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115,000 employees will go on strike on Thursday (November 24) and on Black Friday (November 25) in a dispute over pay and working conditions.
The longstanding dispute with the Royal Mail Group’s CEO Simon Thompson saw postal workers vote unanimously for a no confidence measure in Mr. Thompson as thousands of workplace gate meetings occurred this week.
READ MORE: RMT Strikes: Union announces series of strikes in December and January
READ MORE: Royal Mail announces six new strike dates for December
Today (November 23), the CWU criticised Royal Mail proposals as “turning [the] Royal Mail into a gig economy-style parcel courier, reliant on casual labour.”
The major trade union also accused the company of forcing “thousands of inevitable compulsory redundancies” and said it wanted the CWU to stop formal “supports [for] workers who have submitted employment tribunals for unlawful pay deductions during strikes.”
The CWU also rejected the Royal Mail’s pay increase of 3.5% amid soaring inflation which has reached above 10%.
A message to the public from a Postie: ‘For 500 years we’ve been there for you, now we need you to be there for us.’#StandByYourPost pic.twitter.com/2n5W3Veson
— The CWU (@CWUnews) November 22, 2022
In a statement, the CWU’s General Secretary, Dave Ward, said: “We are disappointed that instead of reaching a compromise to avoid major disruption, Royal Mail have chosen to pursue such an aggressive strategy.
“We will not accept that 115,000 Royal Mail workers – the people who kept us connected during the pandemic, and made millions in profit for bosses and shareholders – take such a devastating blow to their livelihoods.
“These proposals spell the end of Royal Mail as we know it, and its degradation from a national institution into an unreliable, Uber-style gig economy company.
“Make no mistake about it: British postal workers are facing an Armageddon moment.
“We urge every member of the public to stand with their postie, and back them like never before.”
In response to the strikes, the Royal Mail said: “We’re urging CWU leadership to accept the change and pay offer, call off future damaging strike action, for the good of our customers and our people.
“We apologise to our customers for the inconvenience the CWU’s continued strike action will cause. We are doing all we can to minimise delays and keep people, businesses and the country connected.”
When are the Royal Mail strikes taking place?
The November and December strikes are set to take place on November 24, Black Friday (November 25), November 30, December 1, 9, 11, 14, 15, and 23, and on Christmas Eve (December 24).
