The CWU has confirmed that, following a pay strike ballot, 115,000 of its members who work for Royal Mail will strike for four days in August and September (26th and 31st August, 8th and 9th September) in their bid to press Royal Mail to review the pay rise and terms offered to its members.
Royal Mail has argued that it is losing £1 million per day and can only fund any increase if changes are made to modernise operations. “After more than three months of talks, the CWU have failed to engage in any meaningful discussions on the changes we need to modernise, or to come up with alternative ideas.
“The CWU refected our offer with up to 5.5 per cent for CWU grade colleagues, the biggest increase we have offered for many years. In a business that is currently losing £1m a day, we can only fund this offer by agreeing the changes that will pay for it
“Royal Mail can have a bright future,” said Royal Mail’s operations development director Ricky McAulay, “but we can’t achieve that by living in the past.”
The CWU’s stance is that its members deserve what it calls “a proper pay rise” and that the pay rise should not be tied to agreement to changes in working practices. Royal Mail had offered a rise of up to 5.5 per cent, 2 per cent fixed and the remaining 3.5 per cent tied to agreement to changes in working practices. Dave Ward, general secretary of the CWU said that its members were united to secure the pay rise ‘they deserve’.
The strikes, if the dispute is not settled, will cause significant disruption to mail and parcel deliveries, impacting many direct commerce businesses and their customers. Royal Mail says that it has contingency plans in place but did not elaborate on what they were.
Royal Mail’s chairman Keith Williams said; “Our pay offer continues to give our employees market-leading terms and conditions against a backdrop of losses and the worsening economic outlook for the UK. Change is the route to well-paid, permanent, jobs long term. Refusal to change is reckless.”
The CWU’s retort to Royal Mail’s management: “there will be serious disruption until you get real on pay.”
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