Striking postal workers 'holding Christmas to ransom' says Royal Mail

CWU members are expected to be on the picket lines again this Friday and Saturday in a protest described by one union leader as a “fight for their survival”.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: “Christmas is our busiest time of year. In a typical December, we deliver 50% more parcels than usual. With Christmas cards, a quarter of the stamped mail sent in the whole year is sent in December.

"The CWU’s planned strike action is holding Christmas to ransom for our customers, businesses and families across the country, and is putting their own members’ jobs at risk. The CWU have engineered these strikes to take place at a time where it causes maximum disruption for our customers – by refusing to talk about change for months and stalling over ACAS for a month.”

He added: “We apologise to any customers who have been impacted by the CWU’s strike action. We are doing everything we can to deliver Christmas for our customers, and would like to thank the increasing number of posties returning to work each strike day, temporary workers and managers from across the business who are helping to keep the mail moving. However, this task becomes more challenging as Christmas nears.”

Erin Massey, the CWU’s Northern Ireland regional secretary, has called for the public to support the striking postal workers “who need you all behind them now more than ever."

She added: “By now you will all be aware of the attack on our term and conditions, in what we believe to be a race to the bottom and an asset stripping attack on the business of Royal Mail by poor management.

"This will do nothing more than decimate out members, mentally, physically and financially as the company’s intention is to get rid of tens of thousands of workers, to replace them with ‘owner drivers’ on an up to 20% lesser contract, while also retaining their eleven thousand agency workers.”

Ms Massey went on to say: “This goes against all agreements we have with the company, even those recently agreed in the last fifteen or so months. Our members have been blindsided by these attacks and are now literally fighting for their survival, during this cost of living crisis, so determined are our members, they are prepared to stand by recent strike action and the loss of pay that comes with that including some even losing sick pay”.

Royal Mail said that on days when the national strike action is taking place, it will deliver as many Special Delivery and Tracked 24 parcels as possible and prioritise the delivery of Covid test kits and medical prescriptions wherever possible.

There will be no letters delivered with the exception of Special Delivery.

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “We are very sorry for the disruption and delay that CWU strike action is causing. We continue to deploy contingency plans to keep communities, businesses and the country connected throughout the CWU’s industrial action, and are doing everything we can to deliver Christmas for our customers.”