Royal Mail strike dates 2022: when CMU members are striking

Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) are involved in a long running dispute over pay and conditions. A series of strikes have taken place in recent weeks and more action had been planned in the run-up to Christmas.

The union said it had decided to withdraw industrial action notices over the next fortnight following a letter from Royal Mail’s legal team,

It comes after postal workers walked out on 20 October in the first of a series of strikes taking place from October to December, including the busy pre-Christmas period which includes Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Strike action is set to continue on several days in the coming weeks, following on from previous walkouts in August, September and early October, and Royal Mail has warned that service could be disrupted and said it is doing “all we can to minimise any delays”.

The walkouts follow a recent ballot for strike action which saw around 115,000 of CWU members vote to take action to fight for a “dignified, proper pay rise”.

The CMU said that following a letter from Royal Mail’s legal team, it has decided to withdraw industrial action notices over the next fortnight. It means that planned industrial action on 2, 3, 4, 8, 9 and 10 November will not go ahead, but strikes will resume on Saturday 12 November.

CWU general secretary Dave Ward said: “We recognise the deep frustration felt by many members over this decision. But the fact remains that the current direction of Royal Mail doesn’t benefit the company, the community or the country.

“We still need to secure a decent future of this industry, and no attempts to attack our union and our members will change our determination in fighting for that. The current focus of the coming days will be negotiations that can hopefully achieve a sensible deal to end this dispute. In the meantime, I appeal to our members to stand by their union – stay strong and don’t be provoked.”

Royal Mail said in a statement: “The Communication Workers Union has announced it has withdrawn planned strike action in the next two weeks (November 2, 3, 4, 8, 9 and 10).

“The CWU has withdrawn strike action following Royal Mail writing to CWU to highlight numerous material concerns with the formal notification of planned rolling strike action.

“Royal Mail and CWU have planned talks at Acas tomorrow, Monday October 31. We will continue to do all we can to keep business, companies and the country connected.”

The full list of strike dates in November and December is as follows:

Workers who collect, sort and deliver parcels and letters:

Processing, distribution, international, collection and admin:

Royal Mail has said on days when national strike action is taking place it will deliver as many Special Delivery and Tracked24 parcels as possible, and prioritise the delivery of Covid test kits and medical prescriptions. The postal service will not be delivering letters on these days, with the exception of Special Delivery.

It is recommended that people post items as early as possible in advance of the strike dates, but collections will be less frequent on days when strike action is taking place.

The CMU is striking over a long-running dispute over pay and conditions and has accused the postal service of planning structural change, which would effectively see employees in secure, well-paid jobs turned into a “casualised, financially precarious workforce overnight”.

The union 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 CWU accused Royal Mail chief executive Simon Thompson of side-stepping talks aimed at avoiding strike action and said in recent weeks, relations between worker and employer have deteriorated, with Royal Mail serving legal notice that it was withdrawing from existing agreements with the union, as well as threatening to cut 10,000 jobs following strike action last week.

CWU general secretary Dave Ward said: “Instead of sitting down and sorting out his problems like an adult, Simon Thompson chose to be a vanishing act instead. When someone like him earns £62,750 a month and can give himself six-figure bonuses, it is a disgrace that he sees it fit to disrespect our members in such a way.

“Simon can’t dodge the reality that a mood of rebellion is sweeping postal workers who won’t accept Thompson’s hostile and bizarre behaviour. Postal workers go above and beyond every day and they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. We won’t be backing down until we get just that.”

Royal Mail said the CWU’s statement on Simon Thompson’s salary was incorrect, pointing out the correct figure was £525,000.