U.K.’s Royal Mail workers to strike right before Christmas in dispute over pay: union – National

Postal workers at Britain’s Royal Mail will strike for six days in the run-up to the busy Christmas period in an ongoing dispute over pay and conditions, their union said on Thursday.

The workers will strike on Dec. 23 and 24, in addition to Dec. 9, 11, 14 and 15, the Communication Workers Union (CWU), which represents more than 115,000 postal workers at Royal Mail, said in a statement.

The strikes are in addition to walkouts scheduled for three days later this month and on Dec. 1.

“The CWU want a negotiated settlement with Royal Mail Group and will continue to engage the company to that end,” a spokesperson said. “But those in charge of Royal Mail need to wake up and realize we won’t allow them to destroy the livelihoods of postal workers.”

News of the fresh strikes comes a day after Royal Mail said talks with the union aimed at averting a strike had been extended.

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Royal Mail, the British arm of International Distribution Services IDSI.L, has been locked in a bitter dispute with the CWU over pay and job conditions, leading to several days of strikes this year.

It did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the new strikes.

(Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Nick Macfie)