ROYAL Mail staff in Burnley have staged an impromptu walk-out in support of a union colleague who they believe has been unfairly dismissed.

The walk out is in support of former Burnley Council leader Stuart Caddy, who is chair of the East Lancashire branch of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), and who has worked for Royal Mail for a number of years.

Royal Mail was forced to draft in managers and volunteers to deliver and collect mail following the walk-out. When asked about the nature of the dispute, a spokesperson refused to disclose the cause of the dispute.

A CWU spokesman said he could not discuss details of the case as it was pending an appeal, but said that staff had taken unofficial industrial action yesterday morning.

He said: “A trade union official has been dismissed and staff feel quite strongly about it and they’ve decided to walk out spontaneously.

“It is being dealt with through the national disciplinary process, but staff feel quite strongly this is a guy with long standing, very well respected, so they’ve taken some action in regard to solidarity with the person concerned.

“This person is well respected and has looked after these people for many years.

“An official request has also been put in by staff for an industrial action ballot. A request has been put to the national executive to conduct a national ballot.”

Royal Mail spokesperson Val Bodden said: “Royal Mail would like to apologise to customers in the BB10, BB11 and BB12 postcode areas affected by the unofficial strike taken this morning by colleagues at Burnley Delivery Office.

“Managerial and volunteer resource is being brought in to ensure the delivery of Special Delivery and Tracked items today and to continue collecting customers’ mail from post offices and businesses in the area.

“Royal Mail is fully committed to the process of trying to resolve concerns of postal workers in Burnley, by continuing to follow the national jointly agreed framework with the Communication Workers Union (CWU). We remain hopeful that the issues can be resolved locally.”

Mr Caddy was not available for comment yesterday.