The company says it is losing about £1m a day, and cannot afford to give its workers a higher pay rise. Royal Mail has offered a pay deal which it says is worth up to 9% over 18 months. In those that do open, you may not be able to post letters and parcels as you usually would, but other services such as bill payments and banking should run as normal. About 115,000 workers had been expected to walk out as part of a long-running dispute over pay and conditions. Royal Mail said it may need to cut up to 10,000 roles easymarkets broker by next August, blaming strike action by its workers and the continuing decline of its core business.
“There can be no doubt that postal workers are completely united in their determination to secure the dignified, proper pay rise they deserve,” he said. The move comes as Royal Mail said the union had rejected a pay rise offer “worth up to 5.5%” after three months of talks. It comes as Royal Mail said the Communication Workers Union (CWU), which represents the strikers, had rejected a pay rise offer “worth up to 5.5%” after three months of talks. Royal Mail says eight days of strike action has cost it £100m while striking posties have each lost, on average, £1,000. “In a materially loss-making company, with every additional day of strike action we are facing the difficult choice of whether we spend our money on pay and protecting jobs, or on the cost of strikes,” Mr Thompson said. Britain has been hit by a wave of strikes in the past year, with rail employees, barristers and refuse workers having already walked out over pay and conditions amid a cost-of-living crisis.
The company said in a statement that it had offered staff a 9% pay rise over 18 months, was committing to make Sunday working voluntary, and would make no compulsory redundancies before March next year. When Unite members voted for industrial action at the end of last month, a Royal Mail spokesperson said the postal service has “contigency plans in place to keep letters and parcels moving in the event of a strike”. Royal Mail also claimed that up to 12,500 union-grade employees covered by the CWU returned to work on strike days. The union objects to working pattern changes proposed by Royal Mail as part of the company’s plans to focus on parcels, which include a move away from the morning delivery of letters. Royal Mail said strikes had already cost the firm more than £100m and that the pay offer may need to be withdrawn if there is “further deterioration in the company’s financial position caused by industrial action”. Fears are growing that teachers, nurses and other NHS workers could add to the strike action after being balloted by their unions over underinflation pay rises.
When is the next Royal Mail strike?
For the Communication Workers Union, this is a last stand to stop postal workers being turned into “gig-economy couriers”. The CWU said plans include delaying the arrival of post to members of the public by three hours, cuts in workers’ sick pay and inferior terms for new employees. Eighteen days of strikes were held in 2022 and a further 24-hour strike on February was cancelled following legal action from Royal Mail. Turnout has risen over the course of the dispute, with the two previous ballots achieving 77% and 72.2% turnout respectively.
- CWU general secretary Dave Ward said the offer represented a “devastating blow” to postal workers’ livelihoods and urged the public to “stand with their postie”.
- First, Royal Mail managers are set to “work to rule” between 15 and 19 July, meaning they will work strictly according to contracted hours and duties.
- The company also called for further talks with the union to avert the strikes, but said they “must be about both change and pay”.
- On strike days it will deliver as many Special Delivery and Tracked 24 parcels as possible, it said.
- General Secretary Dave Ward said workers faced the “biggest ever assault” on jobs, terms and conditions “in the history of Royal Mail”.
- Chairman Keith Williams has said that the firm is losing £1m a day as parcel volumes fall and efforts to modernise the business stall.
‘Royal Mail losing £1m a day’
This is despite many Royal Mail staff retiring or leaving the company, the union said. These are likely to be the days with the worst disruption as it involves delivery and collection staff, as well as those who sort parcels and letters. General Secretary Mr Ward said the changes could lead to the “destruction of the special relationship that postal workers and the public have in every community in the UK”.
Several professions have gone on strike in the past year, including teachers, junior doctors, rail workers, nurses, passport office staff and civil servants. Nathan Clements, chief ema indicator people officer at food service company SSP Group, said the dispute served as a reminder of the importance of communication. “It could have a huge impact on our business especially at this time of year. Much of what we sell is gifts and obviously Christmas is a key gifting period for everybody.”
How will the public be affected?
Terry Pullinger, deputy CWU general secretary, said the union wanted negotiations with Royal Mail, but claimed this was “rejected”, leaving reps with “no choice but to fight their disgraceful imposition”. Workers on the railways and at airports are also in pay disputes with employers, with prices for goods in the UK rising at the fastest rate in 40 years. “The CWU’s failure to engage on the changes we need is an abdication of responsibility for the long-term job security of their members.” “The CWU’s message to Royal Mail’s leadership is simple – there will be serious disruption until you get real on pay,” he added. The Communication Workers Union (CWU) said workers would walk out on 26 and 31 August and 8 and 9 September. Earlier this week (29 March), labour markets minister Paul Scully announced a new statutory code on fire and rehire.
