Post Office pay dispute – strike action to resume on 11th July

Postal June 27 2022

 

Crown Office members will walk out a week on Monday, Supply Chain and Admin members ‘standing by’, after management snub union’s peace pause…

Further industrial action affecting the UK’s 114 Crown Post Offices was confirmed earlier today, with a third bout of nationwide strikes called for early next month, following a failure by bosses to make a substantial improvement in their pay offer to hard-working staff.

CWU assistant secretary Andy Furey told CWU News: “After the first two actions in May and June, we agreed to talks with Post Office leaders last week and, as a gesture of good faith we decided to pause further strikes in the genuine hope that a resolution could be found through negotiation.

“But, as reported last week their pay position only increased by a half of a per cent and this frankly insulting proposal was clearly not a serious attempt on the part of the management to find an agreed settlement. Not only did they fail to make an acceptable offer for 2022/23, they still failed to offer any backpay for the whole of the 2021/22 financial year – during which no pay offer was made by them at all.

“So we were left with no alternative today but to resume our campaign of industrial action and we have formally notified the Post Office this afternoon that the next strike will take place on Monday 11th July. This will involve our Crown Office members, while our Supply Chain and Admin members are standing by and awaiting the announcement of strike action involving them.”

On a busy day for the union, notice was served on the employer in accordance with the law, also, the information was released to the UK press and members were notified via a letter to branches.

“We’ve already had several enquiries from the press about this forthcoming action,” Andy continued, “and the BBC’s Michael Race has reported on the dispute this evening. The report quotes the Post Office as saying that they are, apparently, ‘“hopeful” of reaching a pay agreement soon,’ so here at the CWU, we’re awaiting their new proposals. Meanwhile, the reaction from our branches and members has been extremely positive and supportive,” “As we’ve said throughout, our members need and deserve a fair pay rise and we the union are absolutely determined to win this for them.”