Strike action at Royal Mail is now set to escalate due to the latest industrial dispute following a24-hours strike last Friday. A new wave of strikes is expected to begin this Saturday and could
cause week-long delays in deliveries, UK media reported.Up to 12,000 postal workers went on strike on 17 July, the so-called “Day of Action”, inareas including London and parts of Scotland. The industrial action followed another majorthree-days strike that that took place in London ten days ago after Royal Mail had turned down anoffer by the Communication Workers Union (CWU) for a three-month no strike deal.
CWU spokesman Kevin Slocombe said walkouts at London mail centres could lead to significantdelays in deliveries: “There is a hell of a lot of post going in and out of the capital every day.If that is not being sorted, there will be a backlog which could lead to delays of up to a week.”
But Royal Mail played down concerns about delays in mail delivery. The company’s spokesmansaid that only 20 out of 1,600 Royal Mail offices nationwide were affected while the network ofPost Office branches was not affected and opened as usual.
Royal Mail confirmed last Friday: “Despite local strike action called by the CommunicationWorkers Union, almost all mail services outside London are continuing to operate with more than 90%of employees – around 150,000 – working normally supported by management volunteers. In Londonalone, around 1,200 managers are working to maintain priority delivery and collection services.”
CWU members in London will continue striking for three days on Saturday, 25 July, thefollowing Monday and Tuesday, which is expected to disrupt mail services in London for days.
In a next step, CWU plans to ballot 30,000 workers for industrial action across the countrywith 450 of its branches outside London to be asked to vote in the coming week, according to TheDaily Telegraph.
The union claimed that Royal Mail was cutting salaries and jobs without any agreement andsaid the dispute could turn into a national strike. So far, strikes have taken place around London,Plymouth, Edinburgh, Darlington, Bristol and Stoke but could now spread to eastern England, theSouth West and more areas of Scotland, the national newspaper further reported.
Dave Ward, the CWU deputy general secretary, accused Royal Mail of “endless cuts” to pay andjobs, which he said was affecting services.
Royal Mail, in contrast, condemned CWU for striking over “much-needed” modernisation andchange which it said had already been successfully implemented in offices around the UK.
“There’s nothing modern in cutting jobs and hours and imposing a pay freeze. We need genuinetalks on how to modernise the Royal Mail,” Ward responded. “Our offer of a three month no-strikedeal stands and we hope that Royal Mail will take that up in return for talks on modernisation.”
The two sides have accused each other of breaking the agreement on Pay and Modernisationwhich ended the national postal strike in 2007.
