Thousands of postal and telecoms staff are on strike and further walkouts are planned for September.
Image source, Getty ImagesRoyal Mail staff are going on strike for a second day with 115,000 postal workers walking out in a row over pay.
The strikes will disrupt delivery of packages and letters, and further strikes are planned on 8 and 9 September.
Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) at the Royal Mail are striking after rejecting a pay rise of 2%, amidst the rising cost of living.
The Royal Mail called the strikes by CWU members “self-centred.”
“The CWU’s self-centred actions with the wider trade union movement is putting jobs at risk, and making pay rises less affordable… making Royal Mail’s future more uncertain than at any time in its long history,” a Royal Mail spokesperson said.
The CWU – which says it is the biggest strike in the UK since 2009 – has called on Royal Mail to increase wages to an amount that “covers the current cost of living”.
Prices in the UK are rising at their fastest for 40 years, with inflation at record levels.
The strikes will affect the delivery of post, including premium paid services like Royal Mail Special Delivery, which guarantees arrival by 1pm the next day.
“Unfortunately, we will not be able to provide any compensation for items that are late as a result of industrial action,” a Royal Mail spokesperson told the BBC.
“For Special Delivery Guaranteed items, the guarantee will be suspended for items that are sent the day before the strike, until the industrial action is over. Customers’ terms and rights regarding loss and damage of mail remain unaffected,” the spokesperson added.
The CWU said during the first day of strike action on 26 Aug that its members had lost confidence in Royal Mail.
“They’ve lost faith in the leadership and people will understand that when they see the way that the company have conducted themselves,” the CWU’s Dave Ward said at a strike site in London.
“The company… imposed a 2% pay increase on postal workers. Against the background of rocketing inflation, rocketing energy bills, it’s simply not acceptable.”We are going to fight hard to get our members the pay deal that they deserve,” he added.
Royal Mail’s chief executive Simon Thompson told the BBC on Friday: “Our reality is that the Covid bubble has burst, and we can see the economic situation around us all. And our reality today is we are losing £1m a day.
“The change that we need is to pivot our business from a business that was built for letters into a business that can now win in the parcels market.”
The BBC has contacted the CWU for comment.
Workers at BT and rail workers have also walked out in what has been nicknamed the “summer of strikes” across the UK.