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Royal Mail union to launch strike ballot for 100,000 postal workers


Royal Mail’s main trade union is to ballot more than 100,000 postal workers over possible strike action after accusing the company of breaching the “spirit and intent” of a labour agreement.

The Communication Workers Union has set out plans to consult its members in a dispute it said relates to issues including employment terms and conditions and job security.

The move marks a dramatic deterioration of industrial relations at Britain’s privatised postal service, which averted nationwide walkouts last year in a conflict sparked by the planned closure of a retirement fund.

A ballot of CWU members is scheduled to open on 24 September, with the result due on 8 October. It raises the possibility of serious disruption in the run-up to the peak season ahead of Christmas, a crucial time for the postal business.

Union officials however left the door open to a peaceful reconciliation, saying that the timetable allowed “a period of weeks for further dialogue/external mediation”.

Royal Mail is one of the UK’s largest private sector employers but still has a duty to deliver mail six days a week anywhere in the country at the same price.

The CWU said the FTSE 250 group was not honouring a wide-ranging deal signed last year that included pay rises, a pledge to reduce working hours and new pension proposals.

In a letter to members, the CWU said it believed Royal Mail’s management was “not working within the spirit and intent of our national agreements” and was “following [its] own agenda that will have long-term detrimental effects on our members’ terms and conditions of employment, job security and the future of [Royal Mail Group] as a whole”.

Royal Mail was not immediately available for comment. The company has previously said it was abiding by the 2018 agreement.



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