24-hour February postal strike called

Postal workers have announced their first postal strike of the year.

From 12.30pm on Thursday 16th February until before 12.30pm on Friday 17th February, over 115,000 members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) will be taking strike action.

The union’s national elected leadership called the strike after Royal Mail have begun forcing through unagreed changes related to the structure of work at offices across the country.

These decisions have been taken in direct contravention of the Industrial Relations (IR) Framework established between the union and the employer, the validity of which was re-committed to by Royal Mail CEO Simon Thompson in a letter dated 6th January.

In effect, the changes represent the removal of the right of the CWU to negotiate at a local level, and must be viewed as a real step towards the derecognition of the union.

CWU General Secretary Dave Ward said: “This action is down to the conduct of Royal Mail management, who have displayed a complete lack of integrity.

“Our members will not just sit back and watch as their working lives are destroyed by a company leadership hell-bent on ripping up historic arrangements that protect their rights and give them a voice through their union.

“It is postal workers who keep this company going and this country connected – it’s time management recognise this, drop the nasty games and begin taking negotiations seriously, so that this dispute can be ended for good.”