Royal Mail Black Friday strike action is set to disrupt the busiest time of the year with further date in the planning to disrupt the Christmas period.
It’s worth noting that historically Royal Mail strikes have regularly been called by the CWU in the run up to Christmas – it’s the time of year that puts most pressure on the company and also causes the most disruption to businesses and consumers alike. Ruining someone’s Christmas by leaving their purchases festering in a distribution centre tends to have a much bigger impact that the credit card bills announcing how screwed you are arriving in January.
These strikes are starting to really hurt Posties as well, there a numerous complaints online that they simply can’t afford more days off work – it’s worth remembering that regardless of their pension schemes, generous sick pay and other benefits, these are hard working men and women, out in all weathers and most just want to get their work done and get home to see the kids come home from school and have dinner with their family. They are facing the same financial pressures as the rest of the country and strike days are killing their finances.
Black Friday Strike Action
- Thursday 24th November
- Black Friday 25th November
- Wednesday 30th November
- Thursday 1st December
These days are designed to let Black Friday sales be caught up in a back log of Thursday’s post, which won’t be cleared by the time Cyber Monday takes place with another deluge of sales. And just to make sure that the delays last a bit longer two days after Cyber Monday another two day’s strikes will take place.
The CWU are meeting this Thursday, the 3rd of November, to discuss a follow up to the Black Friday strike action with the aim of making Christmas as miserable as possible. They will also hold a vote among members with the union hoping that Royal Mail workers will reject the deal Royal Mail offered on Monday, and ask if workers have confidence in Simon Thompson as Royal Mail CEO.
14 Responses
full time officials of unions should also lose salary when a strike is called
bet that would change the dynamics !!!!
Posties will not be home to see their kids home from school or pick them up as they do now. Also the generous sick pay as you call it has gone. Anyone with a long term illness or injury will struggle to get buy on SSP. The parish is over two years and is less than half of the current inflation rate. Add to interest rates expected to go up again today. We are not militant. We are struggling to survive while senior management are raking it in!!
Thanks from a very unhappy and worried postman.
Sick of it. I’m so busy chasing late delivery enquiries and issuing refunds for those not delivered in under 2 weeks. Bad feedback rolling in. The public have little patience for late deliveries.
A special mention for Amazon too. They crap on their sellers from a great height.
These strike dates keep changing. They were coming out on black Friday and cyber Monday. Now it’s Thursday the 24th but not cyber Monday? I suppose this is part of the tactics making it impossible to plan ahead. In fact the whole postal system is going to pot. We’ve had one delivery in a week here. I feel for the posties, they are underpaid but you can’t get blood out of a stone. RM is broke, losing a million a day. Where are the extra wages to come from? And how many business customers will be lost in the process? Lunacy.
Sack them all… Amozon can the delver the post..
I was a postman for 15 years and the chief executive that’s wanting all the changes to working conditions should try the and see how hard it is in bad weather and darkness ne want’s the company to be like Amazon and DPD the drive around in vans to doors not walking in wind and rain and snow and ice you can’t compare the two delivery services it’s typical of CEO who have left university with a degree and don’t know what the job entails
As a proud Postie here it’s so devastating to see the lack of leadership from the Royal mail bosses. Throughout the whole of this process we’ve heard very little from leadership down. We’ve heard plenty from the union but from what I recall 2 letters from the bosses. No team talk from management… Just silence. Very strange in there at the moment. It definitely feels like this was Royal mail bosses plan from the start run delivery offices down until they look incompetent. We’ve rubbish lying all over our office, old equipment, furniture, uniforms, that apparently the company won’t pay for skips to take it away. Leaking roof etc. It’s so run down. Some of the mail centres I’ve been in feel so much more modernised and cared for. I believe a split up of the company and land sell offs from offices like mine. Someone will be pocketing sonewhere, like our Czech billionaire to name one.