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Contingency measures taken during the strikes were “effective” and “robust”, it said. In the peak Christmas post period, despite seven strike days in December, Royal Mail delivered “in excess of 110 million parcels and over 600 million addressed letters”, it said. Royal Mail said eight days of industrial action had taken place or been notified to the company by the CWU, with a further 16 days of potential strike action planned for November and December. Responding to the job cuts announcement, the CWU called for an urgent meeting with management and accused Royal Mail of holding postal workers to ransom and turning the company into a “gig economy-style parcel courier”… Overall, Royal Mail said it is seeking an overall reduction of 10,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) roles over the same period, and said more might have to go if new strike dates are announced.
It claimed this vote was the biggest mandate for strike action since the implementation of the 2016 Trade Union Act. Postal workers at Royal Mail have delivered the ‘biggest national strike vote in British history’, according to their union. “After industrial action takes place, we’ll be increasing our network capacity and using additional resources to assist with getting services back to normal,” says Royal Mail. However, given the close proximity to the other strikes and a build-up of delayed mail, disruption is still very likely and people are advised to post items well in advance if possible. These walkouts are currently set to only involve delivery workers, so collections from postboxes and Post Offices should take place. Members of the Aslef union have walked out, causing disruption to Hull Trains services.
It is no wonder then that our members are angry and ready to take strike action. Deliveries will be disrupted by 10 more strike days at the busiest time of the year for the postal service. Thousands of postal workers have begun a 48-hour strike in the run-up to Black Friday after talks between Royal Mail and the Communication Workers Union (CWU) ended without agreement. It says strikes have added £100m to its losses, and has announced plans to cut up to 10,000 jobs. The Post Office is a separate business and post offices are expected to open, although some have closed during previous strikes.
Where possible, it buys supplies from developing countries to cut down transport cost and boost local economies. Almost two thirds of its operations currently take place in conflict zones, where it is calculated that people are more than three times likely to suffer from malnutrition than in peaceful countries. The WFP, a branch of the United Nations, is funded by voluntary donations from governments, businesses and private donations. One of the organisation’s goals is the Zero Hunger Pledge, adopted by the international community in 2015 as one of the 17 Sustainable Goals for Sustainable Development, to end world hunger by 2030.
Twenty-one days will be affected by the strikes, which the union says will have a “dramatic impact” on peak periods such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the run-up to Christmas. This would effectively see employees in secure, well-paid jobs turned into a “casualised, financially-precarious workforce overnight”, said the union. The deal, which was reached in April after 18 strike dates, has won 67% of the union’s vote.
When could Royal mail workers go on strike? 2,400 managers set to walk out
Royal Mail also wants employees to start later and finish later to accommodate online shopping habits, where people tend to order goods in the evening or late at night and want next-day delivery. Julie Macken, co-founder of natural skincare firm Neve’s Bees, told the BBC the prospects of more strike action “makes me really scared actually”. “The CWU’s decision to choose damaging strike action over resolution regrettably increases the risk of further headcount reductions.” The union has been told a 3.5% is available subject to further talks and agreements, which would total a 5.5% rise. “Postal workers won’t accept their living standards being hammered by bosses who are typical of business leaders today – overpaid, underqualified, out of their depth.”
The company is encouraging people to post items as early as possible to avoid disruption. The timescale commitment offered on Special Delivery Guaranteed items will be suspended the day before any strike. “This vote is a historic testament to CWU members across the country who have stood firm against the most severe attacks faced by any set of workers since the miners. Royal Mail said that it was looking at making redundant up to 6,000 full-time frontline jobs in delivery and processing by the end of August next year.
- Processing, distribution, international, collections and admin workers go on strike.
- “There can be no doubt that postal workers are completely united in their determination to secure the dignified, proper pay rise they deserve,” he said.
- Royal Mail says it is in such financial peril that without immediate changes to working practices it could go out of business.
- Staff will get a 10% pay rise over three years and a one-off lump sum of £500.
Delivery staff are not yet involved on these days, so some people may still receive items. Processing, distribution, international, collections and admin workers go on strike. Royal Mail says it’s “doing what we can” to keep services running but customers are warned of “significant disruption”. He described statistically sound machine learning for algorithmic the plans as an “asset-stripping business plan” that will lead to the break-up of the company. In order to rebuild employee relations following strikes, and prevent further disputes, Clements said HR teams need to ensure any remaining frustration is dealt with.”