Royal Mail and union negotiators have finally come to an agreement over pay and conditions for postal workers, after two weeks of strikes that have damaged thousands of small firms across the UK.

Representatives of the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) and Royal Mail emerged from 15 hours of talks at 3.30 this morning to announce that “an understanding” had been reached and that postal staff should now return to work.

According to press reports this morning, employees in Coventry, Warrington, Hatfield, Chelmsford and parts of London have already returned to work.

The news of an agreement will be a relief to small firms, particularly those who rely on postal orders or invoices, who have been badly affected by the strikes.

However, as the strikes were unofficial, union leaders may find it difficult to persuade some staff to return to work.

The backlog of mail also means that postal services are not expected to completely return to normal for two weeks.

In a joint statement, the CWU and Royal Mail said that: “We wish to apologise to customers for the huge inconvenience that has been caused and our first priority is to clear the backlog that has built up and get service back to normal.”

As reported by Startups.co.uk, there have been sporadic walk-outs in London over the past month, with postal workers complaining about the lack of money given to them by Royal Mail to help with the high cost of living in the capital.

Over the past two weeks the strikes spread to several areas across the UK as employees walked out in support of colleagues and in protest of new working practices.

It’s estimated that 20,000 postal workers joined in the strikes, with postboxes in parts of London being sealed to prevent an even greater backlog of undelivered mail.

John Walker, policy chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), said the ‘wildcat’ nature of the strikes have particularly damaged small businesses, as it has prevented firms from planning ahead or seeking alternatives.

“Small firms still rely on the post for vital documents such as invoices, contracts, legal forms and most importantly cheques.

“Royal Mail processes a million cheques each day, many of which are now caught up in the backlog. A delay of a couple of days in banking a cheque from a major customer may mean that a small business is unable to settle its own bills or pay wages to staff,” he said.

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