ANOTHER mail strike will hit Oxfordshire homes and businesses tomorrow.

More than 800 workers at the Swindon sorting office, which has handled the county’s mail since the end of June, will stop work at 4am for 24 hours.

The stoppage comes as workers continue to vote in a national ballot for strike action, which is due to close on October 8.

Chris Rye, Swindon branch secretary of the Communication Workers Union, said: “There have been talks at national level and there has been some movement but we need to push home how serious we are.

“We want a national agreement covering issues such as bullying and harassment and working hours.”

The strike is the first for almost two weeks but affects both sorting office workers and truck drivers delivering mail to the county and is likely to cause a major backlog.

Oxfordshire postal workers also took part in a CWU demonstration at the Labour party conference in Brighton over the weekend.

Paul Garraway, branch secretary of the Oxfordshire CWU, said: “There were about 10 of us and we marched along the seafront.”

Mr Garraway added that he believed any national strike after the ballot closed would start in the week beginning October 12.

He said: “I will be unhappy if we are not on strike. We have waited long enough.”

Royal Mail spokesman Tom Prendergast said: “It is now more clear than ever that the CWU is focusing all its efforts on strike action and political posturing.

“Their claimed support for change is no more than lip service, but their determination to damage services and undermine the future health of the business is increasing.

“Royal Mail is getting on with modernisation in an entirely fair and reasonable way which is completely in line with our existing agreement with the union on flexible working practices.”