Members of the CWU, which represents more than 100,000 Royal Mail Group workers, are continuing national strike action over pay today (8 September) and tomorrow. This follows on from major strike dates over pay held last month.

The union said that earlier this year management imposed a 2% pay rise on employees through executive action earlier this summer.

"In an economic climate where inflation looks set to soar to 18% by January 2023, the imposition would lead to a dramatic reduction in workers’ living standards,” CWU added.

It is demanding that Royal Mail Group sit down to negotiate “an adequate pay award that covers the current cost of living increases for our members”.

But the new strikes announced for 30 September and 1 October are in opposition to the company’s plans for reforming the company.

CWU said these proposals would mean effectively turning 115,000 well-paid, secure jobs into gig economy style roles, with possible ‘reforms’ including reducing sick pay, delaying the arrival of mail to customers by up to three hours, ‘total flexibility’ in terms of working hours, mandatory Sunday working, and other cuts to terms and conditions.

Commenting on the upcoming strikes related to pay and conditions, CWU general secretary Dave Ward said: “What we are facing is bosses taking executive action to weaken the lives of workers who are rightfully infuriated at the despicable way they are being treated.

“This is nothing short of an employer’s offensive against hard working people who go above and beyond for the company and the wider community.

“We are still open for meaningful negotiations with the company, but the feeling does not appear to be mutual.

“I urge our members to stay strong and stand together, because we will win what we deserve.”

CWU deputy general secretary Terry Pullinger added: “We won’t accept such a slew of attacks on longstanding agreements and working conditions for our members.

“We have given a significant period of time for the business to respond meaningfully and engage in proper negotiations, but this is not seemingly what the company want to do.

“They are ignoring workers and riding roughshod over our agreements, but they will not defeat the unity of our membership.”

In response to the new strike dates, a Royal Mail spokesperson said: “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 another earlier note sent to journalists 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 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”.

In a separate statement released by Royal Mail today in response to comments it said Ward has made, the postal operator said: “We are aware that in recent media interviews, Dave Ward, the general secretary of the CWU has indicated that we are in ‘secret talks’ with a private equity investment group, he believes, regarding a takeover of Royal Mail. The company wishes to make clear that this is not true. We are involved in no such talks.”

Last month the then-business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said that he could take action under national security powers if Luxembourg-headquartered Vesa Equity Investment, Royal Mail group's biggest shareholder, increased its 22% stake to more than 25%.