The Postal Workers Strike of 1890 and an excellent Radio 4 series

There was a time when there could be as many as six postal deliveries and collections in a day. A service which allowed people to post a card in the morning and arrange to meet that afternoon or for day trippers at the sea side to alert the family for when they would be at home.
But of course there was a human dimension to such a service. A Commission of Inquiry heard evidence in 1896 of the extraordinary conditions some postmen endured. The work was heavy, their walks were long, and the hours were longer. Some had been known to walk 26 miles in a single day. Others worked split duties beginning at 6am and ending at 10pm, meaning they rarely saw their families. Some of the city offices were cold and damp in winter, where the staff had few amenities and only the most rudimentary toilet arrangements. Of course these were the worst-case scenarios, but there were other, more widely shared grievances such as low pay, stifling uniforms, minimal leave and a severe disciplinary code that included the awarding of the contentious and often divisive "good conduct stripes".*
Six years earlier these intolerable conditions led to the Postal Workers Strike of 1890 which can be read about at http://postalheritage.wordpress.com/2011/12/16/split-duties-in-the-1890s/
And appeared in the BBC Radio 4 series The People's Post: A Narrative History of the Post Office - 10. The Postal Worker's Strike, http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0184vhd/The_Peoples_Post_A_Narrative_History_of_the_Post_Office_The_Postal_Workers_Strike/
*The Postal Workers Strike, from The British Postal Museum & Archive http://www.postalheritage.org.uk/page/peoplespost-strike
Picture, http://www.postalheritage.org.uk/page/peoplespost-strik