The action, which is a mixture of single days and rolling action across the postal operator’s network, will cover peak mail periods such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the Christmas build-up.
In a statement issued last night (27 September), CWU said the move “follows a threat centred around the outrageous decision by Royal Mail Group's senior management to withdraw from major national agreements, push ahead with vicious cuts to workers terms and conditions and completely sideline the union”.
Last Thursday Royal Mail took drastic action to break the impasse over ongoing industrial action by involving ACAS, and also told the CWU that it planned to serve notice on a number of historic agreements – a move the union had described as “sickening”.
Commenting on the new strike action, CWU general secretary Dave Ward said: “This is a significant announcement, but it is one which matches the level of anger our members feel at the way Royal Mail Group has treated them.
“The CEO of Royal Mail Group, Simon Thompson, is treating postal workers as if they are stupid. These are the same people that have kept the country connected and returned Royal Mail Group to record profit.
“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. We call on everyone to stand with their local postal worker.
“If Royal Mail Group are allowed to get away with this then it sends a green light to every rogue big business in the UK. We will not stand by and see Royal Mail Group become the next P&O, but we need your backing to win.”
A Royal Mail spokesperson commented: “The CWU’s decision to announce further strike action is placing jobs at risk. Royal Mail is losing £1m a day. Strike action has weakened our financial position and is threatening the long-term job security of our postmen and women.
“The CWU has a responsibility to recognise the reality of the situation Royal Mail faces as a business and to engage urgently on the changes required. We are now a parcels business. We must adapt old ways of working designed for letters to a world increasingly dominated by parcels and act fast. We want to protect well-paid, permanent jobs long-term and retain our place as the industry leader on pay, terms and conditions.
“The CWU rejected our offer worth up to 5.5% for CWU grade colleagues, the biggest increase we have offered for many years. In a business that is currently losing £1m pounds a day, we can only fund this offer by agreeing the changes that will pay for it.
“We apologise to our customers for the inconvenience the CWU’s continued strike action will cause. We are doing all we can to minimise any delays and keep people, businesses and the country connected. We remain ready to talk with the CWU, but any talks must be about both change and pay. Change is the route to higher pay.”
In a previous note sent to journalists last month regarding the 5.5% that Royal Mail said it had offered, the CWU said it wanted “to make it absolutely clear this pay offer is the imposition of 2% and nothing else”.
It said in the note that Royal Mail Group had “imposed a 2% rise on workers without the agreement of the union”, and that “separately, they have offered 1.5% but that is strictly conditional on postal workers agreeing changes which would rip up their terms and conditions. Finally, they have suggested a £500 lump sum could be paid in 2023 but have no clear view on the criteria for that”.
Royal Mail made a £92m operating loss made in Q1, to 30 June. The overall group, including overseas parcels business GLS, had sales of £12.7bn in its latest financial year and an operating profit of £577m, down 5.6%.
Shares in Royal Mail slipped by a further 8.5% this morning to a 52-week low of 177.15p.
