for Maltapost said that though he did not have the exact figures available, Malta received a considerable amount of mail from the UK.

"Obviously we cannot say exactly what sort of backlog there is earmarked for Malta, but at Maltapost we operate a clear-floor policy for both foreign and local mail, so we hope to be able to deal with the backlog in a few days," the spokesman said.

"Luckily, the Christmas rush has not yet started," he added.

The Communication Workers' Union and Royal Mail yesterday concluded more than 15 hours of negotiations and the CWU was reported as saying the agreement was adequate for it to recommend to its members they return to work.

Staff in Oxford, Coventry, Warrington, Hatfield, Chelmsford, Dartford, Colchester and parts of London have already started on the backlog.