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Even in an age of smartphones and emails, physical post is still part of everyday life.
Many of us will get bills, mail from HMRC, magazine subscriptions, written notes from loved ones, or even medical appointment notices through the letterbox – in addition to getting parcels.
Alas, Royal Mail is set to be affected by strike action in the very near future, as many industries have been this summer.
Thousands of workers are taking industrial action over several days due to a a pay dispute, and it could indeed affect your post, so it’s certainly useful to know when it’s all happening.
Here are the dates, and what else you need to know.
When is the Royal Mail strike?
The Royal Mail strike is set to happen in August and September, on the following days:
- Friday, August 26
- Wednesday, August 31
- Thursday, September 8
- Friday, September 9.
Around 115,000 workers, who are members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), are expected to walk out.
The dispute between Royal Mail and the CWU has raged on for months – with Royal Mail offering workers a 2% uplift backdated to April 2022, along with a further 3.5%, subject to a series of changes.
However, the CWU rejected the offer, calling it a ‘dramatic reduction’ given the cost of living crisis and rising inflation.
Dave Ward, CWU general secretary, said: ‘Nobody takes the decision to strike lightly, but postal workers are being pushed to the brink.
‘There can be no doubt that postal workers are completely united in their determination to secure the dignified, proper pay rise they deserve… the CWU’s message to Royal Mail’s leadership is simple – there will be serious disruption until you get real on pay.’
For its part, Royal Mail said the business was losing money – and could only agree to pay more if changes were made.
Operations development director for Royal Mail, Ricky McAulay, said: ‘The CWU rejected our offer worth up to 5.5% for CWU grade colleagues, the biggest increase we have offered for many years.
‘In a business that is currently losing £1 million a day, we can only fund this offer by agreeing the changes that will pay for it.’
More: Strikes
But CWU Scottish secretary, Craig Anderson, said the changes wanted were actually ‘signing away terms and conditions’.
He told BBC Good Morning Scotland: ‘They’ve imposed a 2% pay award without agreement.
‘They offered another 1.5% based on signing away terms and conditions, and a further £500 as a bonus for having targets that they knew weren’t achievable. So there was never a 5.5% pay offer put on the table.’
As for whether you’ll get your mail on these days, Royal Mail has promised to try and ‘minimise disruption’.
It will prioritise the delivery of medications and Covid tests, as well aim to get Special Delivery and Tracked24 parcels out as soon as possible – but if you’ve got something urgent to send, perhaps it’s best to get it sent earlier to avoid unwanted delays.
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