Royal Mail workers will stage ANOTHER strike later this month

Postal services are set to be massively disrupted even more this month after Royal Mail workers voted to stage a further 48-hour strike later this month.

Around 115,000 Royal Mail staff will go on strike on September 30 in a dispute over pay and conditions, the Communication Workers Union announced.

Postal workers are already due to take industrial action on Thursday and Friday following a similar walkout last month, in one of Britain’s biggest strikes this summer.

‘We have today called a further two days (of strike action) on 30th September and 1st October over attacks on terms and conditions,’ the Communication Workers Union (CWU) said on Twitter.

CWU general secretary Dave Ward (pictured on the picket line) said ‘Postal workers won’t meekly accept their living standards being hammered by greedy business leaders who are completely out of touch with modern Britain’

Postal workers will already be on strike tomorrow and on Friday over the pay dispute (pictured: Royal Mail workers on strike on August 26)

Royal Mail, which has said its business is losing  £1million a day, said on Wednesday strike action had weakened its financial position. The CWU had turned down a request to call off this week’s strikes, it added.

‘The CWU’s approach is setting us on a perilous path,’ it said in a statement.

‘We remain ready to talk with the CWU to try and avert damaging industrial action … But any talks must be about both change and pay. Change is the route to higher pay.’

A range of sectors, from the railways to the courts, have been hit by strikes in recent months as wages fall further behind soaring inflation that topped 10 per cent in July.

Royal Mail said it was working to minimise delays and disruptions to customers during the strikes.

The Communication Workers Union turned down a request to call off this week’s strikes

At the end of last month postal workers took industrial action, which the CWU declared ‘the biggest strike in the UK since 2009’.

CWU general secretary Dave Ward said at the time his members voted in favour of the strike by 97.6 per cent in a ballot, after management ‘imposed’ a 2 per cent pay rise on employees but ‘rewarded themselves with record bonuses’.

He said: ‘There can be no doubt that postal workers are completely united in their determination to secure the dignified, proper pay rise they deserve.

‘We can’t keep on living in a country where bosses rake in billions in profit while their employees are forced to use food banks.

‘Postal workers won’t meekly accept their living standards being hammered by greedy business leaders who are completely out of touch with modern Britain.

‘They are sick of corporate failure getting rewarded again and again.’ 

 Strikers (pictured outside a post office in London) say that a 2 per cent pay rise is insufficient when inflation is at 10.1 per cent

CWU deputy general secretary Terry Pullinger said: ‘Our members worked miracles during the pandemic and know full well what they are worth. They are fighting for a no strings, real-terms pay rise – something they are fully entitled to.

‘Our members deserve a pay rise that rewards their fantastic achievements in keeping the country connected during the pandemic, but also helps them keep up during this current economic crisis. We won’t be backing down until we get just that.’

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: ‘We apologise for the impact the CWU’s industrial action is having on our customers. We are doing all we can to minimise any delays and keep people, businesses and the country connected.

‘This week, after many invitations, the CWU finally agreed to Royal Mail’s request to meet at the most senior level to decide on a way forward on the industrial dispute. Rather than engage on the need for change, the CWU restated their demands to retain the current outdated working practices, which includes working fewer hours for more pay.

‘We are greatly concerned that the CWU are simply not interested in discussing the change needed to modernise this business and protect well-paid, permanent jobs long-term. The CWU declined our request to call off their strike action this Thursday and Friday. The CWU’s approach is setting us on a perilous path.

‘Royal Mail is losing £1million a day and strike action has weakened our financial position. Further strikes will make it weaker still. Without meaningful engagement on the change that is needed from the CWU, the position of the company will worsen and put jobs at risk.

‘We remain ready to talk with the CWU to try and avert damaging industrial action and prevent further inconvenience for customers, but any talks must be about both change and pay. Change is the route to higher pay.’