POSTAL WORKERS DELIVER RECORD YES VOTE FOR NATIONAL STRIKE ACTION

The Communication Workers Union has announced that its members have voted overwhelmingly in favour of national strike action with a yes vote of 97.1% following a ballot of roughly 110,000 UK postal workers. This result represents the largest yes vote for national industrial action since the passing of the Trade union Act 2016.

This result is also compounded by the large turnout of members, with 75.9% taking part in this ballot, smashing through the anti-trade union threshold rules passed in the same 2016 Act.

The Act determines that a majority of those balloted must have returned their ballot paper, with the high threshold usually blocking trade unions from taking industrial action. The CWU previously beat the threshold in 2017, and has now done so for second time. The CWU is the only trade union in the UK to have passed the threshold.

The prospect of the first national postal strike in a decade now looms large.

Reacting to this result, Deputy General Secretary (Postal) Terry Pullinger said: “Just over one year ago the Royal Mail Group Board and the CWU agreed a blue print agreement for the future, a progressive agreement that included an historic pension solution, a mutual interest driven relationship and a joint vision for a successful postal service with social aims.

Today the new RMG leadership are breaking that agreement. Our members take honour seriously and have voted to fight for that agreement against those who now seek to break up the great British Postal service in the interest of fast track profit and greed. Integrity and pride still matters and we will not stand aside and see what we have spent our working lives building destroyed.”

General Secretary Dave Ward said: “This result sends a clear message to Royal Mail Group – Our members will not stand by as you rip up their terms and conditions and destroy the service they give to the public and businesses of the UK.

We would urge Royal Mail Group to now enter serious negotiations with this union. We also call on the public to get behind this dispute and your postal workers. We are very proud of our members today. They have stood by their union in record numbers and given hope to workers across the nation.”

For further information or to organise an interview with either Dave Ward or Terry Pullinger please contact Liam Young –lyoung@cwu.org / 07375 416423.