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Postal strike 'would hit SMEs hard'

Published On 7 June 2007 at 16:23:50

Any strike by Royal Mail staff could be disastrous for small and medium-sized enterprises in the UK, a business group has warned.

Earlier today (June 7th), the Communications Workers Union (CWU) revealed that its members working for the Royal Mail would take industrial action in the near future.

However, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said that any industrial action by postal workers could be damaging to UK SMEs and urged the government to intervene to prevent the strike.

"Our survey on the postal service showed that 88 per cent of small firms send mail every day and 94 per cent of small businesses use Royal Mail exclusively," explained Clive Davenport, the FSB's trade and industry chairman.

"Small businesses would be hardest hit by this dispute. They employ over half of the private sector workforce in the UK and are totally reliant on the Royal Mail.

"A cheque delayed in the post can mean the difference between life and death for a small business, which means that this strike cannot be allowed to go ahead."

In the meantime, the FSB advised small businesses to make sure they kept up to date with developments and when the industrial action is scheduled to take place. Firms could then make allowances to deal with disrupted cash flows.

 

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