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ROYAL Mail workers are on strike in Hampshire as they seek a better deal from the company.
Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) gathered outside the Winchester Delivery Office in Winnall on Friday, November 25 for the second day of action.
The strike is part of a nationwide disagreement after the union rejected what Royal Mail says is a ‘final’ pay offer.
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Steward Hardie, deputy area delivery rep for Wessex South Central, said the issue was more than just pay.
He said: “We’ve obviously pinpointed the days we can take industrial action and yes this weekend would’ve been picked because it falls within Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
“People seem to be of the misconception that we’re being paid some sort of strike fund, we get paid nothing, we get paid zero.
“We’re taking this action because there’s been a massive attack on our terms and conditions. For me, it’s far from money.
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“It’s about the attacks on the terms and conditions such as starting later in the day.
“I’ve given more than 30 years to this company to be mistreated and manhandled out. If we stop now and roll over, the Royal Mail as you know it and as I know it won’t exist.”
The CWU says its Royal Mail members have had an unagreed two per cent pay deal imposed on them at a time when RPI inflation is running at 11.8 per cent and when Royal Mail has announced group profits of £758m.
In a national strike ballot over pay, its Royal Mail members voted by a 97.6 per cent majority to take action.
Royal Mail said it had made an offer to the CWU that included an enhanced pay deal of up to nine per cent over 18 months, a new profit-share scheme for employees and better voluntary redundancy terms, and that was its final offer.
Royal Mail reported a £219m loss in the six months to September, and a request to stop delivering letters on Saturdays, which it says would help offset its losses, was rejected by the government.
Simon Thompson, Royal Mail’s chief executive, told the Guardian that talks had gone on for seven months.
He added: “The strikes have already added £100m to Royal Mail’s losses so far this year. In a materially loss-making company, with every additional day of strike action we are facing the difficult choice of whether we spend our money on pay and protecting jobs, or on the cost of strikes.”
Royal Mail workers who are members of the CWU will be taking industrial action again throughout December, including Christmas Eve.
Pickets lines were in place across Hampshire, including Romsey and Southampton.
Dates of strike action include Wednesday, November 30, Thursday, December 1, Friday, December 9, Sunday, December 11, Wednesday, December 14, Thursday, December 15, Friday, December 23 and Saturday, December 24.
Also striking on the same day were university staff, who had a picket line outside the University of Winchester.
Rail workers have already held numerous days of strike action so far this year, with nurses potentially also striking next month.
