ROYAL Mail workers were striking again yesterday after talks between union members and Royal Mail bosses broke down.

The latest three-day strikes started yesterday with mail centre workers setting up a picket line at the Worcester Mail Centre and delivery office in Warndon.

Members of the Communications Workers Union who work at Worcestershire’s delivery offices will also strike tomorrow.

Today’s strike action is confined to coding centres and will not affect the county.

Steve Fulcher, who works at the Wainwright Road centre, said: “People are even more fed up than they were last week.

“Nobody really wants to be on strike but once you’ve got into that position you’ve got to do it because hopefully we won’t have to again.”

Mr Fulcher said the strike action was beginning to bite, particularly as three members of his household worked at Royal Mail.

Speaking yesterday, he said: “Myself, my partner Chris and my stepdaughter Angela were all due to work today at the mail centre. Collectively we’ve lost £200 today. It’s a real financial burden.”

He also described tensions at the centre after Royal Mail hired temporary workers to help clear the backlog.

He said: “They’ve been bringing temporary staff in which costs them £20 an hour. It’s crazy.

“They do it so people can’t have any overtime. They think it isn’t right we should have overtime for being on strike.”

However, a Royal Mail spokeswoman said: “We will do everything possible to keep the mail moving.The temporary staff are working to clear the backlog. Our aim is to get the mail to our customers as quickly as possible.”

Royal Mail has blamed the CWU for the breakdown of the talks earlier this week and said they were willing to keep talking to try to resolve the dispute.

The dispute centres on pay freezes and the ongoing modernisation of the postal service.