CWU

Communication Workers' Union

Royal Mail dispute is still ongoing

Communication Workers Union (CWU) strikes in Royal Mail are planned for 24-25 November and 30 November-1 December. The union has called off other strikes in Royal Mail planned through November, in part because of legal threats from the company. The union subsequently published a joint statement with Royal Mail. Royal Mail halted the planned imposition of redundancies and changes to terms and conditions. In the statement, both sides also affirmed their commitment to resolving the dispute and to a “de-escalation of tension to avoid flashpoints and restoring calmness in the workplace.” A postal...

CWU cancels strikes after legal threat

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) announced via a public online briefing on 30 October that it was cancelling department-by-department strikes planned in early November, following threats of legal action from Royal Mail. CWU officials said Royal Mail had raised objections about the information given to them by the union about which members had been balloted in just three out of 1,500 workplaces. However, the CWU’s legal department’s advice was that facing down Royal Mail’s threats in court could lead to the entire ballot being injuncted. Planned all-out strikes on 12 and 14 November...

Royal Mail’s new wave starts 12 November

Since the issue of Solidarity with this article ( 651 ) went to press, CWU has announced a change, replacing all previously announced dates with strikes on Thursday 24th, Friday 25th and Wednesday 30 November and Thursday 1 December - "plus a programme of December action to be confirmed". The CWU union in Royal Mail starts a new and more intense wave of strikes over pay and conditions from 12 November. It will build up pressure on Royal Mail bosses through to Black Friday (25 November) and Cyber Monday (28 November) and beyond. But there are still issues and problems to surmount on the road to...

BT workers moot four-day strike

Members of CWU at BT had their eighth day of strikes over an imposed pay settlement on Monday 24 October. Reportedly the union will next call four consecutive days of strike action, a break in a pattern of spaced-out strike days. That might begin to put sustained pressure on BT bosses, who are so far refusing to negotiate. BT imposed a flat rate settlement of £1,500 on last year’s round of pay negotiations. The CWU says that equates to 3.8% and 8%, with the vast majority receiving only a little over 4%. CWU-represented workers at BT are not high earners — basic pay (outside London) ranges...

Post workers ramp up strikes

Royal Mail postal workers in the Communication Workers Union (CWU) are continuing a rolling programme of strikes, as they fight for a decent pay rise, and to resist job cuts and attacks on their terms and conditions. Workers in all roles struck on 20 October. A postal worker and CWU rep told us: “The mood is brilliant, the support is constant, solid, and unwavering. Not just in my area, but across the whole country.” “Gate meetings”, mass meetings of workers outside workplaces, were held on 19 October to update workers on the dispute: “They were mainly an update from the National Executive...

Strikes still stepping up

Ballot results from some civil services, from university academic staff, and from some health workers, are due in the next few weeks. Postal workers’ strikes over pay, jobs, and conditions are now entering what some activists have called a “crunch time” for the dispute. The Communication Workers Union (CWU) has named 19 days of strikes running until early December, covering days such as Black Friday (25 November) and Cyber Monday (28 November). Royal Mail management has responded with significant escalation of its own, announcing plans to cut 10,000 jobs. In turn, CWU members will need to...

One-day, indefinite and other strikes

The current wave of strikes has seen the reappearance of a trade union tactic once standard, and stronger than series of one-day or few-day strikes: the indefinite strike. Three indefinite strikes have been called in the current wave so far — criminal barristers, Arriva bus drivers in garages in north and east London, and housing maintenance workers for Barnet council (strike only just started). The barristers’ strike lasted just over a month, and secured a 15 per cent increase. Unite called off the Arriva strike a week before it was due to take place, after the employer offered 10-11 percent...

Anger and resolve in Royal Mail fight

Postal workers in the Communication Workers Union (CWU) are continuing a programme of 19 days of strikes, running through October and November. Royal Mail has recently announced plans to cut 10,000 jobs. A postal worker and CWU activist spoke to Solidarity about the dispute. The response to the strikes so far has been superb, the resolve of the members is terrific. The strike have been totally solid everywhere. In my office, there are over 550 staff, and we've the worst we've had on any of the strike days is four or five people going in. We've had some agency staff go in, but even then, most...

The 19 days in Royal Mail

A postal worker and CWU rep in southwest England spoke to Solidarity . The different unions striking together on 1 October have deepened the public sense of this strike wave as a working-class fightback against the Tories. People who aren’t involved in the labour movement don’t know the ins-and-outs of balloting law. They won’t necessarily be looking at this and seeing individual unions fighting individual industrial disputes. They see the union movement taking on the government. We need to harness that feeling and expand it. I think there’s a strong level of public support for our strikes...

Postal workers gear up for more strikes

Postal workers will strike for 19 days through October, November, and early December, in their dispute over pay and working conditions. A postal worker and CWU rep in southwest England spoke to Solidarity.

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