Postal staff to vote on strike action after turning down Royal Mail’s final pay offer

Postal workers are to vote on industrial action later this month after turning down Royal Mail’s final pay offer.

The organisation offered a 2.5% rise in basic pay and benefits or a £600 lump-sum payment after originally proposing a pay freeze.

But this improved offer was formally rejected on Friday by the Communication Workers Union (CWU).

CWU deputy general secretary, postal, Dave Ward said: “Royal Mail has abandoned our agreed approach in favour of a short-sighted business plan that amounts to a cost-cutting frenzy, reductions in pay, and a defeatist attitude towards competition.”

The union claims that Royal Mail’s business plan will result in 40,000 job losses, attacks on pension arrangements, closures of mail centres and delivery offices, a pay reduction for postal workers, and a reduction in quality of service for the public.

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CWU officials are to serve the Royal Mail with formal notice tomorrow (Tuesday) of its intention to ballot members for industrial action. The ballot is set to open on Tuesday 22 May, with a result expected on Thursday 7 June.