100 Royal Mail employees from Ely went on strike from 4.30am on Friday morning to protest against changes to their pension structure and loss of earnings. Workers are being forced to start their shifts an hour later as of next week, which, combined

100 Royal Mail employees from Ely went on strike from 4.30am on Friday morning to protest against changes to their pension structure and loss of earnings. Workers are being forced to start their shifts an hour later as of next week, which, combined with the night shift changes, will have a knock-on effect on delivery times.

Post could be delivered to Ely and surrounding villages as late as 4pm as Royal Mail abolishes the entire night shift at their Lisle Lane depot in Ely.

Seven postal workers will lose their jobs and there are fears that more could go as part of what Royal Mail has called the modernisation’ of its workforce.

Union representative Paul Chapman said: “It’s not just Ely that it will affect. Businesses in surrounding rural areas are going to get their post later and later. There has been no reduction in the volume of post and our workload is the same.” Mr Chapman added that worker aged 40 who has been working for the post office for 20 years is going to be £60,000 worse off when they reach pension age.

Postmen will no longer be paid for delivering leaflets and stand to lose £1,000 a year, said Mr Chapman.

Royal Mail has offered its workers a 2.5% pay increase but workers say there are strings attached. Pensions would no longer be linked to earnings but to the retail price index, a way of calculating inflation.

Workers at Lisle Lane have managed to stop Royal Mail reducing its opening hours at the public collection office to mornings only, but this is subject to change, said picketers. It could soon be the case that residents cannot pick up their parcels after 1pm.