Rishi Sunak says government’s pay offers ‘reasonable’ despite strikes
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Thousands of Royal Mail workers have walked out today in the first of a series of strikes in the run-up to Christmas in a bitter dispute over pay and working conditions.
According to the Communication Workers Union (CWU), around 15,000 Royal Mail workers will attend a rally held at Parliament Square from 1pm, in what they have called the biggest postal worker demonstration in living memory.
CWU claims Royal Mail imposed a 2 per cent pay increase on members without consultation, with general secretary Dave Ward saying that the organisation is “refusing” to treat employees with respect.
“Postal workers want to get on with serving the communities they belong to, delivering Christmas gifts and tackling the backlog from recent weeks,” said Mr Ward.
“But they know their value, and they will not meekly accept the casualisation of their jobs, the destruction of their conditions and the impoverishment of their families.”
Members of the CWU are planning more strikes in December, including on Christmas Eve. The next will take place on Sunday 11 December. The public has been advised to plan ahead when sending packages for Christmas.
It comes amid a winter of strike action in the UK, including walkouts planned by nurses, ambulance staff, rail workers and Border Force officers.
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1670585450Train strikes: Every date in December and January 2023
Rail passengers face severe travel disruption over Christmas and the New Year as workers stage a series of 48-hour strikes in December and January in the long-running dispute over jobs, pay and conditions.
The RMT union has revealed that more than 40,000 workers across Network Rail and 14 train operating companies will stage a series of 48-hour walk-outs.
Industrial action will take place on 13, 14, 16 and 17 December and on 3, 4, 6 and 7 January.
On Monday it announced further strike dates to take place over the key Christmas period, with members walking out from 6pm on 24 December until 7am on 27 December. Most trains do not run on 25 and 26 December anyway, but those aiming to travel by rail to see loved ones either side of Christmas Day will be affected.
Eleanor Noyce9 December 2022 11:30
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“If you care about your postie, you’ll support the Royal Mail strike”, says Dave Ward
“We won’t stand back and watch the Uberisation of our postal service”, says Dave Ward, general secretary of the Communication Workers Union.
“For three months now, 115,000 members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) – the union I am proud to lead – have been on strike, having voted by nearly 100 per cent in two separate ballots this summer to take action.”
Eleanor Noyce9 December 2022 11:10
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Nurses, trains and Royal Mail: Every strike planned in run up to Christmas
As inflation has climbed steadily throughout year, workers have seen rising prices eroding their earnings – just as employers have been trying to make savings or modernise working practices to cope with increasing costs.
The result? Clashes over pay, redundancies, pensions and terms and conditions.
A new “winter of discontent” had begun even before Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement on 17 November, which left householders everywhere feeling even worse off.
These are the professions and industries for which strike dates have already been announced.
Eleanor Noyce9 December 2022 10:50
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Rishi Sunak declines to provide details of ‘tough’ new anti-strike laws
Rishi Sunak has declined to provide details of “tough” new anti-strike laws being considered, stressing that he wants to “protect lives and to minimise the disruption” caused by industrial action.
Speaking during a visit to an RAF base in Lincolnshire, the Prime Minister said: “We’re looking at everything right now at pace but my priority is going to be to protect lives and to minimise the disruption on people’s lives.
“So the Government is trying its best to act reasonably, that’s why we’ve accepted in full the recommendations of independent bodies who make recommendations to the Government about pay settlements in the public sector, and often those pay settlements have been higher than what many people in the private sector are receiving, but the Government accepted them in full to be reasonable, to be fair.
“But it’s right now that we also look to minimise the disruption on people’s lives and that’s why we’re looking at tough new laws.”
Eleanor Noyce9 December 2022 10:47
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Today’s Royal Mail strike marks the first in a series this month in the run-up to Christmas.
Further strike action will take place on:
On strike days, Royal Mail has said that disruptions are likely. Staff will not be delivering letters with the exception of those sent with Special Delivery, but it cannot guarantee they will arrive.
Eleanor Noyce9 December 2022 10:22
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Hello and welcome to our live updates on the postal worker strike action today.
Eleanor Noyce9 December 2022 10:18
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