Royal Mail workers vote to go on strike over pay

One of the inevitable results of the strike is that you will not receive the post they are expecting on the days affected by the industrial action. The CWU said plans include delaying the arrival of post to members of the public by three hours, cuts in workers’ sick pay and inferior terms for new employees. The union accuses Royal Mail of planning structural change which would effectively see employees in secure, well-paid jobs turned into a “casualised, financially precarious workforce overnight”. Ward said the union would give the company “another opportunity to come back to the negotiating table” but if a deal could not be reached, the CWU would notify Royal Mail of industrial action. About 115,000 members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) were balloted and voted 96.7% in favour of strikes, on a turnout of 77%. The result of the ballot was announced by the union’s general secretary, Dave Ward, and its deputy general secretary, Terry Pullinger, at the York Barbican, where about 300 CWU members were gathered.

  1. In fact, the passport office has admitted that around 10% of travellers  ‒ which equates to around 55,000 people ‒ are having to wait even longer for their passports.
  2. “Royal Mail is losing £1m a day and must change faster in response to changing customer demands.
  3. Our people need the CWU leadership to recognise the reality of the situation Royal Mail faces as a business, and to engage urgently on the changes required to adapt to customer demands in a highly competitive market.
  4. Fears are growing that teachers, nurses and other NHS workers could add to the strike action after being balloted by their unions over underinflation pay rises.

On Wednesday 115,000 Royal Mail workers were on strike while 40,000 BT and Openreach workers stayed out, in action that began on Tuesday. The union has been told a 3.5% is available subject to further talks and agreements, which would total a 5.5% rise. “Despite nearly three months of talks, the CWU have not engaged in any meaningful discussion on the changes we need to make to adapt,” a statement added. “While bosses rake in £758m in profit and shareholders take £400m, workers are expected to take a serious real-terms pay cut,” he added.

This is part of a long-running dispute between unions, rail firms, the government and Network Rail over pay, job cuts and changes to terms and conditions. The rate at which prices are rising, known as inflation, is running at nearly 11%, which remains close to a 40-year high. In May 2022, Royal Mail announced they had turned a profit of £758m that business year. Although this was a £56m rise from the year before, it was below analysts’ average forecast of £771m and the company has announced it is losing £1m a day. The CWU has accused Royal Mail of planning structural change, which it has said will see cuts to workers’ sick pay, delayed arrival of post by three hours and inferior terms for new employees. More recently, Royal Mail has offered a pay deal which it says is worth up to 9% over 18 months.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) confirmed the strike action would not go ahead. Chairman Keith Williams has said that the firm is losing £1m a day as parcel volumes fall and efforts to modernise the business stall. The delivery of travel money and Travel Money Cards ordered online will be delayed. This https://bigbostrade.com/ will apply whether you have opted for your travel money to be delivered to your home address or to a nominated branch. Collections of mail by Royal Mail and ParcelForce Worldwide from our post office branches will be disrupted. This means we are unable to advise on the length of delay you might experience.

Inside the Tory fight to replace Sunak: From Mordaunt’s letters to Truss’s dinners

“Postal workers across the UK now face the fight of their lives to save their jobs and the service they provide to every household and business in the UK. The strike action will be taken by all workers on 13, 20, and 25 October, and 28 November. Royal Mail has also promised to “prioritise the delivery of Covid test kits and medical prescriptions wherever possible” platforme de trading when strikes are taking place, alongside other Tracked24 parcels. Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) walked out on a 48-hour strike on Friday, hitting post deliveries across the country. The company welcomed the cancellation of the planned February strike, intending “to use this time and space for further discussions to try to agree a deal”.

Explore more offers.

A further 2% of salary would be available in a productivity bonus, the firm said. Thousands of postal workers have walked out in a second day of action, joining telecoms workers, who are are also out on strike, as unions push for higher wage rises for their members. But a spokesman for the CWU said that Royal Mail has offered workers a 3% pay rise this year, 3% next year as well as an additional 2% if employees agree to “the absolute destruction” of terms and conditions. While the pay deal – which was reached after workers staged 18 days of strike action – will cost about £600m, IDS said it would largely be covered by cost cuts over the next two years.

