Sorry, this video asset has been removed.

Audio: Right to Work
campaigner Sian Ruddick was at the protest this morning.

“I’m concerned that actually this is the first of what we are
going to see across the public sector - that increasingly employers
are becoming more aggressive in order to make cuts and to reduce
services.

"That’s why I think it’s important for people from other
industries, for people like myself to get involved and build
solidarity with the postal workers to make sure they win this
dispute.”

Activists and sympathisers met for about an hour at Royal
Mail’s giant warehouse, in Sandpit Road, Dartford, in a bid to
see the “scab” facility closed down.

Royal Mail says temporary staff at the 160,000 sq ft warehouse
are being used to clear mail backlogs caused by industrial action
in London and the South East.

But supporters of campaign group Right to Work, which organised
the rally, argue otherwise. They say the 200 agency staff employed
there are being used as strike breakers to fill the gap left by
postal worker walk-outs.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: "The up to 30,000 directly engaged,
fully vetted temporary workers being hired by Royal Mail to help us
clear any mail delayed by strikes and help with Christmas volumes
are entirely in line with all employment law.

"In addition we normally use agency staff throughout the year to
help cover sick and holiday absence, fluctuations in volumes and
higher volumes at Christmas and these agency workers are absolutely
not hired to do the work of postal workers when they are on
strike."