Below is the CWU overview, link to their main site which will no doubt have a transcript of the Press Release they gave at 5.45 on it soon, and then the grauniad report as a corporate repost just to get at least something out there that's vaguely relevant... also attached a local support flyer - please feel free to edit and spread at your local picket line / in your town

Overview from CWU site:  http://www.cwu.org/royal-mail-dispute.html check
Check CWU site for updates soon:

Overview
The Communication Workers Union is in the biggest dispute with Royal Mail since the national strike of 2007. Local strikes have taken place across the UK since June and these have grown in frequency, geographical and functional spread over the summer.
15 October '09. An Early Day Motion (EDM) 2035 has been lodged by CWU supported MP, Geraldine Smith calling on Government to ensure Royal Mail responds positively to the CWU's proposals to end the dispute. You can view the EDM by clicking on the following link  http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=39264&SESSION=899
Urge your MP to support EDM 2035 by contacting them on the following link www.writetothem.com
To view the CWU's proposal to Mark Higson Managing Director, Royal Mail, please click on the link: Letter to Higson 13.10.09

Corporate Repost from grauniad below.

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/oct/21/royal-mail-strike-goes-ahead
A postal strike planned for tomorrow will go ahead, the Communication Workers Union has said after ignoring a last-minute appeal from the Royal Mail to return to the negotiating table.
The strike will take begin at midnight and continue through Friday. The CWU deputy secretary, Dave Ward, said further industrial action would be discussed later this week, raising the prospect of disruption in the run-up to Christmas.
Royal Mail and the CWU had held more than 25 hours of talks over the past two days in a bid to avert the strike.
Royal Mail's managing director, Mark Higson, wrote to the union today calling for a "strike-free period of calm" during which the parties could "re-engage". He criticised the planned action as "totally unjustified". Announcing the strike, Ward said the letter by Higson "completely contradicted some of the issues agreed last night".
"We genuinely believe we have no other alternative than to stand up for postal workers in the UK, stand up for the UK postal service," he said.
He was particularly scathing of the role of the business secretary, Lord Mandelson, who has criticised the union and who Ward claimed had decided it was "payback because we defeated them in their proposal on privatisation [of the postal service]".
"The government and Royal Mail are working hand in hand to avoid any chance of us reaching a solution," he said.
He said Mandelson, Higson and the Royal Mail chief executive, Adam Crozier, were responsible for obstructing any chance of agreement. Ward said the union had not once met Higson or Crozier.
In his letter, Higson said: "We are both aware of the huge damage and distraction that industrial action would cause, which would inhibit and delay us reaching agreement and would mean an even longer period of pain and disruption for customers."
Higson said Royal Mail was happy to consider using a third party to work with the two sides on developing an industrial relations framework for the future. But it has refused to involve the conciliation service Acas until the union calls off the strike.