UK Post Office staff to strike over wages as discontent spreads

BRITAIN’S Post Office workers will strike for a day next month over wages, the latest group in the country to boycott work over surging inflation and low pay rises.

The UK’s 114 Crown Post Office locations will close on Jul 11, the Communications Workers Union said in a statement. An offer of a 3 per cent raise and one-off payment of £500 (S$851) for employees at the state-owned utility is “woefully inadequate” with inflation hitting 9.1 per cent in May and expected to rise further, the union said. 

The Post Office was separated from Royal Mail in 2012.

The planned action by the postal workers is the latest clash between unions and the UK government over a range of issues from pay to working conditions. Britain’s criminal trial lawyers are currently striking across the country over funding and fees, while 40,000 railway staff took part in 3 days of stoppages last week in the largest rail strike in 3 decades. Teachers and National Health Service staff are also considering industrial action.

“This dispute is about dignity and respect for hard-working employees — essential public servants who, as key workers, provided unprecedented customer service during the pandemic,” Andy Furey, the assistant secretary of the CWU, said in the statement. BLOOMBERG