Firms have warned of the hit to Christmas sales as postal workers squeezed by rising costs fight for higher pay and better conditions. Unite and Unison, the UK’s largest unions have said they will seek to co-ordinate strike action this autumn to try to secure better pay deals. They work for nine train companies – including TransPennine Express and West Midlands Trains, who voted for strike action last week – and for Network Rail. The trade union Aslef has also announced a strike by train drivers at 12 train companies, on Thursday 15th September over pay. To applause from members, Ward said Royal Mail workers “need to see a pay rise now that reflects … that they have turned the fortunes of the company around, and the cost of living crisis”.
You should be able to go into branches to cash your cheques normally; there may simply be a delay in cheques deposited clearing into your accounts. Collections of mail by Royal Mail and ParcelForce Worldwide from our post office branches will be disrupted. “We committed to protecting pay for all managers who stay with Royal Mail, and the vast majority have seen an increase in their earnings.
- Speaking on Saturday, CWU general secretary Dave Ward said the union will be offering Royal Mail a way to get back into “serious talks”, offering the chance to suspend industrial action if progress is made.
- Discussions are “precarious” and in their “last throes”, with the next hours key to settling the dispute, a source close to the talks said.
- Any items posted in postboxes or Post Offices the day before, during or following strike dates are likely to be subject to delays.
- The Communication Workers Union (CWU) said workers would walk out on 26 and 31 August and 8 and 9 September.
“The difference really between the strikes of the recent past and now is that there is more competition now,” he says. A Royal Mail spokesman said the firm is “doing all we can” to resolve the dispute, and that the firm is “committed to getting the right deal”. “We’ll continue to revise and improve performance in all our units every year,” the IDS chair, Keith Williams, said.
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 global cloud team and final offer”, and accused the union of “holding Christmas to ransom”. The first-ever nationwide strike by nurses is also expected to go ahead this week.
When Royal Mail strikes are happening and how it’ll affect your post
But the rail industry was hit by a drop-off in passenger numbers during the Covid pandemic, and it’s under pressure to save money. Bosses say reforms need to be agreed, to afford pay increases and modernise the railway. On Tuesday, a separate set of figures from the ONS revealed that the gap between wage growth in the public and private sector is near a record high. However, because she relies pivot points trading “so heavily on the post” to get products from suppliers and to send her art to customers, she says it “has made my life very hard this Christmas season”. 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”. A spokesman for CWU said Royal Mail’s management was trying to “casualise” the postal service.
IDS’s chief financial officer, Mick Jeavons, said “there is no further job cut plan, or target”. The Post Office is a separate business and post offices are expected to open, although some have closed during previous strikes. Tuesday’s walkout by rail staff left services running at about a fifth of capacity, on a day when snow, ice and fog hampered road and air travel. Some parcel companies claim the walkouts are having a knock-on effect, and forcing them to delay next-day deliveries as people and firms seek alternative ways to send their post. “It’s meant we’ve had to staff up to protect our customers,” she told the BBC, with three times as many requests for advice on delivery windows from shoppers than usual.
Royal Mail talks over pay on brink of collapse
A spokesman for Royal Mail said the company had made a “best and final pay offer worth up to 9% over 18 months”. Watch Make Sense of Strikes on iPlayer and find out more about why people are striking and whether industrial action works. “Despite nearly three months of talks, the CWU have not engaged in any meaningful discussion on the changes we need to make to adapt. He said the union was not opposed to modernisation, “but modernisation seems to be about workers having to work harder and faster for less pay”. The union had been told an additional 3.5% rise is available, subject to further talks and agreements – which would total a 5.5% rise. Staff represented by CWU announced 19 days of action taking place throughout October and November 2022.
The industrial action will cover peak periods such as Black Friday on 25 November and Cyber Monday on 28 November. The long-running dispute has seen workers and management at loggerheads, leading to industrial action including a strike over Christmas, with further possible strikes. Royal Mail has reported a £1bn loss, with bosses blaming strike action by workers and a failure to increase productivity for its poor performance during a year in which it cut 10,000 jobs.
Who owns Royal Mail?
Reuters provides business, financial, national and international news to professionals via desktop terminals, the world’s media organizations, industry events and directly to consumers. A range of industries, from the railways to ports and airlines, have been hit by strikes in recent weeks as wages fall further behind soaring inflation that topped 10% in July. Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA union, has also said that civil servants are skipping meals.
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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. A further 2% of salary would be available in a productivity bonus, the firm said. Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) at the Royal Mail said they were striking after rejecting a pay rise of 2%, and called on Royal Mail to offer an increase that “covers the current cost of living”. The union has announced 19 days of strike action in the buildup to the busy Christmas period.
Branch services
Please visit the Royal Mail or Parcelforce Worldwide website to find more information on how services will be impacted. “The CWU has a responsibility to recognise the reality of the situation Royal Mail faces as a business and engage urgently on the changes required. The union said it will have a “dramatic impact” and will also cover peak mail periods such as Black Friday on 25 November and Cyber Monday on 28 November. However, Royal Mail said the profits from that arm of its business should not be used to prop up its ailing UK operation.
David Stubbs, a postal economist, agrees that a lot has changed in the world of deliveries since 2009. It was also reported that some businesses suffered heavy losses, orders were unfulfilled, staff were unpaid, and some were even laid off. The business says modernisation is essential if the company is to improve its parcel delivery service. In the past few days, Sir Brendan Barber, the former head of the TUC and ex-chair of conciliation service Acas, has been brought in to help facilitate the talks. Royal Mail has said it is losing £1m a day and that it is projected to lose more than £350m for the financial year ending in April.
UK’s Royal Mail on strike as further industrial action looms
Royal Mail workers walked out again on Wednesday, marking the third of six strike days across the festive season. The government has said that big pay increases now would risk making the ripple cfds jump in inflation longer-lasting, a claim disputed by unions. The businesses needed to pivot from a focus on delivering letters into a business focused on the parcels market, he said.