Royal Mail workers walk-out as wave of winter strikes start
Winter strikes at Royal Mail have begun today, as postal workers walk-out in a row over pay and conditions.
The walkouts involve 1115,000 workers and will hit deliveries across the UK, the Royal Mail have said.
Mail has been pilling up ahead of the action, the CWU union says as negotiations between the union and the Royal Mail break down.
There will be a wave of strikes sweeping Britain this winter across many public services.
For postal workers, the CWU union are set to strike on 9, 11, 14, 15, 23 and 24 December.
The union are seeking a pay rise that matches the rising cost of living and has said its members feel Royal Mail management wants to turn the company in to a gig economy firm, similar to Uber.
The union said its members were facing “massive real-term pay cuts” and that management wanted to “force through thousands of compulsory redundancies.”
Dave Ward, CWU general secretary, said: “Royal Mail bosses are risking a Christmas meltdown because of their stubborn refusal to treat their employees with respect.
“Postal workers want to get on with serving the communities they belong to, delivering Christmas gifts and tackling the backlog from recent weeks.
“But they know their value, and they will not meekly accept the casualisation of their jobs, the destruction of their conditions and the impoverishment of their families.”
Breakdown in talks between union and Royal Mail
A spokesman said talks between the union and the Royal Mail have broken down and that Royal Mail managers are “refusing to budge with their ‘best and final’ offer.”
That offer includes a 9% pay deal over 18 months and “a number of other concessions to terms and agreements”, Royal Mail said.
A Royal Mail spokesman said: “We spent three more days at [conciliation service] Acas this week to discuss what needs to happen for the strikes to be lifted.
“In the end, all we received was another request for more pay, without the changes needed to fund the pay offer,” the spokesman said, adding that the union “knows full well” that the business is losing more than £1m a day.