When are the rest of the Royal Mail strikes in 2022?

This means major disruption to postal services is inevitable on the full strike dates, with “some disruption” likely on the days of partial action. Royal Mail mounted picket lines outside delivery and sorting offices again on Saturday in a continuing dispute over pay and conditions. The union has announced 19 days of strike action in the buildup to the busy Christmas period. The industrial action will cover peak periods such as Black Friday on 25 November and Cyber Monday on 28 November. The UK has been hit by a wave of industrial action this summer, reflecting worker dissatisfaction at pay rises that are failing to keep up with rising inflation.

Some branches may not be able to accept mail on days of industrial action if they reach their acceptance capacity. “We call on the CWU leaders to cancel their planned strike action and accept our invitation to enter talks through Acas without further delay. The trade union Aslef has also announced a strike by train drivers at 12 train companies, on Thursday 15th September over pay. More than 115,000 Royal Mail workers have voted to go on strike in a dispute over pay. Reducing delivery to just three days a week would save the Royal Mail up to 650 million pounds ($830 million) a year, the report found. Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Belgium have reduced the frequency of delivery or extended delivery times for letters in recent years, Ofcom said.

Royal Mail staff vote to strike in pay dispute

Refuse workers and rail workers have walked out, and NHS workers and teachers are also discussing strike action this autumn in protest over salary offers. They work for nine train companies – including TransPennine Express and West Midlands Trains, who voted for strike action last week – and for Network Rail. But Royal Mail’s chief executive Simon Thompson told the BBC that despite an increase in business during the pandemic, the company was now losing £1m a day. Royal Mail said it had offered workers a “deal worth up to 5.5% for CWU grade colleagues, the biggest increase we have offered for many years, which the CWU rejected”.

Royal Mail workers are to hold 19 days of strike action over pay and terms and conditions during the peak postal build-up to Christmas. Industrial action will threaten the job security of postal workers, said Royal Mail, calling on the leaders of CWU to cancel the walk-out and accept invitations for talks. “The public and businesses also face the end of daily deliveries and destruction of the special relationship that postal workers and the public have in every community in the UK. Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) at the Royal Mail said they were striking after rejecting a pay rise of 2%, and called on Royal Mail to offer an increase that “covers the current cost of living”. The union said postal workers “will not budge” until they receive a “dignified, proper pay rise”.

Unite and Unison, the UK’s largest unions have said they will seek to co-ordinate strike action this autumn to try to secure better pay deals. Around 5,000 members of the TSSA union that represents transport staff, have said they will strike on 26 and 27 September in an ongoing dispute over their pay and conditions. Around 115,000 Royal Mail employees will launch four days of industrial action on Friday 26th August and Wednesday 31st, and again on Thursday September 8th and Friday 9th – the first walk out of its kind since 2009. The first Royal Mail strike in over a decade will bring the postal service to a standstill in less than two weeks time, jeopardising medical deliveries and potentially isolating the elderly. The CWU said that in real terms, the offer was equivalent to a 2% increase, with workers squeezed by inflation and the cost of living crisis. At the time, Mr Ward said the union’s leaders did not believe more strikes were the right thing to do but there might come a time when more industrial action is called.

Holidaymakers are already facing extraordinary delays in getting passports sorted at the moment ‒ usually the process takes around three weeks, yet at the moment travellers are facing waits of around ten weeks. In fact, the passport office has admitted that around 10% of travellers  ‒ which equates to around 55,000 people ‒ are having to wait even longer for their passports. “We offered a deal worth up to 5.5% for CWU grade colleagues, the biggest increase we have offered for many years, which the CWU rejected. We can only fund this offer by making the changes that will pay for it and ensure Royal Mail can grow and remain competitive in a fast-moving industry.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.