Thousands on strike

PICKET lines were mounted outside schools, universities and Royal Mail centres on Thursday as tens of thousands of workers went on strike in worsening disputes over pay, jobs and conditions.

Union leaders said walkouts were being solidly supported amid a bitter war of words in the industrial unrest sweeping the country.

The general secretary of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) accused Royal Mail of subjecting its workers to a “psychological attack”.

Postal workers on the picket line at the Kilburn Delivery Office in north west London