The Communication Workers Union – which represents Post Office workers – have informed Post Office management that employees will be striking on Saturday 4th June and in administration and supply chain networks on Monday 6th June. The Post Office strike will impact Crown Post Offices – if your local Post Office is run by a third party they’ll probably still be open.
This Post Office strike follows industrial action earlier this month, and will fall during the period of festivities marking Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee. This is timed to cause maximum disruption with minimal lost pay for staff as with a double bank holiday it means ecommerce sellers won’t be able to dispatch parcels at a Post Office after the 1st of June until the 6th of June.
Our recommendation would be that if you commonly use the Post Office for despatch that you consider printing your labels from the Royal Mail website and either drop in a Parcel Post Box, drop at a Royal Mail depot or (worst case) pay an additional 60p per parcel for collection). And of course you could switch to a different carrier. You may decide that queuing at a Post Office is no longer for you and an alternative is more convenient and in the long term that will hurt the Post Office a lot more than lost days to strikes. If the Post Office lost all ecommerce trade the CWU would have a lot more to worry about with redundancies as Post Offices closed through lack of trade than a pay rise for staff!
Post Office management are insisting on a pay freeze for 2021-22. After the previous strike, management presented a marginally improved pay offer for 2022.
Our members do not want to be in this situation, but they won’t accept humiliation either. Our members worked hard to deliver an excellent annual profit for the company – affordability isn’t management’s problem here. Frankly, their degrading excuse for an offer has only hardened members, who won’t tolerate a collapse in their living standards. We thank the public for their understanding and support, and we urge Post Office to get round the table and thrash out a real settlement that treats key worker heroes with the respect they deserve.
– Andy Furey, Assistant Secretary, CWU
