Statement – Update On Further Strike Action By The Communication Workers Union

Royal Mail said last Thursday that payroll figures show that 80 per cent of our people are working as normal. Collections and deliveries are taking place as usual throughout the UK.

12 mail centres – the large sites where mail is processed before being sent to delivery offices – are working normally throughout today, including sites in Belfast, Southend, Liverpool, Carlisle, Peterborough, Glasgow, Hull, Aberdeen, Gloucester, Portsmouth, Crewe and Gatwick. Large numbers of colleagues have also reported to work at the remaining 59 centres and are working alongside management volunteers. No mail centres are expected to be closed.

The action last week was not on a national basis but involves strikes at different Royal Mail sites at different times.

The union’s publicly stated aim of causing maximum damage to Royal Mail, and therefore its customers, is completely at odds with its claim to support the postal service. Strike action will inevitably drive customers away from Royal Mail to rival operators and to the internet.