Royal Mail workers to strike over busy festive period

Workers at Royal Mail have announced more plans to strike over the festive period. The announcement comes after industrial action was taken last week that saw over 100,000 workers walk out over a pay dispute.

It is the most recent action being taken after strikes in the past 3 weeks have been to no avail. The strikes will impact on millions of homes across the UK.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) who are the representatives for the postal workers, say they want a pay rise to help their workers with the cost of living crisis. 

Royal Mail have said that they are beginning the process to offer a revised pay rise to the union however, no talks are currently taking place.

Royal Mail workers walked out on Wednesday the 30th of November and have now revealed the scheduled dates for the new wave of strikes. In the run up to Christmas workers are expecting to walk out on 9th, 11th, 14th, 15th, 23rd, and 24th of December. 

The strikes will also have a huge impact on a number of small businesses who use the service to deliver products to people all over the UK. 

The dispute began in the summer after Royal Mail rejected the CWU’s demands for a pay rise that matched the inflation rates at the time. 

The Union have also flagged concerns over a number of issues surrounding working conditions. Citing the main objection to Royal Mails plans to introduce compulsory Sunday working within the company.

After the uproar from workers following the announcements Royal Mail offered a deal that was worth a 9% rise over the span of 18 months. The company said that this would be its best and final offer. 

In response to this the Union said that the offer was “a devastating blow to the livelihoods of postal workers” and also urged the public to “stand with their posty” also adding that many postmen and women are a staple of the community in some parts of the country. 

Royal Mail have been struggling for a while now as the demands of their traditional role changed. Sending and delivering of letters has declined while the public use the Royal Mail service more and more for parcel deliveries.  

The company faces huge competition from other growing courier companies and are said to be losing up to a million pounds a day due to the strike action. It said the strikes could add up to 100 million pounds of losses for the company and announced plans to cut 10,000 jobs as a result.