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Royal Mail workers to strike on Black Friday and Cyber Monday in row over pay
Major disruption is expected on one of the busiest weekends for online shopping
Royal Mail workers will be staging forty-eight-hour strike action on Black Friday and Cyber Monday in an ongoing row over pay and working conditions.
The CWU Union withdrew strikes planned for November 12th and 14th earlier this week, saying it wanted to take more ‘proportionate’ action.
Around 115,000 CWU members have been recommended to reject the Royal Mail’s pay offer of around 9% spread over two years.
The union slammed the pay offer as ‘derisory’ and said that, in response, its revised strike days will include two of the the most lucrative weekends of the year for online shopping.
Strike action will begin on Thursday November 24th and Friday November 25th, which is Black Friday. Workers will then walk out again on November 30th and December 1st.
The CWU’s general secretary Dave Ward said the forty-eight-hour strikes are partly in protest at the ‘Uberisation’ of the postal service, including ‘widespread changes… introducing Uber-style owner-drivers, mail centre closures and changes to Sunday working’.
A Royal Mail spokesperson slammed the CWU for ‘playing a dangerous game with its members’ jobs’, saying in a statement: “Royal Mail proposed a new pay-for-change offer to the CWU worth 9% over two years, despite making a loss of £219m in the first half of the year.
“The CWU is playing a dangerous game with its members’ jobs and the future of Royal Mail. We apologise to our customers for the inconvenience the CWU’s continued strike action will cause.
“We are doing all we can to minimise delays and keep people, businesses and the country connected.”
The decision to strike is part of a long-running dispute between Royal Mail workers and senior management over pay and conditions.
The CWU said the Royal Mail Group’s senior management made the ‘outrageous’ decision to to withdraw from major national agreements and push through cuts to workers’ terms and conditions.
According to the BBC, the median pay at Royal Mail is £32,465 a year, with the average pay for a postal delivery worker lower than that at £25,777.