Online shopping deliveries in the run-up to Christmas could be disrupted by the latest strike action at Royal Mail.
Postal workers will stage six more days of strike action in December, including on Christmas Eve, as part of the latest walkouts to affect the service in a row over pay and conditions.
Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) at the service will go on strike on 9, 11, 14, 15, 23 and 24 December.
Four other strike days are already planned, including around Black Friday next week.
Victoria Scholar, head of investment at interactive investor, says tensions between the two sides are ramping up again. “Only yesterday, International Distribution Services said talks would cease if further strike action goes ahead, implying workers are taking a more aggressive approach, perhaps after their intensive talks failed to progress.”
Royal Mail and its workers appear to be in a stalemate over pay and conditions, with workers frustrated with the cost-of-living crisis as wages fail to keep up with inflation.
Royal Mail’s parent company, IDS, recently announced 10,000 job cuts last month. It posted a £219m loss for the first half of the financial year yesterday, and asked the government to let it stop delivering letters on Saturdays.
