Post Office workers staging national strike action today in dispute over pay

Members of the Communication Workers Union voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action in April
Post Office workers will today stage a one-day strike in a dispute over pay (Tim Ireland/PA)
PA Wire
Alan Jones3 May 2022

Post Office workers are staging a one-day strike on Tuesday in a dispute over pay.

Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action in April.

The union said the strike is over a pay freeze for 2021 and the offer of a 2% increase from April this year, alongside a £250 one-off lump sum.

As the cost-of-living crisis mounts, working people across the country are facing stark realities.

CWU

Union officials said the offer was “exceptionally poor”, especially as RPI inflation has reached 9%.

CWU official Andy Furey said: “Despite this union’s best attempts to avoid strike action, the Post Office has displayed no interest whatsoever in meaningful negotiations.

“As such, workers have delivered an overwhelming mandate for strike action.

“The current offer of a mere 2% pay rise over two years is nothing short of an insult to these key workers who provided exemplary services to this nation during the pandemic.

“As the cost-of-living crisis mounts, working people across the country are facing stark realities.

“This isn’t any less true of Post Office employees, who deserve far better than the degrading offer currently on the table.

“Post Office management need to understand that by undervaluing these workers, they have provoked real anger across the country.

“We urge them to get round the table with us and reach a decent, fair agreement that shows respect for Britain’s key workers who kept post offices open for society during the pandemic.”

The dispute involves counter staff, as well as those in clerical, administration and call centres.

The CWU said all so-called crown post offices will be affected by the walkout as well as smaller sub-post offices.

A Post Office spokesperson said: “We have been notified by the CWU that they have instructed their members to take strike action on Tuesday May 3.

“We want to assure our customers that the vast majority of our 11,500 branches are unaffected by this decision and will remain open throughout the day.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in