By James Simons-
Royal Mail workers, university lecturers and sixth-form college staff will walk out over pay disputes today as strikes continue across the country.
It is the latest in a series of walkouts involving 115,000 workers and will hit deliveries across the UK.
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The Communication Workers Union (CWU), which represents the workers, says its members want a pay rise that matches the soaring cost of living.
Royal Mail has made a revised offer but says “no talks are happening”.
Postal workers walked out on Thursday and Friday last week, and another wave of strikes is planned in the run-up to Christmas – on 9, 11, 14, 15, 23 and 24 December.
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Clara Challoner Walker, who runs the Cosy Cottage Soap Company in Malton, Yorkshire, said the strikes were having a “significant impact” on her business.
She uses Royal Mail because it is too expensive to send her relatively small soap and skincare orders via courier companies.
She said the strikes could really damage the business during the “critical” Christmas trading period, when it makes most of its profits for the year.
Royal Mail has warned that the postal strikes will “hold Christmas to ransom” for their customers.
Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), which represents Royal Mail staff, are also planning strikes next month, including on Christmas Eve.
Dave Ward, its general secretary, said: “Royal Mail bosses are risking a Christmas meltdown because of their stubborn refusal to treat their employees with respect.”
Postal workers want to get on with delivering Christmas gifts, he said, but “they will not meekly accept the casualisation of their jobs”.
Hundreds of thousands of workers across many sections of the economy, including nurses, rail workers and ambulance staff, are due to strike next month and in January.
A paramedic walks past a line of ambulances outside the Royal London Hospital, in London, during England's third national lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus. Picture date: Wednesday January 20, 2021.
The army is on stand by in case it is needed to fill roles during strikes by NHS workers over the winter.
“The reality is if the army or other armed forces step in it will very much be at the margins rather than going out and driving ambulances,” Saffron Cordery, the interim chief executive of NHS Providers, told Sky News this morning.
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union at Network Rail and 14 train operators are planning four 48-hour strikes on 13-14 December and 16-17 December and 3-4 January and 6-7 January
Royal College of Nursing has confirmed strikes on 15 December and 20 December
Ambulance workers, who are part of Unison, are set to strike before Christmas although an exact strike date has not been set yet
Around 100,000 civil service members to strike in December and January – dates have not been announced
The CWU said its members will be in London next Friday for the “biggest strike demonstration this country has ever seen”.
Royal Mail said it was “proud to have the best pay and conditions in our industry” and has urged customers to send their Christmas post early.
National Education Union (NEU) teacher members who work in 77 sixth-form colleges in England are also on strike in a dispute over pay.
The union said teachers working in sixth-form colleges have suffered a real-terms pay cut of an estimated 20% since 2010.
A ballot showed huge support for industrial action.
Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the NEU, said: “Members take strike action with great reluctance, but the effects of real-terms pay losses are simply too urgent for them to endure the situation any longer.
“These cuts are driving an exodus from the profession.”
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