Strike hits exam results
Postal strikes lasting for 17 days have jeopardised some graduates' chances of receiving funding and left a number of students without their exam results.
The unofficial strike, which has now ended, has created a backlog of between four and five million items, and is expected to take a week to clear.
Those applying to the Department of Politics and International Relations for jobs or graduate funding could be heavily affected.
A statement on its website says: "Unfortunately, whilst we shall endeavour to make allowances for late arriving applications, it will not always be possible to extend advertised deadlines."
For other students it has just been another cause of increased anxiety. When their results failed to arrive by post, several undergraduates taking Law and Psychology prelims and Classics Mods had to contact tutors during the vacation. One Wadham student received her results 10 days late and had to wait until she returned to College this week to discover her marks breakdown. Jill Kavanagh, a Wadham law student, described the ordeal as "so annoying".
The postal strike began on 30th March because of alleged bullying and harassment in the workplace.
Members of the Communications Workers Union, the main postal workers' union, met repeatedly with Royal Mail officials in an attempt to resolve it and eventually agreed to return to work.
Tony Clack from the CWU told The OxStu: "We always sympathise with our customers if we are forced to take action - after all our families are customers too. But when you are faced with an issue as unacceptable as this you have to stand up and be counted."
The Royal Mail claims to take bullying allegations seriously and has launched an inquiry.
22nd Apr 2004