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Staff at Royal Mail will be taking part in industrial action for several days next month.
Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) have staged strikes amid long-running disputes over low pay and working conditions.
There are 19 days of industrial action planned in total, which are likely to affect Black Friday and Christmas deliveries.
It’s estimated that around 110,000 staff will take part in the next round of walk-outs, which were originally postponed due to the death of the Queen.
Here’s everything you need to know about the next Royal Mail strike and how it’ll affect your deliveries.
When is the next Royal Mail strike?
A walk-out is planned for 48 hours on Friday, September 30 and Saturday, October 1.
A statement from Royal Mail says that CWU members who collect, sort and deliver parcels and letters will be taking part.
The delivery company said: “We’re sorry this strike action is likely to cause you some disruption. We will be working to get our services back to normal as quickly as possible. Royal Mail has well-developed contingency plans, but we cannot fully replace the daily efforts of our frontline workforce.
“We’ll be doing what we can to keep services running, but you should expect significant disruption on dates when strike action is taking place.”
Will my post still be delivered?
Royal Mail has confirmed that it will not be delivering letters on the days of the strikes.
However, priority will be given to the delivery of Covid kits and medical prescriptions wherever possible, as well as many Special Delivery and Tracked24 parcels as possible.
The company has also said that there are some things we can do to help minimise the disruption.
These include:
- Post your items as early as possible in advance of the strike dates
- Continue to post your items at Postboxes or Post Offices, however collections will be less frequent on days when strike action is taking place
Full list of Royal Mail strike dates for 2022
Aside from these two dates this week, there are a further 17 days of strike action planned for the rest of the year.
The full list of dates can be found below.
October strike dates
- Thursday 13 October 2022
- Thursday 20 October 2022
- Tuesday 25 October 2022
November strike dates
More dates have also been announced by the CWU for functional strike action, which impacts parts of Royal Mail’s operation on the following:
- Processing, Distribution, International, Collections, Admin: 3, 9, 15, 24 November and 1 December 2022
- Delivery: 4, 10, 16, 25 November and 2 December 2022
- Network: 2, 8, 14, 23, 30 November 2022
Why are Royal Mail staff striking?
The strikes have been planned amid a long-running dispute over low wages and poor working conditions.
The CWU rejected an offer of a 2% uplift backdated to April 2022, as well with a further 3.5%, calling it ‘a dramatic reduction’ thanks to inflation and the rising cost of living.
CWU members voted overwhelmingly to take part in strike action, with a 97.6% majority.
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