PICKETING postal workers admitted disruption could rumble on for the “foreseeable future” as they continue their fight over modernisation at Royal Mail.

Bill Trinder and other members of the Communication Workers’ Union joined colleagues on a picket line at Royal Mail House, off Oxpens Road, yesterday.

The CWU said 95 per cent of Oxford’s postal workers joined the latest in a series of walkouts, which have left millions of items of mail caught up in the backlog.

Peace talks will resume today between union representatives and Royal Mail over the firm’s modernisation proposals, which staff fear could lead to huge job losses.

Mr Trinder said: “We will be here for the foreseeable future. It’s not about backing down but about things being put right.

“About 30,000 jobs are on the line and there’s a big hole in the pensions.

“We don’t want to be out here on strike – we feel sorry for the public.

“We’re not here just for the money – it’s for pay and for conditions.”

Staff at 15 delivery offices, including Royal Mail House; Ledgers Close, in East Oxford; Abingdon; Bicester; Banbury; and Chipping Norton, walked out on strike on Saturday.

Union member Graham Cox said: “What we’re really out here for is to keep this service as a service and not a business, with workable workloads.

“We’ll be here until there’s some agreement reached.”

Postman Adrian Woodley said: “We’re given too much work and not enough time to do it in.”

The Oxfordshire strikers were among 120,000 CWU members on picket lines across the country.

Steve Akers, West Midlands regional organiser of the public sector workers’ union Unison, and his wife Sharon, education officer of the Oxfordshire health services’ branch of the union, provided bacon butties for striking workers in Chipping Norton.

He said: “This is as much about defending the service for the public, as it is about terms and conditions.”

CWU member Rick Henderson, of Chipping Norton, said: “We have all lost a day’s wages to stand in the rain, and that’s a measure of our belief in this.”

Royal Mail said 25 per cent of its delivery staff had turned up for work on Saturday, though the figure was disputed by the CWU.

Royal mail managing director Mark Higson condemned the union for calling more strikes, warning it would “distract” efforts towards reaching an agreement.