Royal Mail strikes: How they will affect your letters and parcels and what services are open

They argued that the business was losing customer confidence because of the continuing dispute and risked becoming increasingly uncompetitive as it already paid its staff up to 40% more than cheaper rivals. As the CWU union secures a fresh strike mandate from its members, a company source tells Sky News there will be no improved pay offer as the demands are becoming increasingly unaffordable. “After industrial action takes place, we’ll be increasing our network capacity and using additional resources to assist with getting services back to normal.

Royal Mail fires warning shot over jobs and pay as union secures new strike mandate

Thousands of postal workers have walked out in a second day of action, joining telecoms workers, who are are also out on strike, as unions push for higher wage rises for their members. Royal Mail said it has offered workers a 5.5% pay deal, comprising 2%, paid in June and backdated to April 2022, with a further 1.5% to be paid from the date upon which reforms are implemented. Royal Mail said it wanted to discuss varying working hours and days with the union.

1. This will include “accelerating” the delivery of NHS and healthcare letters together with “critical Government mailings”.
2. Lucy Bryant, who runs her small business Haus of Lucy from Brighton, says she supports the strikers as “everyone has a right to fair pay”.
3. As the CWU union secures a fresh strike mandate from its members, a company source tells Sky News there will be no improved pay offer as the demands are becoming increasingly unaffordable.
4. They also said there was “no grounds for industrial action” and accused Unite of putting out misleading claims over additional job losses to members.

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Talks between the two sides were held on Thursday but there was no sign progress and the union is planning to step up industrial action in the coming weeks. The company has pointed to research by the industry regulator suggesting only minimum disruption for households and businesses should it no longer have to deliver letters on a Saturday. The company has previously said that 18 dates of strikes to date, including over the crucial Christmas season, had cost it £200m.

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The planned 19 days of industrial action include Black Friday week and Cyber Monday, as well as 13, 20, and 25 October, and 28 November. Catriona Smith is a content and marketing professional with 12 years’ experience across the financial services, higher education, and insurance sectors. As a Senior Copywriter at Simply Business, Catriona has in-depth knowledge of small business concerns and specialises in tax, marketing, which day is slap day and business operations. Catriona lives in the seaside city of Brighton where she’s also a freelance yoga teacher. This latest industrial action follows earlier walkouts in August and September, and has impacted peak shopping days such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Evri, the delivery company formerly known as Hermes, said that severe weather, Royal Mail strikes and staff shortages are causing “some localised delays”.

For the past year there has been a row over workers’ pay, jobs and conditions. The CWU’s executive will meet next week to consider the deal, which if accepted, will then be voted on by union members. Businesses using alternative courier services to ship their products won’t face any disruption as a result of the Royal Mail strike. Royal Mail workers have held a series of strikes in recent weeks during the busy lead up to Christmas. And on Friday, rail workers, buses, baggage handlers, highway workers and driving examiners will walk out.

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Staff will no longer strike on Thursday, 16 February, after Royal Mail challenged the way the industrial action had been called, citing a “legal error”. Julie Macken, co-founder of natural skincare firm Neve’s Bees, told the BBC the prospects of more strike action “makes me really scared actually”. The businesses needed to pivot from a focus on delivering letters into a business focused on the parcels market, he said. “After industrial action takes place, we’ll be increasing our network capacity and using additional resources to assist with getting services back to normal,” says Royal Mail. However, given the close proximity to the other strikes and a build-up of delayed mail, disruption is still very likely and people are advised to post items well in advance if possible. These walkouts are currently set to only involve delivery workers, so collections from postboxes and Post Offices should take place.

Waste and refuse workers are set to walk out for nine days during August in 14 council areas. Around 5,000 members of the TSSA union that represents transport staff, have said they will strike on 26 and 27 September in an ongoing dispute over their pay and conditions. The trade union Aslef has also announced a strike by train drivers at 12 train companies, on Thursday 15th September over pay. Royal Mail says it’s “doing what we can” to keep services running but customers are warned of “significant disruption”.

More recently, Royal Mail has offered a pay deal which it says is worth up to 9% over 18 months. “It is proof that postal workers will not accept their livelihoods being destroyed so that a few at the top can generate serious profits at their expense.” With most of Royal Mail’s 140,000 staff affected, the walkouts are expected to cripple the postal service and result in the majority of post going undelivered.

Shares were sold to financial institutions and private individuals, with 10% reserved for Royal Mail employees. On 24 November, Royal Mail said it had made its “best and final offer”, and accused the union of “holding Christmas to ransom”. International Distributions Services, which is the parent company of Royal Mail, saw its share price tumble by 6.75% to 195p on Friday following the announcement. Royal Mail says it has “well-developed contingency plans” but “cannot fully replace the daily efforts of our frontline workforce”. The spokesperson said Royal Mail had invited CWU to discussions through dispute resolution service Acas on 22 September.

“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. “Postal workers won’t accept their living standards being hammered by bosses who are typical of business leaders today – overpaid, underqualified, out of their depth.” “While bosses rake in £758m in profit and shareholders https://www.1investing.in/ take £400m, workers are expected to take a serious real-terms pay cut,” he added. The union has demanded Royal Mail group enters into negotiations to secure a “straight, no-strings pay increase for workers”. This would effectively see employees in secure, well-paid jobs turned into a “casualised, financially-precarious workforce overnight”, said the union.