Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Royal Mail will seek an injunction to try to stop planned 48-hour strike

The CWU was given a deadline of noon on Monday to withdraw its strike threat, but did not meet it

Josie Cox
Business Editor
Monday 09 October 2017 13:57 BST
Comments
If the strike goes ahead, it will be the first time that postal workers have walked out en masse since the Royal Mail was privatised in 2015
If the strike goes ahead, it will be the first time that postal workers have walked out en masse since the Royal Mail was privatised in 2015

Royal Mail has said that it will lodge an application with the High Court for an injunction to prevent a 48-strike from happening, in a dispute over pensions and pay.

Members of the Communication Workers Union are due to walk out on 19 October at 11am after voting in favour of a strike.

On Monday, Royal Mail in a statement said that it had written to the CWU, invoking a “legally-binding external mediation process” and calling the prospect of industrial action unlawful.

The CWU was given a deadline of noon on Monday to withdraw its strike threat, but did not meet it.

“As a result, Royal Mail will today lodge an application with the High Court for an injunction to prevent industrial action so that the contractual external mediation process can be followed,” Royal Mail said. “A date for a hearing will be arranged with the High Court,” it added.

If the strike goes ahead, it will be the first time that postal workers have walked out en masse since the Royal Mail was privatised in 2015.

Although it is unlikely to affect the crucial Christmas period, It will cause major disruptions to deliveries.

The CWU last week said that 89.1 per cent of members who voted had been in favour of a strike, with a turnout of 73.7 per cent. That was well above the 50 per cent threshold required under the new Trade Union Act.

The union has also called on Royal Mail bosses to resign, accusing them of excessive cost cutting since the service began a two-year transition to privatisation in 2013.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

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