Essex postal workers to stage a further 19 strikes

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https://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/228006 ... 9-strikes/

A SOUTHEND postman has insisted that a further 19 strikes in the next two months over poor pay and conditions are necessary to tackle an industry "riddled with bad employment practice".

The Communication Workers Union announced that the action in October and November will be a mixture of single days and rolling action across Royal Mail Group’s network.

The union said it will have a “dramatic impact” and will cover peak mail periods such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the Christmas build-up.


Luke Elgar, 30, a Southend postman of more than ten years, and now a full-time representative of members at the Royal Mail and the union, said this announcement demonstrates how concerned and angry Royal Mail workers are.

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He said: “The strikes are purely designed at forcing Royal Mail to enter serious negotiations.

“The view of our members is that their industry is riddled with bad employment practice, zero-hour contracts, no sick pay, proper bottom of the barrel practices.

“What they see as well is that Royal Mail do not appreciate at all the work they do.

“It is a significant move, this is a measured escalation from the union to demonstrate the seriousness of the proposals that Royal Mail put forward to their members as just last week Royal Mail announced they were going to serve notice on 20 national agreements.

“It is sad and when you look at the return from our ballots on taking action, it returned with 98.6 per cent yes votes, from around 115,000 members, showing how concerned and angry we are.

“I think it is the sign of the times that working people are really struggling to pay the bills at the moment and they deserve protecting against the impending crisis.”

In response to the strikes, a Royal Mail spokesperson said: “On September 22, Royal Mail invited CWU to enter into talks through Acas to find a resolution to our dispute on change and pay.

“Rather than responding to our offer of Acas talks, the CWU announced further damaging industrial action, once again taking the path of prolonging disruption over resolution.

“Royal Mail is losing £1 million a day and must change faster in response to changing customer demands. We operate in a competitive market, and our customers have choices.

“Further strikes and resistance to transformation by CWU will only make our financial position worse, and threatens the long-term job security of our postmen and women.

“We apologise to our customers for the inconvenience the CWU’s continued strike action will cause.”