3 day postal strikes begin in the UK
Royal Mail has released a statement about the Communications Worker Union CWU strikes over pay which begin today, Friday August 26th (All Post Office members), Saturday August 27th (Crowns) and Tuesday August 30th (Admin & Supply Chain).
Royal Mail have said: “Today’s CWU strike thrusts Royal Mail into the most uncertain time of its 500-year history. It is putting jobs at risk and making pay rises less affordable. We are losing £1million a day. We must change to fix the situation and protect high quality jobs.
The change we need is the change the public demand of us. They want more and bigger parcels delivered the next day – including Sundays – and more environmentally friendly options. They want this at a competitive price, with great quality of service. We cannot cling to outdated working practices, ignoring technological advancements and pretending that Covid has not significantly changed what the public wants from Royal Mail.
While our competitors work seven days a week, delivering until 10pm to meet customer demand, the CWU want to work fewer hours, six days a week, starting and finishing earlier. Their plans to transform Royal Mail come with a £1billion price tag, are predicated on a wholly unrealistic revival in letter writing, and prevent Royal Mail from growing, and remaining competitive, in a fast-moving industry. The CWU’s vision for Royal Mail would create a vicious spiral of falling volumes, higher prices, bigger losses, and fewer jobs.
Our future is as a parcels business. We must adapt old ways of working designed for letters to a world increasingly dominated by parcels, and we must act fast. We want to protect well-paid, permanent jobs long-term and retain our place as the industry leader on pay, terms and conditions. That is in the best interests of Royal Mail and all its employees.
We apologise to our customers, and the public for the inconvenience the CWU’s strike action will cause. We have offered to meet the CWU numerous times in recent weeks, but they declined each invitation, preferring to spend their time on the political agenda of the UK trade union movement. We remain ready to talk with the CWU to try and avert damaging industrial action and prevent significant inconvenience for customers. But any talks must be about both change and pay.
We have contingency plans to minimise customer disruption and will work to keep people, businesses and the country connected.”
