Approximately 115,000 Royal Mail postal workers have gone on strike over a salary dispute.
It is the first of four days of industrial action, with walkouts also occurring on August 31 and September 8 and 9.
Royal Mail cautioned that letters will not be delivered on strike days and that some packages could be delayed.
The labor union is requesting a compensation increase that more accurately reflects the current rate of inflation.
Royal Mail apologized to its customers and indicated that it had contingency preparations in place to mitigate the impact.
It will deliver as many Special Delivery and Track 24 packages as feasible during strike days. Additionally, it will prioritize the delivery of prescription medications wherever possible.
However, articles posted the day before a strike, during a strike, or in the days after the strike may be delayed.
The organization encourages customers to mail their packages as early as possible to avoid disruptions.
After three months of negotiations, the Communication Workers Union (CWU), which represents the striking employees, rejected a salary raise offer “worth up to 5.5%,” according to Royal Mail.
The union has demanded that Royal Mail raise salaries to “meet the present cost of living.”
The inflation rate has reached a 40-year high of 10.1% and is anticipated to surpass 13% later this year.
Warnings
Businesses that utilize Royal Mail have also issued customer warnings.
The greeting card company Moonpig has recommended clients to place orders as early as possible but stated that its presents and flowers are delivered by separate companies and are therefore unaffected by the strikes.
On strike dates, the flower company Bunches stated it would ship goods using DPD’s next-day courier service at a discounted rate.
Dave Ward, general secretary of the CWU, told, “We will fight very hard for the salary increase our members deserve.”
There is no doubt that postal workers are entirely unified in their commitment to obtain the proper, respectable salary increase they deserve.
He said, “We cannot continue to live in a nation where bosses rake in billions of dollars in profits while their employees are forced to visit food banks.
“When Royal Mail executives are raking in £758 million in profit and stockholders are pocketing almost £400 million, our members will not accept the company’s cries of hardship,”
The most recent year-to-date adjusted operating profit for Royal Mail was £416 million, up from £344 million the previous year.
A representative for Royal Mail stated that the company could not “cling to obsolete operating procedures while dismissing technology improvements and claiming that Covid has not dramatically altered the public’s expectations of Royal Mail.
“While our rivals work seven days a week and deliver until 10 p.m. to meet client demand, the CWU would want to work fewer hours, six days a week, and begin and end earlier,” they added.
“The CWU’s vision for Royal Mail would result in decreased volumes, higher prices, greater losses, and fewer jobs.”
The corporation stated that it remained open to additional negotiations to avert the strikes, but that they “must address both change and remuneration.”
Chairman Keith Williams stated that the company is losing £1 million per day due to declining parcel volumes and stalled efforts to modernize the business.
