THE CWU (Communication Workers Union) is taking national strike action this Friday with 115,000 Royal Mail workers stopping work.
Further action has been called for Wednesday August 31, Thursday September 8th and Friday September 9th.
The CWU tweeted: ‘If you are in London on Midday on Friday please come and show your support for striking postal workers at our rally at 12 noon at Mount Pleasant Mail Centre, Farringdon Road, London EC1.
Speakers include Dave Ward, CWU general secretary; Mick Lynch RMT general secretary; Jo Grady UCU general secretary; Eddie Dempsey, RMT senior Assistant General Secretary plus others.
Dave Ward will be present on the East London CWU picket at E1 1AA from Friday 6.30am onwards.
Last Wednesday, the CWU urged Royal Mail’s CEOs to ‘consider their positions’, as a new ballot for strike action has rejected management’s attempts to force an ‘erosion of workplace rights’.
Meanwhile, over 40,000 BT Group workers have shown their ‘serious determination’ to get pay justice, as another wave of strike days against real-terms pay cuts is set to begin next week, said the CWU yesterday.
CWU engineers at Openreach and call centre workers at BT – will take strike action on Tuesday 30th August and Wednesday 31st August.
The announcement comes after a historic strike ballot announced in late June which has seen workers take serious strike action in the past few weeks.
The widely-supported strikes saw visits by senior Labour MPs such as Lisa Nandy, as well as deputy leader Angela Rayner writing to company CEO Philip Jansen in protest at his refusal to engage with employees.
The dispute centres on workers opposing the imposition by company management of an incredibly low flat-rate pay rise.
Earlier this year, BT offered and implemented a £1,500 per year pay increase for employees, but in the context of RPI inflation levels already hitting 11.7% this year, this is a dramatic real-terms pay cut.
It is also in the context of BT making £1.3 billion in annual profit, with CEO Jansen gaining a £3.5 million pay package – a 32% wage increase – while the Big Issue and the BBC have reported instances of BT Group offices establishing food banks to assist their employees.
The workers on strike look after the vast majority of Britain’s telecoms infrastructure, from mobile phone connection, broadband internet and back-up generators to national health systems, cyber security and data centres. The strike action is also likely to have a serious effect on the roll-out of ultra-fast broadband, and may cause significant issues for those working from home.
It is the first strike action at BT Group since 1987, and the first national call centre workers’ strike.
CWU General Secretary Dave Ward said: ‘The disruption caused by this strike is entirely down to Philip Jansen and his ridiculous refusal to speak to his workers about a fair pay deal.’
