In Britain, as many as 70,000 postal delivery and collection staff have failed to turn up to work on the third day of their strike across the country. Today is the final day of the current three days of strikes but the Communication Workers Union (CWU) has announced two further strike dates. These all-out strikes will take place on next Friday and Monday. Days of talks between the CWU and Royal Mail have so far not resolved their differences over pay and modernisation. Meanwhile, Royal Mail said the backlog of undelivered mail caused by the strikes has risen to 35 million items. But the CWU said this estimate was laughable, alleging that between 50 million and 60 million items had in fact been delayed. Unlike the current strikes, which have involved members in different roles striking on different days, the two new dates will be all-out strikes.