Royal Mail workers will strike over Black Friday weekend
(Picture: Leon Neal/Getty Images)Royal Mail workers are set to walk out during one of the busiest shopping periods of the year: Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
The two 48-hour strikes planned for late November are the latest in a series of Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) walkouts over a pay dispute amid rising inflation.
The strikes will likely affect people taking advantage of Black Friday and Cyber Monday’s online deals and discounts.
Furthermore, the CWU will also meet on November 3 to “discuss new actions in the Christmas build-up,” so there is a possibility that online Christmas shopping deliveries could be disrupted, too.
Find out when the Royal Mail strikes will take place and how they will affect online shopping.
When are the Black Friday strikes?
Postal workers will strike over Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend.
They will walk out on November 24 and 25, with November 25 being Black Friday itself. They will then strike on November 30 and December 1, two days after Cyber Monday on November 28.
How will the Black Friday and Cyber Monday strikes affect deliveries?
Deliveries of packages ordered on Black Friday and Cyber Monday will be delayed.
When ordering online, be aware that anything due to be delivered by Royal Mail will take longer than usual.
Packages due to be delivered by other companies, such as Amazon, Evri, and Yodel, for example, should run as usual.
Royal Mail said that it “has well-developed contingency plans, but we cannot fully replace the daily efforts of our frontline workforce. We’ll be doing what we can to keep services running, but we are sorry this planned strike action is likely to cause you some disruption.”
Royal Mail will prioritise the delivery of Covid tests and medical prescriptions, and will attempt to deliver Special Delivery and Tracked 24 parcels. Letters will not be delivered.
Why are postal workers striking?
Postal workers are striking over a pay dispute. Union members are demanding a pay increase to reflect the increasing cost of living.
CWU general secretary Dave Ward said: “Posties are in the fight of their lives against the Uberisation of Royal Mail and the destruction of their conditions.
“But 115,000 of our members will not just accept this war on their livelihoods and their industry.
“They will never give up the fight to protect this industry and to protect their hard-won working conditions.
“[Royal Mail CEO] Simon Thompson has to either accept that or walk away – until he does one or the other, serious disruption will continue.”
CWU acting deputy general secretary Andy Furey said: “Simon Thompson’s plan is evident – they want to destroy this company as we know it.
“They want outsourcing, casualisation, the decimation of working practices and pay.
“But so many of our members have given their entire working lives to building this company.
“They deserve a much better deal than what is on offer, and Simon Thompson is on another planet if he thinks we’ll stop fighting to achieve that.”
