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A DEFIANT union boss says members are not willing to watch a 500-year-old institution be destroyed as masses walked out in a day of action.
Postal workers joined telecoms employees on the picket line in Colchester on Wednesday and are expected to return next week as unions push for higher wage rises for their members.
The postal worker strikes will disrupt the delivery of packages and letters as 115,000 Royal Mail workers campaigned on Wednesday while 40,000 BT and Openreach employees stayed out after action began on Tuesday.
Royal Mail staff are planning further strike action on Thursday and Friday, with picket lines expected to be seen outside Colchester’s Royal Mail delivery office once more.
PIcket line – campaigners outside Royal Mail’s office in Colchester
Paul Moffat, eastern regional secretary at the Communication Workers Union, told the Gazette members were striking having rejected a “poor” two per cent pay rise.
The union boss called on Royal Mail to deliver an increase which will help “deal with the current cost of living”.
The median pay at Royal Mail is £32,465 a year, with the average pay for a postal delivery worker coming in lower at £25,777, figures reveal.
“There’s a crisis in workers’ pay and in their conditions. Silence in the face of such injustice is not on for us,” said Mr Moffat.
Union – Colchester and District branch secretary Clare Wilkes at the site
“Everyone is gearing up, it’s not just strikers striking for themselves, they’re taking action for the future of this country.
“We are not prepared to let the bosses destroy a 500-year-old business and take our members with it.
“This is not a case of us wanting to get our own way, we are prepared to sit down and talk.
“It’s about making sure workers have good enough conditions to work in and a good pay to deal with the cost of living.”
Visible – the picket line
Royal Mail has claimed the company is losing £1 million a day despite a hike in business during the Covid pandemic.
It stated it has offered workers a 5.5 per cent pay deal, comprising 2 per cent, paid in June and backdated to April this year.
The company added it wants to open talks with the union to “prevent significant inconvenience for customers”.
