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Royal Mail workers have confirmed two days of strike action before Christmas sparking more postal chaos fears.
The strikes look set to end any hopes of huge amounts of Christmas post being delivered in the period and will be the 17th and 18th days of action in an increasingly bitter dispute. An offer extended to the company to suspend the strikes and establish a period of calm from now until the January 16, 2023, was rejected almost immediately, according to the Communication Workers Union (CWU).
This included a deal between the union and the company to both sign a Joint Statement incorporating Royal Mail’s latest promise of no. compulsory redundancies. As reported by the Mirror, the management’s rejection of any talks falls on the eve of National Postal Workers Day – December 21 – an annual event which celebrates the role that posties play in British life – and following a recent boast that Royal Mail bosses have amassed a £1.7 billion ‘war chest’ to destroy postal workers’ livelihoods.
CWU General Secretary Dave Ward said: “For Royal Mail Group to reject our offer just hours after receiving it demonstrates that they were never serious about saving Christmas for customers and businesses. When a company openly boasts of having built a £1.7 billion fund to crush its own workers rather than use that money to settle the dispute and restore the service, then you know dark forces are clearly at work.
“Their sole intention is to destroy the jobs of postal workers and remove their union from the workplace. Our members will not stand for this, and further action will take place in 2023.
“Our message to the public and businesses is that postal workers do not want to be here, but they are facing an aggressive, reckless and out-of-control CEO committed to wrecking their livelihoods.”
Last week images showed mountains of post pile up outdoors in midwinter as Royal Mail centres fill up after a strikes backlog. Pictures showed cages full of undelivered post outside two mail centres this week – before today’s fresh walkout by 115,000 posties even began.
(Image: CWU)
Royal Mail insisted the scenes were “typical for this time of year” and letters are only left outdoors for short periods when it is safe, hygienic and dry. The firm believes the photos, shared by the Communication Workers Union, were taken just as trucks were unloaded and cages were ready to be moved indoors.
But a union source branded this “rubbish” insisting the scenes were “chaos” and “highly unusual”. They added the post was “out in the car park because there was no room in the building”.
The source suggested deliveries were about a week behind schedule, adding: “Royal Mail are deluded.”
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