NEW Christmas strikes have been called against the destruction of postal workers’ livelihoods
Following further attacks on the terms and conditions of postal workers, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) has taken the decision to call further strike action on Friday 9th December, Sunday 11th December, Wednesday 14th December, Thursday 15th December, Friday 23rd December and Saturday 24th December.
This is in addition to the action already notified for Thursday 24th November, Friday 25th November, Wednesday 30th November and Thursday 1st December.
A CWU spokesperson said: ‘The CWU want a negotiated settlement with Royal Mail Group and will continue to engage the company to that end.
‘But those in charge of Royal Mail need to wake up and realise we won’t allow them to destroy the livelihoods of postal workers.’
Britain’s Post Offices will see this year’s strikes continued into 2023 as workers fight a ‘dramatic’ real-terms pay cut.
Members of the CWU – which represents Post Office workers – have voted in a national re-ballot by 91.24% on a 65.21% turnout to continue their industrial action.
There was also a 92.36% positive vote (also on a 65.21% turnout) for ‘action short of a strike’, which in essence means working to rule (no overtime, and so on).
The dispute centres around workers rejecting a pay freeze for 2021/22 and a pay offer of 5% with effect from April 1st 2022, with a £500 one-off lump sum.
In the context of RPI inflation now reaching 14.2%, this represents a dramatic real-terms pay cut for workers.
This is also despite the Post Office making £35 million in profits during the 2020/21 financial year and a subsequent £39 million for 2021/22.
CWU Acting Deputy General Secretary (Postal) Andy Furey said: ‘This dispute has always been about a company having respect for dedicated public servants who, as key workers, provided unprecedented customer service during the pandemic.
‘The determination of these people hasn’t swayed, and nor has their sense of betrayal.
‘They won’t accept their living standards being smashed by people running a service that generated tens of millions of pounds in profit out of our members’ efforts.
‘There is more than enough money for a reasonable pay rise – implementing this real-terms pay cut has always been a management choice, not a necessity.
‘We urge management to see sense, get into real negotiations and cut a fair deal to avert these strikes.’
CWU General Secretary Dave Ward said: ‘No business making record profits of £758 million in May this year should not be losing over £1 million a day in a matter of weeks without gross mismanagement.
‘The truth is that the current senior leadership of Royal Mail have been treating employees, union representatives or future investors with a lack of integrity and transparency.
‘Dramatic errors of judgement have been made, like announcing 10,000 job losses to threaten striking workers, abandoning previous agreements and handing over £567 million to shareholders while neglecting the pay of employees who generated that profit.
‘Many things remain unexplained, like giving up Royal Mail’s household name in favour of ‘International Distributions Services’, refusing the union’s offer to escalate negotiations and ignoring the unrivalled network of Royal Mail Group to create new financial opportunities.
‘We firmly believe these reckless decisions have been informed by power struggles in the boardroom, in the full knowledge of a potential future takeover bid – backed up by the government’s green-lighting of VESA to increase their shareholding.
‘Postal workers need a deal that works for them, the communities they love and the industry they loyally serve, not one that covers up for CEO and boardroom failures.
‘The CWU – or this country – will never accept Royal Mail becoming another Uber-style gig economy courier.’
