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 https://www.day-trading.info/ York Barbican, where about 300 CWU members were gathered. The union has said the strikes are partly about the « Uberisation » of the postal service, including « widespread changes… introducing Uber-style owner-drivers, mail centre closures and changes to Sunday working ».
This is the sixth strike for postal workers, and comes after a summer of unrest which saw rail workers and criminal barristers walk out amid disputes with their employers. Royal Mail workers are holding the first of 19 strikes in a long-running dispute over pay and conditions. In October 2022, Royal Mail announced plans to cut 10,000 jobs by next August, blaming ongoing strike action and rising losses at the business.
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. After talks between the two sides ended, Royal Mail announced it would give CWU members a 2% pay increase backdated to 1 April, and offered a further a 3.5% – subject to further talks and agreements – totalling a 5.5% rise. « It is proof that postal workers will not accept their livelihoods being destroyed so that a few at the top can generate serious profits at their expense. » https://www.forexbox.info/ “The CWU leadership’s choice of damaging strike action over resolution is weakening the financial position of the company and threatening the job security of our postmen and women. To applause from members, Ward said Royal Mail workers “need to see a pay rise now that reflects … that they have turned the fortunes of the company around, and the cost of living crisis”. 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.
How much are Royal Mail workers paid?
Another example of a workforce being led, lemming-like, over the edge of an employment cliffs by their trade union’s dinasaur leader in ANOTHER POLITICALLY MOTIVATED STRIKE designed to bash the Tories. It comes after the Communication Workers’ Union and Royal Mail failed to reach an agreement over pay and conditions in the face of soaring inflation. But the strike will leave millions of households without important letters, parcels and prescriptions. 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.
He said the union was not opposed to modernisation, “but modernisation seems to be about workers having to work harder and faster for less pay”. But the rail industry was hit by a drop-off in passenger numbers during the Covid pandemic, and it’s under pressure to save money. Bosses say reforms need to be agreed, to afford pay increases and modernise the railway.
Some parcel companies claim the walkouts are having a knock-on effect, and forcing them to delay next-day deliveries as people and firms seek alternative ways to send their post. It says strikes have added £100m to its losses, and has announced plans to cut up to 10,000 jobs. The company says it is losing about £1m a day, and cannot afford to give its workers a higher pay rise. In those that do open, you may not https://www.forex-world.net/ be able to post letters and parcels as you usually would, but other services such as bill payments and banking should run as normal. It is the first of four days of industrial action, with walk-outs also taking place on 31 August as well as 8 and 9 September. This would effectively see employees in secure, well-paid jobs turned into a « casualised, financially-precarious workforce overnight », said the union.
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Postal workers will not take planned industrial action on 16 February, after it was blocked by a legal challenge from Royal Mail. In addition to rejecting the pay offer, the CWU objects to proposed changes to working conditions, such as ending a number of allowances and the introduction of compulsory Sunday working. Network Rail wants to cut 1,900 jobs as part of changes to the way its maintenance teams work – although it insists most of this could be achieved by people leaving voluntarily. A spokesman for Royal Mail said the company had made a « best and final pay offer worth up to 9% over 18 months ». 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 ».
Royal Mail workers have already staged industrial action over the past few months, and it looks like disruption is set to continue with more strike days announced. Postal workers have launched a 24-hour strike in a long-running dispute over pay and conditions, with industrial action planned for the coming weeks. The cost of living crisis is partly to blame, and Royal Mail is no stranger to this, after last April saw stamps go up in price – and at the same time some stamps are expiring – thanks to inflation. But now the postal service is facing a fresh challenge as thousands of its workers have voted for strike action. Here’s everything we know so far, including when is Royal Mail on strike and whether Post Offices will be open. The CWU said management intended to impose a 2% pay rise that would be a “serious real-terms wage cut” for postal workers because of soaring inflation.
The Post Office is a separate business and post offices are expected to open, although some have closed during previous strikes. About 115,000 workers had been expected to walk out as part of a long-running dispute over pay and conditions. The CWU said the plans included delaying the arrival of post to the public by three hours, cuts in workers’ sick pay and inferior terms for new employees. The planned 19 days of industrial action include Black Friday week and Cyber Monday, as well as 13, 20, and 25 October, and 28 November.
- It also objects to proposed changes to working conditions, such as ending a number of allowances and the introduction of compulsory Sunday working.
- More recently, Royal Mail has offered a pay deal which it says is worth up to 9% over 18 months.
- Royal Mail workers have already staged industrial action over the past few months, and it looks like disruption is set to continue with more strike days announced.
- Chairman Keith Williams has said that the firm is losing £1m a day as parcel volumes fall and efforts to modernise the business stall.
- General Secretary Mr Ward said the changes could lead to the « destruction of the special relationship that postal workers and the public have in every community in the UK ».
Postal worker walkouts coincide with the busiest time of year for Royal Mail when people and businesses are sending Christmas cards and presents. The company says it has improved its offer to workers, including more generous redundancy terms and a profit-sharing scheme. The Communication Workers Union (CWU) confirmed the strike action would not go ahead. Postal worker Hannah Carrol, who is part a strike at Whitechapel in East London, said she wanted to see wages rise in line with the growing cost of living.
When is the next Royal Mail strike?
Royal Mail workers walked out again on Wednesday, marking the third of six strike days across the festive season. Royal Mail is moving from its traditional business of delivering letters – which is no longer profitable – to the fast-growing world of parcel deliveries, driven by the increasing popularity of online shopping. It also objects to proposed changes to working conditions, such as ending a number of allowances and the introduction of compulsory Sunday working. The timescale commitment offered on Special Delivery Guaranteed items will be suspended the day before any strike. Staff will no longer strike on Thursday, 16 February, after Royal Mail challenged the way the industrial action had been called, citing a « legal error ».
Royal Mail said this was its its « best and final offer », and accused the union of « holding Christmas to ransom ».
Royal Mail strike dates: Full list of post services facing delays
“Despite nearly three months of talks, the CWU have not engaged in any meaningful discussion on the changes we need to make to adapt. The government’s emergency Cobra committee will hold its second meeting of the week later to discuss how to minimise the impact of the wave of industrial action. Around half of rail lines are shut again on Wednesday, with no services at all in most of Scotland and Wales. Pip Haywood, managing director of online card company Thortful, has calculated that each day of action is costing the firm up to £50,000 a day. Watch Make Sense of Strikes on iPlayer and find out more about why people are striking and whether industrial action works.
“It is insulting the intelligence of every postal worker for the Royal Mail chief executive, Simon Thompson, to claim that their change agenda is ‘modernisation’. “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. Royal Mail said it had awarded workers a non-conditional 2% pay increase backdated to 1 April, and told the CWU that a further 3.5% was available, subject to agreement on a series of changes and a new “above and beyond” bonus. « It’s meant we’ve had to staff up to protect our customers, » she told the BBC, with three times as many requests for advice on delivery windows from shoppers than usual.
