Royal Mail Staff Set to Strike For Better Pay and Pension – Court Injunction Puts Action on Hold

The holidays are just around the corner, and sending goods and packages would soon be hitting its peak. However, some might just find it harder than usual to get packages through sometime next week. That is because Royal Mail staff are getting ready to strike for better pay and pension.

For 48 hours from October 19 staff the Royal Mail will be striking to demand for better pay.

What does the Royal Mail Strike mean?

According to the Communication Workers Union, 111,000 postal workers will be walking out. While this is set to happen, Royal Mail has said that it will also try to use all legal means possible to prevent this. This could mean using a High Court injunction as well.

The strike would be the first since 2013, when the postal service has been privatized. The strike is over the issue of the Royal Mail’s pension scheme being changed as well as what has been termed as a refusal to seriously engage over pay and working hours.

While the strike would be happening for 48 hours starting October 19, the union has said it has not ruled out any strike action after it.

Whilst October 19th isn’t too much of a worry for eCommerce businesses, the threat of further strike action approaching Black Friday and Christmas is something to be aware of.

CWU Deputy General Secretary Terry Pullinger has said the union has been in negotiations for better pay and pension for the past 18 months. He has noted that Royal Mail Group has moved away from the intent of the agreements.

“Royal Mail Group management have clearly moved away from the spirit and intent of our agreements and the empty promises of privatisation, and have suffered a huge vote of no confidence from their employees and CWU members as a consequence”  Terry Pullinger CWU Deputy General Secretary

For its part, a Royal Mail spokesperson has said that it has never hidden that benefits for members would be smaller in the future.

Rob Storrie, the Scottish branch chairman of the CWU, has also said that the strike is seen as a last resort and that they were hoping that this will bring the Royal Mail back to the negotiating table.

News Update

Just this afternoon (Thursday), Royal Mail won an injunction in London’s High Court preventing next week’s planned 48-hour strike action.

Royal Mail said in a statement: “We will now make contact with the CWU as a matter of urgency to begin the process of external mediation.” The firm said it expected the process to take until Christmas and added: “We are very committed to working closely with the CWU in order to reach agreement as a matter of priority.”

How do you think would this affect goods and packages being handled for the holidays? Do you think the injunction will help avoid a strike and give both parties the time to find a resolution? Leave your comments below to discuss about it.

Dave Furness

Dave is a Co-Founder of eSeller365. For over 10 years he has been involved with eCommerce with a particular interest in the marketplaces and the huge opportunities available for sellers when utilizing a multi-channel strategy. After a year of being the UK’s youngest eCommerce consultant, he built an education platform called UnderstandingE that showed the world how to utilize Magento as the “Third Generation of Multi-Channel software”.

Dave has also created a YouTube channel dedicated to entrepreneurship and eCommerce as well as a podcast dedicated to mental health awareness. When Dave isn’t working his main interests include learning and playing Chess, researching the Crypto and NFT space, and trying to find the nearest beach.