CWU dispute ends and a pay deal has been won. The Communication Workers Union (CWU) recommended members accept the deal with Royal Mail; on a 67% turnout, 76% of members voted yes, and 24% voted no.
CWU members ballot on a deal to settle their dispute with Royal Mail was announced on 11th July.
More than 115,000 postal workers held a total of 18 days of strikes between September and December last year, demanding higher pay and better working conditions as rising inflation eroded earnings. Under the agreement, staff will get a 2% pay rise from April 2022, a consolidated 6% pay rise from April 2023 and a 2% increase next April. and a one-off lump sum of £500. Rate of inflation is currently running at 8.7%.
The deal also includes later starting times for deliveries.
Another win for the CWU was the promise of an independent inquiry into suspended or sacked workers and reduced use of agency workers.
New seasonal working patterns and regular Sunday working, sought by the company, were also agreed.
Talks broke down in early April.
CWU has been negotiating for 11 months over pay, jobs and conditions. There were 18 strike dates called last year and 2023 has seen the union and Royal Mail attempt to make progress at Acas.
16/2/23: CWU members in Royal Mail Group have delivered the biggest ever return in a major national strike ballot. YES 95.9% Turnout 77.3%
Feb 16-17 strike has been postponed. A statement from CWU said that it had received correspondence from Royal Mail Group’s legal representatives challenging the postal strike on 16-17 February.
The basis of the legal challenge is twofold. Firstly, that the next week’s strikes relate to issues not covered by the original ballot, something CWU general secretary Dave Ward described this morning as “complete and utter nonsense”.
Secondly, that some of the industrial action on 16-17 February would affect workers’ duties on 18 February, a date not covered by the current strike mandate.
Pickets at Wolverhampton’s NW Midlands Mail Centre at Sun St, Wolverhampton WV1 1AA; supporters welcome at picket.
Strong support around the UK for the CWU postal executive’s declaration, with reps already preparing for the big day and some considering local rallies…
Yet another broken promise by company bosses gave our union’s leadership no alternative but to authorise the resumption of industrial action yesterday evening. Meeting in emergency session during the late afternoon, industrial executive members collectively decided to call a 24-hour strike starting on Thursday 16th February.
In making the announcement, our general secretary Dave Ward explained how Royal Mail chiefs had gone back on a pledge made only weeks ago to abide by long-standing industrial relations (IR) framework procedures when introducing operational changes such as duty revisions, saying that the business was acting “in direct contravention to the unequivocal commitment given by the CEO Simon Thompson, in a letter to the union of 6th January 2023, in which he wrote that ‘the IR Framework will apply in full’.”
That formal commitment from Mr Thompson had been instrumental in the union not calling further strike action during January, to enable intensive talks to continue in a more constructive environment, Dave continued. But the company had started to implement revisions and unagreed change, whilst refusing to negotiate locally or apply the terms of the IR framework.
The CWU had made every effort to avoid the resumption of hostilities by presenting Royal Mail management with a detailed proposal for re-engagement in revisions at local level, which met the company’s timescales and included a fast-track process to resolve any disagreements over savings targets – but this sensible and reasonable proposal had been rejected by the company, leaving the union with no choice but to call further action. After explaining all of this, Dave also took the opportunity to remind branches, reps and members of the critical need to maximise turnout and the YES vote in the re-ballot currently under way across the country.
The strike will cover all duties and scheduled attendance commencing between the period at or after 12:30pm on Thursday 16th February 2023 and before 12:30pm on Friday 17th February 2023.
Royal Mail Group Pay Dispute – Why postal workers are striking
Employers and government refuse to settle the dispute. The deal offered is a derisory 7% TWO-year pay offer – a dramatic real-terms pay cut – and widespread changes over introducing Uber-style owner-drivers, mail centre closures and changes to Sunday working, has prompted widespread outrage from workers.
Communications Union General Secretary Dave Ward said: “Posties are in the fight of their lives against the Uberisation of Royal Mail and the destruction of their conditions.
CWU postal workers latest strike in Wolverhampton and around the country involving 115,000 keyworkers was on Fri 23rd and Sat 24th December 2022.
Strike action was taken on Thursday 24th November and Friday 25th November – known as Black Friday, the biggest shopping day in the calendar. Wednesday 30th November and Thursday 1st December – just two days after Cyber Monday, one of the busiest online shopping days. Then also on Fri 9th Dec
Postal workers went on strike for a proper pay rise on 30 September, 1st, 13th, 20th and 25 October.
+ on 8th September when Terry Pullinger CWU Dep Gen Sec spoke to pickets at Wolverhampton’s NW Midlands Mail Centre, Sun St. Strike on Fri 9 Sept was postponed.
Wolverhampton TUC delegates have shown solidarity at all pickets
115,000 postal workers.
£750m profit, £400m to shareholders, millions to bosses. We want our share. #StandByYourPost
Strike action was again solid at Wolverhampton’s NW Midlands Mail Centre at Sun St on Friday 26th and on Wednesday 31st August
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Following eight days of all-out strike action by around 40,000 CWU members in BT and Openreach, the dispute formally ended on 15 December – with members voting by a margin of four-to-one to accept a further £1,500 flat-rate pay rise (pro-rata for part-timers), paid monthly from January 1, 2023.
The fully consolidated and pensionable negotiated settlement, which brought six months of industrial unrest in BT Group to its conclusion, comes on top of the £1,500 flat-rate increase that was unilaterally imposed by management in April 2022.
Over 40,000 CWU members working for BT and Openreach, triggered by BT’s unilateral
imposition of real-terms pay cuts for all CWU-represented grades will strike October 6th,
Monday October 10th, Thursday October 20th and Monday October 24th 2022.
They held a two-day national strike against real-terms pay cuts on Friday 29 July & Monday 1 August 2022, first national dispute for 35 years
The announcement followed a Communication Workers’ Union strike ballot, in which Openreach engineers voted for action by 95.8 per cent and members in BT returned a 91.5 per cent majority for the walkout.
The dispute centres on workers opposing the imposition by the business of a far-below-inflation, flat-rate, £1,500pa pay settlement on employees, which is a dramatic real-terms pay cut when compared to RPI inflation levels of over 11 per cent.
It is also in the context of BT making £1.3 billion in annual profit, with CEO Philip Jansen gaining a £3.5 million pay package – a 32 per cent wage increase – while the Big Issue and the BBC have reported instances of BT offices establishing food banks to assist employees.
These members look after the vast majority of Britain’s telecoms infrastructure.
for full story see https://www.cwu.org/news/bt-group-members-set-to-strike-on-29-july-1-august/