Small businesses will suffer most from postal strike, warns CLA

A Midlands rural economy body has warned postal workers that they would be "shooting themselves in the foot" by taking part in a proposed week-long strike that could cost the UK economy £1.5bn.

The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) says delays in receiving cheques could prove "fatal" to some small firms.

CLA East Midlands, which has a bureau at Market Harborough in Leicestershire, claims that rural businesses will suffer the most from strike action because they don’t have the volume to find an alternative supplier like the big boys do.

Spokesman for the organisation’s Midlands region, Tim Barnes-Clay, said: "The sad thing is that Royal Mail is forcing the hand of small businesses to find alternative ways of getting its correspondence delivered.

"Cashflow is of the essence for businesses and after excuses that the ’cheque had got lost in the post’, many firms now prefer to use electronic money transfer through BACS and PayPal.

"The Royal Mail workforce needs to wake up to the 21st century. They need to realise that by going on strike they could be doing themselves out of a job," said Mr Barnes-Clay.