Royal Mail workers have formed a picket line outside the delivery office in Oldham on the first day of this summer's 'biggest strike'.
More than 100,000 postal workers are expected to have walked out today (Friday) in a dispute over pay. The Communication Workers Union (CWU) said its members are taking industrial action for a 'dignified, proper pay rise' after they voted in favour by 97.6 per cent in a ballot.
The strike today will be followed by more walkouts on Wednesday, August 31, Thursday, September 8 and Friday, September 9. The union said bosses 'imposed' a 2 per cent pay rise on employees - who were classed as key workers in the coronavirus pandemic - which it insists is not enough to keep up with the soaring cost of living.
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Pictures taken outside the depot on Hamilton Street in Oldham this morning showed around 20 workers on the picket line. Strikers held banners reading 'ON STRIKE FOR FAIR PAY' and 'HONK IF YOU BACK US'.
Zaf Khan, now an executive at the CWU, has worked as a postman in the area for 31 years. Speaking from the picket line today, he said the support had been 'excellent'.
"The support from our members in Oldham is at 100 per cent", he told the Manchester Evening News . "The support has been excellent from the public, everybody has been driving past and beeping for our members."
Mr Khan added: "This is the first strike over pay since 1971. I think with the day-to-day costs of living, the 2 per cent is horrendous.
"The long terms plans for the company will deteriorate the service and this is about protecting the service for the public. We are not opposing change or taking this lightly, we want to negotiate and this is not something that they can just impose on us. We do apologise for the inconvenience but felt we had no other choice."
In a previous statement, CWU general secretary Dave Ward said: "On Friday, we will see a tremendous outpouring of workers’ unity in villages, towns and cities across the country. There can be no doubt that postal workers are completely united in their determination to secure the dignified, proper pay rise they deserve.
"We can’t keep on living in a country where bosses rake in billions in profit while their employees are forced to use food banks. When Royal Mail bosses are raking in £758m in profit and shareholders pocketing in excess of £400m, our members won’t accept pleads of poverty from the company.
"Postal workers won’t meekly accept their living standards being hammered by greedy business leaders who are completely out of touch with modern Britain. They are sick of corporate failure getting rewarded again and again.
"Royal Mail’s leadership have lost the dressing room – and unless they make efforts to get real on discussing a pay rise that postal workers deserve, serious disruption will continue."
Royal Mail said it has 'well-developed contingency plans' to minimise disruption, focused on getting mail delivery back to normal as quickly as possible after strike action. The company said that on days when strike action is taking place, it will deliver as many Special Delivery and Tracked24 parcels as possible, prioritising the delivery of Covid test kits and medical prescriptions.
Customers are advised to post items as early as possible in advance of the strike dates, adding that collections will be less frequent on strike days.
The union is also in dispute with Royal Mail over efficiencies. A company spokesperson said: "We are losing £1 million a day, and we need to change what we are doing to fix the situation and protect jobs. This change is also needed to support the pay package we have offered to CWU grade colleagues, worth up to 5.5%.
"This is the biggest increase we have offered for many years and the CWU have rejected it. This would add around £230 million to Royal Mail’s annual people costs when the business is already loss-making."
A Royal Mail spokesperson added: "Tomorrow’s CWU strike thrusts Royal Mail into the most uncertain time of its 500-year history. It is putting jobs at risk and making pay rises less affordable. We are losing £1m a day. We must change to fix the situation and protect high quality jobs.
"The change we need is the change the public demand of us. They want more and bigger parcels delivered the next day – including Sundays – and more environmentally friendly options.
"They want this at a competitive price, with great quality of service. We cannot cling to outdated working practices, ignoring technological advancements and pretending that Covid has not significantly changed what the public wants from Royal Mail.
“While our competitors work seven days a week, delivering until 10pm to meet customer demand, the CWU want to work fewer hours, six days a week, starting and finishing earlier.
“Their plans to transform Royal Mail come with a £1 billion price tag, are predicated on a wholly unrealistic revival in letter writing, and prevent Royal Mail from growing, and remaining competitive, in a fast-moving industry.
"The CWU’s vision for Royal Mail would create a vicious spiral of falling volumes, higher prices, bigger losses, and fewer jobs. Our future is as a parcels business. We must adapt old ways of working designed for letters to a world increasingly dominated by parcels, and we must act fast.
"We want to protect well-paid, permanent jobs long-term and retain our place as the industry leader on pay, terms and conditions. That is in the best interests of Royal Mail and all its employees.
"We apologise to our customers, and the public for the inconvenience the CWU’s strike action will cause. We have offered to meet the CWU numerous times in recent weeks, but they declined each invitation, preferring to spend their time on the political agenda of the UK trade union movement.
"We remain ready to talk with the CWU to try and avert damaging industrial action and prevent significant inconvenience for customers. But any talks must be about both change and pay."
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