The CWU has notified Royal Mail of their intention to take industrial action in London as well as a small number of other units across the country. Most of this industrial action is planned to take place on Friday 17th July for a period of up to 24 hours. If it goes ahead, this industrial action will affect mail services in London, some areas of Scotland and a small number of other parts of Royal Mail’s UK mail network.
London’s mail network will pretty much come to a standstill with affected postcode areas including W, E, SW, SE, EC, WC, N and NW. Other areas which will be affected include Edinburgh, a few other parts of Scotland, parts of Bristol and a few scattered postcodes across other parts of the UK.
The Royal Mail is still the only delivery company which offers a daily delivery to every one of the 28 million addresses throughout the UK at a set price. If and when competition is opened up there appears little appetite for a competitor to provide this service as it’s not the most lucrative part of the network. This leaves online sellers very few options for getting customers purchases to them during strikes.
Talking of the need for modernisation and change in the Royal Mail, Lord Mandelson, Secretary of State, blames the strikes on the CWU. He said “The CWU has instructed its representatives to refuse to agree anything through the industrial relations framework. This is why we’ve seen these spate of strikes”
He cited the 2007 pay and modernisation agreement saying the CWU wishes to renegotiate specific agreements including automation, a key part of the 2007 agreement, which the Royal Mail believed was a done deal.
Mandelson went on to say “Royal Mail’s response throughout has been to instruct its managers to continue to consult absolutely in line with their agreements, to encourage input from the CWU reps and its people and to respond to it in order to make the changes in a measured way. I believe that has to be matched by the workforce and their union if we’re going to see any progress being made.”
He ended by lambasting the Union with the conclusion “Until the CWU’s attitude to change changes there will not be change in the Royal Mail. That is the bottom line of it I’m afraid”.
If you’d like to see the entire discussion with Mandelson it can be viewed on Parliament TV with the Post Office / Royal Mail section commencing 43 minutes 35 seconds into the clip.
4 Responses
Great its my birthday on Friday, please send cards early!!
Kate x
Industrial action at the Royal Mail is set to escalate with strike action scheduled for three days next week, the BBC has learned.
The strike action on 25, 27 and 28 July comes on top of Friday’s one-day walkout by 12,000 Royal Mail employees.
…on top of Friday’s one-day walkout by 12,000 Royal Mail employees.
here’s hoping they don’t come back.
businesses should start suing the CWU for losses incurred during this f***ing strikes.
selfish b******s.