Royal Mail staff in communication union CWU will take strike action on:
Friday 9th December
Sunday 11th December
Wednesday 14th December
Thursday 15th December
Friday 23rd December
Saturday 24th December
The CWU is in dispute with Royal Mail over pay and changes to working conditions.
The CWU says: “Our Royal Mail members have had an unagreed 2 per cent pay deal imposed on them.
“This is at a time when RPI inflation is currently running at 11.8 per cent and when Royal Mail has announced Group profits of £758 million and when the company is paying out many millions to private shareholders.
“In a national strike ballot over pay, our Royal Mail members voted by a 97.6 per cent majority to take action.
“The pay dispute is not complicated. Our members are striking for a pay rise that fully addresses the current cost of living. Our members need it, our members deserve it – the company can afford it.”
Throughout this year, 115,000 postal workers have been taking industrial action against the ‘real-terms pay cuts; and action that they say will force through thousands of compulsory redundancies and enact changes that would see Royal Mail turned into a Uber-style gig economy parcel courier.
Royal Mail says: “Royal Mail has well-developed contingency plans, but we cannot fully replace the daily efforts of our frontline workforce. We’ll be doing what we can to keep services running, but we are sorry this planned strike action is likely to cause you some disruption.
“Following several months of talks between Royal Mail and Communication Workers Union, including ACAS facilitation, Royal Mail has shared a best and final offer for pay and change. The revised offer includes extensive improvements that have been made during the negotiations with the CWU, including an enhanced pay deal of 9% over 18 months and a number of other concessions to terms and agreements. The offer is subject to agreeing a programme of change with the CWU.”
The last posting days for delivery before Christmas are now 12 December (instead of 19 December) for second class post and 16 December (instead of 21 December) for first class.
