A FRESH wave of postal and education strikes were held yesterday amid continuing disputes over pay and conditions.
Royal Mail workers and university staff across Northern Ireland were involved one of the biggest walkouts on the same day.
Picket lines were mounted outside universities, colleges and Royal Mail centres with more strikes are planned in the run-up to Christmas.
Postal workers, who will also strike again today, also walked out on Thursday and Friday last week. Staff are also planning seven more strikes in December, including Christmas Eve.
The Communication Workers Union (CWU), which represents the workers, says it wants a pay rise that matches the soaring cost of living. The union also objects to proposed changes to working conditions, such as ending a number of allowances and the introduction of compulsory Sunday working.
Royal Mail says it has made a revised pay offer but "no talks are happening".
Meanwhile, a 24-hour stoppage by some staff at around 150 universities, including Queen's University Belfast and Ulster University, also took place yesterday with The Open University, which has thousands of students in Northern Ireland, also affected.
It came after a 48-hour strike last week by members of the University and College Union (UCU), which represents lecturers and support staff, over pay, workloads and pensions.
The union said that since 2009 staff pay has been cut in real terms by more than 25 per cent, while the pensions of university workers have been slashed this year by an average of 35 per cent.
UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: "Last week university staff delivered historic strike action and this week they are doing it all over again. Vice-chancellors are about to witness another huge show of strength.
"University staff are prepared to do whatever it takes to win decent pay, secure employment and fair pensions, and vice chancellors need to understand that they cannot simply ride this out. Students and staff are united like never before."
