Royal Mail staff are on strike for a second day as 115,000 postal workers step down over pay.
The strikes will disrupt the delivery of parcels and letters, and further strikes are planned for September 8th and 9th.
Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) at Royal Mail are on strike after rejecting a 2% pay rise amid rising living costs.
The Royal Mail described the strikes by CWU members as “selfish”.
“The CWU’s self-centered actions with the wider union movement are putting jobs at risk and making pay rises less affordable…making Royal Mail’s future more uncertain than at any time in its long history,” added the Royal Mail spokesman.
The CWU – which says it is the biggest strike in the UK since 2009 – has urged Royal Mail to increase wages to an amount that “covers current living costs”.
UK prices are rising at their fastest pace in 40 years and inflation is at record levels.
The strikes are affecting postal delivery, including premium paid services such as Royal Mail Special Delivery, which guarantees arrival by 1pm the next day.
“Unfortunately we are unable to compensate for items that are delayed due to industrial action,” a Royal Mail spokesman told the BBC.
“For items with a special delivery guarantee, the guarantee for items sent the day before the strike will be suspended until the industrial action has ended. Customers’ terms and rights in relation to loss of and damage to mail remain unaffected,” the spokesman added.
The CWU said on the first day of the strike on August 26 that its members had lost confidence in Royal Mail.
“They have lost confidence in leadership and people will understand that when they see how the company has been behaving,” said the CWU’s Dave Ward at a strike site in London.
“The company … imposed a 2% pay rise on postal workers. Against the backdrop of skyrocketing inflation and skyrocketing energy bills, this is simply unacceptable.” he added.
Royal Mail chief executive Simon Thompson told the BBC on Friday: “Our reality is that the Covid bubble has burst and we can see the economic situation around us. And our reality today is that we are losing 1 million pounds a day.
“The change we need is to take our business from a business built for letters to a business that can now win in the parcel market.”
The BBC has reached out to the CWU for comment.
BT and rail workers have also left across the UK in what has been called the ‘summer of strikes’.
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