A WILDCAT strike by postal workers in north-west England is “escalating and escalating,” after staff at two more offices walked out over the conduct of an allegedly racist manager.

CWU members at Royal Mail’s Warrington mail centre and its north-west distribution hub, also in Warrington, have set up picket lines in solidarity with workers at Bootle and Seaforth delivery office on Merseyside.

The odispute was sparked on Wednesday when a manager at Bootle allegedly made a racist comment to a Muslim colleague.

According to workers, the female manager demanded that the worker immediately switch from one task to another.

After it took him around 25 seconds to comply, she took him into her office and asked him: “Do you have a problem with women?”

The Star understands that the worker took the question as an aggressive evocation of negative stereotypes about Muslim men lacking respect for women.

In response, the workers downed tools and are refusing to go back in until the manager in question is removed from the shift.

A CWU source on the ground said that Warrington workers came out after management attempted to discipline a worker for refusing to cross the picket line.

The source added: “It’s escalating and escalating.

“Everybody is out, absolutely no worker is budging from this.

“There’ll be no other way out of this apart from management backing down — if it carries on like this there’ll be more depots out on Monday.”

A Royal Mail spokesperson said the firm was “disappointed” by the walkout in Warrington, adding: “We remain committed to resolving our colleagues’ concerns in co-operation with the CWU.

“We sincerely apologise to customers in these areas for any disruption to their mail services.”