Business / Majority of posties ‘ready to take action’ over pay dispute, local rep says
A LOCAL union representative says posties in Shetland are prepared to go on strike if a national dispute over pay is not resolved.
Communication Workers Union (CWU) Grampian and Shetland branch secretary George Ross said the Royal Mail’s pay offer for posties is “poor”.
Members of the CWU across the UK have already voted to go on strike in a dispute over a proposed two per cent pay increase.
The union said it is demanding that Royal Mail Group enters into negotiations to secure a “straight, no-strings” pay increase for workers.
“No-one, and I mean no-one, wants to take industrial action,” Ross said.
“Why would they, it means a loss of money in a time of a cost of living crisis. But we cannot accept two per cent when inflation is so high, and two per cent is basically a pay cut.”
Nearly 98 per cent of UK postal workers who took part in the CWU ballot on pay voted in favour of a strike.
The Royal Mail said it was disappointed with the outcome and added that it will “continue to seek an agreement”.
It noted that for any industrial action to take place, the CWU must provide Royal Mail with 14 days’ notice.
Ross said that if “sense can’t be seen then the impact could be huge”.
“Many posties see customers in small communities as friends, some are actually family and no-one wants to let anyone down or not deliver their mail but it’s time we took a stand and get what we deserve,” he said.
“The amount of parcel traffic over the pandemic period on Shetland was massive and the fact we had to change the way we worked over that period was testament to the posties making sure they went above and beyond to get the mail delivered.
“Key workers were applauded on the work done, keeping communities intact and helping get things done while the country was in lockdown, and many had the ability to work from home.
“The posties never had that choice. We carried on and not only delivered the mail and parcels but we delivered massive profits.
“Out of the £758 million [profit reported by Royal Mail Group], £400 million was paid to the shareholders.
“We are being offered circa £9.17 a week or 25p an hour based on a 37 hour week.
“Not too sure anyone would see that as a reasonable pay offer and that’s why we are where we are.
“We all hope there’s a move to resolve the issues but if there isn’t, we are prepared to withdraw our labour.”
A further CWU ballot will be held tomorrow (27 July) on national agreements.
Meanwhile more than 40,000 BT Group workers are to hold a two-day national strike against “real-terms pay cuts” on 29 July and 1 August.
The CWU said the strike action is also “likely to have a serious effect on the roll-out of ultra-fast broadband”.
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