Royal Mail relying on skeleton staff as 115,000 postal workers strike

theguardian.com:

Royal Mail has said it is relying on a skeleton staff to deliver only “essential items” after 115,000 postal workers went on strike in year’s biggest industrial action so far.

The 500-year-old postal service’s employees are striking on Friday, Wednesday next week and 8 and 9 September in a dispute over pay and working practices.

Royal Mail workers across Great Britain demonstrated on Friday morning, with picket lines in Dunfermline, Hull and Preston among other places.

In east London, striking employees called for Royal Mail’s chief executive, Simon Thompson, to quit. They chanted: “Thompson out” to the beat of drums on the picket line and sang: “Simon Thompson, you’re not fit to be the CEO.”

Other collective cries include: “What do we want? Thompson out. When do we want it? Now.”

Royal Mail, which employs 140,000 staff including managers, has offered workers a 2% pay rise, backdated to April, and further benefits equivalent to a 3.5% increase if they agree to changes in working practices. Executives say the changes are needed in order to grow Royal Mail’s parcels business in the face of intense competition from rivals including Amazon and DPD.

The CWU argues that staff should receive a pay rise in line with inflation in recognition of their work delivering post during the coronavirus pandemic.

Dave Ward, the union’s general secretary, told the PA news agency: “The way that companies in the UK, particularly companies like Royal Mail, are working at the moment is just not sustainable. They’ve got to start looking after the people who made the very profits that have got them in a good position.”

Royal Mail said that 379 of its 1,200 delivery offices