The Oxford postal strike is over - but staff have pledged to fight for every penny of pay and overtime they have lost over the last 16 days.

Mail is taken to be stored at Steventon Storage Facility on Thursday, April 15, while the strike was coming to an end

At a mass meeting at the Cowley Workers Social Club in Between Towns Road, Cowley, workers agreed on Thursday, April 15, to return to work, despite managers refusing to move a manager at the centre of the original bullying allegations.

Last night the mammoth task of moving the millions of letters and parcels from the Oxford mail centre, at Cowley, and two military warehouses near Steventon had begun.

Staff voted to return by a slim majority of 86 votes to 78. The deal, agreed by staff who walked out following allegations of bullying and harassment by a seven-strong group of workers, involves independent intervention by business psychologists from Pearn Kandola, which has its UK office in Banbury Road, Oxford.

But the manager at the centre of the allegations is still in his job - a fact which had earlier proved to be a sticking point for the return to work.

Communication Workers union representative Bob Cullen said: "The decision was made to take the management at its word, that it would take these allegations seriously.

"The strike has been worth it and I can say we will be putting a claim in for every penny lost by our members in pay and overtime because this was not an industrial dispute.

"We are always opposed to unofficial action but this was a building on fire and we walked out."

Mr Cullen said there was still "a lot of tension" among staff and he hoped the independent inquiry would start as soon as possible.

One worker said: "We are pleased to be going back."

Managers welcomed the move and estimated moving the mountain of mail would take about a week.

Royal Mail spokesman Richard Hall refused to comment on whether the striking workers would be paid their wages and overtime.

He said all striking workers had agreed they would not be paid any overtime until the backlog was cleared.

He added: "The independent investigators will work with our own diversity team to look at any issues of bullying and harassment and will deal with them as part of our internal processes.

"We apologise to customers for the disruption caused by the dispute and we are pleased it has resulted in a return to work.

"Every effort will be put into clearing the backlog and restoring services to normal."

Mr Hall said a "charter" was being drawn up between local management and the union in a bid to avoid unofficial disputes in the future.