POSTAL workers have announced a series of 48-hour strikes to fall on Black Friday and after Tech Monday, as workers will also hold a vote of no confidence in Royal Mail CEO Simon Thompson.
The Communication Workers Union (CWU) – the union for Royal Mail workers – has announced that workers will be striking on Thursday 24th November and Friday 25th November – known as Black Friday, the biggest shopping day in the calendar.
Workers will also strike on Wednesday 30th November and Thursday 1st December – just two days after Cyber Monday, one of the busiest online shopping days.
Furthermore, the CWU’s postal executive is meeting today to discuss new actions in the Christmas build-up.
The union will hold a vote among members to reject the deal Royal Mail attempted to place in front of employees on Monday, as well as over whether workers have confidence in Simon Thompson.
The deal, which offered a derisory 7% two-year pay offer – a dramatic real-terms pay cut – and widespread changes over introducing Uber-style owner-drivers, mail centre closures and changes to Sunday working, has prompted widespread outrage from workers.
CWU General Secretary Dave Ward said: ‘Posties are in the fight of their lives against the Uberisation of Royal Mail and the destruction of their conditions.
‘But 115,000 of our members will not just accept this war on their livelihoods and their industry.
‘They will never give up the fight to protect this industry and to protect their hard-won working conditions.
‘Simon Thompson has to either accept that or walk away – until he does one or the other, serious disruption will continue.’
CWU Acting Deputy General Secretary Andy Furey said: ‘Simon Thompson’s plan is evident – they want to destroy this company as we know it. They want outsourcing, casualisation, the decimation of working practices and pay.
‘But so many of our members have given their entire working lives to building this company. They deserve a much better deal than what is on offer, and Simon Thompson is on another planet if he thinks we’ll stop fighting to achieve that.’
