Postal workers in Perth and Kinross are set to stage two 48-hour strikes around the busiest shopping days of the year as a long-running row over pay, jobs and conditions continues.
The CWU (Communication Workers Union) informed Royal Mail its members who collect, sort and deliver parcels and letters will walkout on November 24-25 and November 30 to December 1.
Black Friday falls on November 25 and Cyber Monday on November 28.
CWU had called off a number of walkouts planned from November 2-23 as negotiations with the national postal services ramped up.
Royal Mail proposed a new conditional offer worth nine per cent, which includes a seven per cent salary increase over two years and a lump sum payment of two per cent of pay this year.
But CWU members will continue with industrial action until a pay rise is agreed that “fully addresses the current cost of living”.
The dispute has become more heated after CWU said Royal Mail company leadership reneged on the ‘Pathway to Change’ agreement’s key principles and has begun to impose changes “without negotiation and without agreement”.
The CWU’s general secretary Dave Ward added the 48-hour strikes were partly in protest at introducing “Uber-style owner-drivers”, mail centre closures and changes to Sunday working.
The median pay at Royal Mail is £32,465 a year, with the average pay for a postal delivery worker lower than that at £25,777.
The strike action is expected to have a significant effect on festive shoppers.
It comes after Royal Mail last month announced plans to cut 10,000 jobs by next August, blaming ongoing strike action and rising financial losses.
MP for Perth and North Perthshire Pete Wishart then sent a joint letter to the CEO of Royal Mail Simon Thompson slamming the company for “threatening its workforce” with the job losses and urged them to submit an “acceptable” pay offer to prevent further walkouts.
Commenting, Mr Wishart said: “There are millions of pounds of profit for shareholders who surely have a moral duty to share the burden, particularly at a time when hard working postal staff are struggling to put food on their table this winter.”
Royal Mail bosses say it has “well-developed contingency plans” but “cannot fully replace” the daily efforts of its workforce.
A spokesperson added: “We’ll be doing what we can to keep services running, but we are sorry this planned strike action is likely to cause you some disruption.
“Royal Mail and CWU have agreed to jointly engaged with ACAS facilitation in an attempt to resolve the current disputes on pay and change.”
They continued: “On Monday, October 31 Royal Mail proposed a new conditional pay-for-change offer to the Communication Workers Union (CWU) worth nine per cent for CWU-grade colleagues which includes a seven per cent salary increase over two years, plus a lump sum payment of two per cent of pay this year.
“Royal Mail is urging CWU leadership to accept the change and pay offer, call off future damaging strike action. We apologise to our customers for the inconvenience the CWU’s continued strike action will cause.”
A series of smaller Royal Mail strikes have also been planned by various groups and teams represented by the CWU in November and December.
While these are not expected to cause such widespread disruption, the CWU has warned that there will be a knock-on effect on deliveries.
Processing, distribution, international, collections and admin workers will walkout on November 15, 24 and December 1.
Delivery workers will strike on November 16, 25 and December 2, while network workers will follow suit on November 23 and 30.
