THOUSANDS of postal workers in the United Kingdom today began a series of strikes over pay, as the cost-of-living crisis prompts mass industrial action in numerous sectors.

In east London, postal workers stood outside a delivery office waving flags and chanting: “What do we want? Decent pay!”

Workers at Royal Mail Group, who deliver parcels and letters across the nation in distinctive red vans with a crown logo, are joining picket lines across the UK in protest after being given a pay raise that falls far short of inflation.

Today is the first of several planned days of strikes by 115,000 members of The Communication Workers Union (CWU), which represents Royal Mail Group workers.

They also plan to strike on Wednesday as well as September 8 and 9.

CWU general secretary Dave Ward told AFP: “Our members are saying enough’s enough.

“We want a substantial pay rise for our members. We want that to be reflecting the efforts that our members put in during the pandemic to keep the company going.

“We want it also to protect us against inflation.”

Royal Mail Group said on its website that “customers should expect significant disruption” and it will not be delivering letters on days when strike action is taking place.

The union said a 97.6% majority had voted to strike after having an unagreed 2% pay deal imposed on them, while UK inflation is now in double digits.

“The pay dispute is not complicated,” the CWU said in a statement.

“Our members need it, our members deserve it – the company can afford it.”

It cited the fact that the privatised Royal Mail Group announced £758 million (RM4 billion) in profits for last year.

Government probe

Strike action in the UK is taking place in sectors with large numbers of unionised workers, including previously publicly owned structures such as Royal Mail and railways.

The strikes come as the energy regulator Ofgem today announced the near doubling of a price cap on energy bills for households not on fixed-term tariffs to average £3,549 per year.

Meanwhile, the UK government has warned Royal Mail that it will probe a plan by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky to increase his stake in the firm to more than 25% under new national security powers.

In a statement yesterday to the London Stock Exchange, the company said Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng “reasonably suspects” that Kretinsky’s Vesa Equity might up its holding and that doing so would trigger a National Security Investment Act investigation.

The act, which came into force this year, enables the government to probe deals that “may give rise to a risk to national security”.

Kretinsky, a Czech energy billionaire, has stakes in Sainsbury’s, Foot Locker and Macy’s.

Kertinsky, who built one of Europe’s biggest energy groups, last year completed a deal to buy 27% of English football club West Ham, and holds stakes in supermarket chain Sainsbury’s and French newspaper Le Monde.

“Royal Mail will fully cooperate with this review and a further announcement will be made as and when appropriate,” it said. – AFP, August 26, 2022.