Postal workers are to be balloted by their union over a possible national strike over pay. The Communication Workers Union will consult 130,000 members on 22nd May; results will be announced 7th June. The union recently rejected a 2.5% pay offer from Royal Mail, and have said that current business plans will lead to 40,000 job losses, as well as the closure of mail centres and delivery offices. They have called for workers to be given a 27% pay rise, spread over 5 years, to bring wages back in line with national averages.
Royal Mail have called their previous offer a fair one in a competitive market place, and a spokesperson characterised the pay demands as “madness”: “To call for strike action when we are already rapidly losing market share to those rivals is also insane and shows that the union has no understanding of the very tough commercial environment we are operating in.”
