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A long-running series of Royal Mail strikes is continuing into November, with multiple walkouts planned.
Staff represented by the Communication Workers Union (CWU) members announced a total of 19 days of strike action in October and November, some of which have been held already.
However, following a challenge from Royal Mail, all planned strikes were called off for a two-week period at the start of November.
The walkouts are then set to resume, causing further disruption to postal services – here’s everything you need to know.
When is the next postal strike?
The strike cancellations affect all walkouts until Saturday 12 November, when the industrial action is set to recommence.
It means the next full Royal Mail walkout – involving all CWU workers – will go ahead as planned on Monday 28 November.
As part of the current series of dates there have already been full staff strikes on Thursday 13 October, Thursday 20 October and Tuesday 25 October.
A series of smaller Royal Mail strikes have been planned by various groups and teams represented by the union on dates in November and December, and it is these that are affected by the cancellations.
While these are not expected to cause such widespread disruption, the CWU has warned that there will be a knock-on effect on deliveries.
Following the resumption of the walkouts, these less extensive strikes are scheduled to take place on the dates below:
- Processing, distribution, international, collections and admin workers: Tuesday 15, Thursday 24 November and Thursday 1 December
- Delivery workers: Wednesday 16, Friday 25 November and Friday 2 December
- Network workers: Monday 14, Wednesday 23 and Wednesday 30 November
Which planned strikes have been cancelled?
The two-week cessation of strike action was annoucned on Sunday 30 October, and means that the strikes below will be cancelled:
- Processing, distribution, international, collections and admin workers: Thursday 3, Wednesday 9 November
- Delivery workers: Friday 4, Thursday 10 November
- Network workers: Wednesday 2, Tuesday 8 November
The CWU said that the decision to withdraw industrial action came following a letter from Royal Mail’s legal team.
CWU general secretary Dave Ward said: “We recognise the deep frustration felt by many members over this decision.
“But the fact remains that the current direction of Royal Mail doesn’t benefit the company, the community or the country.
“We still need to secure a decent future of this industry, and no attempts to attack our union and our members will change our determination in fighting for that.
“The current focus of the coming days will be negotiations that can hopefully achieve a sensible deal to end this dispute.”
Royal Mail said in a statement: “The Communication Workers Union has announced it has withdrawn planned strike action in the next two weeks (November 2, 3, 4, 8, 9 and 10).
“The CWU has withdrawn strike action following Royal Mail writing to CWU to highlight numerous material concerns with the formal notification of planned rolling strike action.
“Royal Mail and CWU have planned talks at Acas tomorrow, Monday October 31. We will continue to do all we can to keep business, companies and the country connected.”
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Why are Royal Mail workers striking?
When announcing the latest round of planned strikes, Mr Ward said the “signifcant announcement” of strikes “matches the level of anger our members feel” at their treatment.
He added: “The chief executive of Royal Mail Group is treating postal workers as if they are stupid. These are the same people that have kept the country connected and returned Royal Mail Group to record profit.
“Postal workers across the UK now face the fight of their lives to save their jobs and the service they provide to every household and business in the UK.”
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “On September 22, Royal Mail invited CWU to enter into talks through Acas to find a resolution to our dispute on change and pay.
“This evening, rather than responding to our offer of Acas talks, the CWU announced further damaging industrial action, once again taking the path of prolonging disruption over resolution.
“Royal Mail is losing £1m a day and must change faster in response to changing customer demands. We operate in a competitive market, and our customers have choices.
“Further strikes and resistance to transformation by CWU will only make our financial position worse, and threatens the long-term job security of our postmen and women.”
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