Post union orders new walkout

13 April 2012

Postal workers in London are to stage a fresh strike next week in a long-running row over allowances, adding to a wave of industrial unrest in the capital, union leaders announced today.

Members of the Communication Workers Union will walk out for 24 hours on October 16, threatening huge disruption to mail collections and deliveries.

A strike last week cost the Royal Mail up to £10 million and it took five days to clear the backlog of post.

The action will coincide with a stoppage by council workers in London in a separate dispute over pay.

Co-ordinated strikes by unions representing workers from different sectors is highly unusual, but a growing number of disputes are breaking out in the capital.

Striking postal workers will stage a lobby outside the headquarters of the Department of Trade and Industry and will hold a rally in central London.

CWU deputy general secretary Dave Ward said: "We have chosen the same day as the council workers' strike to raise the issue of low pay across the public sector."

The Royal Mail has warned that a strike will not lead to an increase in its offer but would merely add fresh financial pressure to the organisation.

The union is seeking a London weighting allowance of £4,000 a year while the Royal Mail has offered £300, which will increase outer London weighting to £2,667 and inner London weighting to £3,784.

The council workers' strike is also over London weighting allowances.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in