Letters “are piling high” in the Southwark delivery offices as Royal Mail postal workers continue their walk-outs.
Roughly 115,000 CWU union members furious with “unreasonable” working conditions and “unfair” pay will strike on December 15, 23 and 24, the latest escalation in a long-running dispute.
They have rejected a 9 percent pay rise, demanding an increase in line with RPI inflation which soared to 11.1 per cent in October.
But for a Rotherhithe postie, who wished to remain anonymous, conditions are more important than pay: “There are mothers who started that job because it suited them taking their kids to school and then picking them up. Now they’re being told to work start later and finish later!
“People are being sacked for sickness just as we’re coming up to Christmas – that’s the kind of people we’re dealing with.”
Royal Mail has now warned customers to send Christmas cards by December 19 if second class, and by December 21 if first class, to avoid disappointment.
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The anonymous postal worker told the News that although strikes had been exacerbated post delays, they were already being caused by Royal Mail’s “policy of prioritising parcels” to keep up with companies like Amazon.
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “Royal Mail does not operate a policy of prioritising parcels. We regularly remind colleagues that the delivery, collection and processing of letters and parcels should be treated with equal importance.”
MP for Dulwich and West Norwood Helen Hayes said East Dulwich residents have been struggling with postal delays for years and that “disruption bears no relationship to the strikes at all”.
Her constituents have long been reporting six-week delays to important letters containing passports, medical documents and fines.
Helen Hayes said: “I visited a local delivery office while the industrial action was ongoing and they said when they strike, they are cleared within two or three days. I don’t think our delays are related to the strike.”
She said post in SE22 has been “unreliable” ever since the Silvester Road branch closed in 2018 and was merged with Peckham.
She said Royal Mail had sold the branch for £7 million and failed to reinvest it in providing effective local postal delivery.
“I want Royal Mail to look at what they need to do in order to be able to deliver a consistently reliable service as they are legally advised to do under the universal service obligation,” she said.
Postal workers are also accusing Royal Mail of modernising at the expense of workers’ jobs as it adapts to a more parcel-orientated industry.
In March 2021, union bosses and the Royal Mail CEO Simon Thompson signed ‘The Pathway to Change’, a document recognising the need to modernise while safeguarding jobs and conditions.
The document said that Royal Mail Group (RMG) “will avoid compulsory redundancies”. Workers claim Royal Mail rowed back on this promise when it announced there would be 10,000 job losses by next year.
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A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “The CWU is striking at our busiest time, holding Christmas to ransom for our customers, businesses and families across the country.
“We have well-developed contingency plans in place to minimise delays and keep people, businesses and keep the country connected.
“We are proud to have the best pay and conditions in our industry. In an industry dominated by the ‘gig economy’, insecure work, and low pay, our model sets us apart and we want to preserve it.”
