Royal Mail has confirmed that it will be seeking a legal injunction in the High Court to prevent a 48 hour the CWU strikes called for next week starting on the 19th of October at 11am.
Royal Mail believe that the strike date announced is illegal because the CWU and Royal Mail has not been through a”legally-binding external mediation process.” And that’ a pre-requisite for a strike, according to an agreements between Royal Mail and the CWU. Royal Mail gave the CWU until noon to retract the threat of a strike on the 19th, which they haven’t done.
Royal Mail said this afternoon: “As a result, Royal Mail will today lodge an application with the High Court for an injunction to prevent industrial action so that the contractual external mediation process can be followed. A date for a hearing will be arranged with the High Court.”
There’s no indication of what the timeframe or the outcome on the ruling will be. CWU members voted in favour of industrial action with a significant majority on a strong turn-out. It could be that the process takes time and the strikes will have to be postponed if the court procedure drags on. Indeed, even if the courts do find the action “unlawful”, it wouldn’t be surprising if the CWU disagreed and walked out anyway. They point out that both parties have been in negotiation for 18 months already.
The CWU have also hinted that they could schedule more strikes after the 19th October.
2 Responses
Royal Mail want to renegade on deals they made “pre-privatisation”, deals concerning pay and conditions, pensions, etc. but have the cheek to say this strike would be illegal because of some agreement made prior to privatisation. Seems the same rules don’t apply here – Royal Mail want to have their cake and eat eat it. They are trying delaying tactics to try and get past the potential financial damage to their big business shareholders if the strikes occur during the Black Friday and Christmas periods.
I hope the High Court judges see sense and rule in favour of the CWU but knowing how the heirarchy in this country works then I’m afraid I very much doubt they will.