Royal Mail PLC (LSE:RMG) faces the "biggest potential strike of the summer", said the Communication Workers Union (CWU) as it started balloting its members today over a potential walkout over pay.
The FTSE 250 company has offered a 2% pay rise, which the trade union said represented a "massive pay cut" in real terms, as consumer price inflation hit 9.1% last month and is expected to near 11% later in the year.
A "straight, no-strings" increase in pay is being demanded by the union, which represents 115,000 postal workers.
Many local district offices are intending to vote yes to a strike, according to the CWU twitter account.
Inverclyde full timers are voting YES ???? #HomeToVote pic.twitter.com/yGWCfgtHV3
— The CWU (@CWUnews) June 29, 2022
A spokesperson for the CWU said: “Britain’s postal workers are being forced into accepting a massive pay cut by the same people they have generated incredible profits for.
“Our members are going to food banks while bosses reward themselves with advance bonuses.
“It is an unjust, unsustainable way to treat people. We have no doubt that workers will defy this despicable treatment, stand up for themselves and vote to begin the biggest strike of this summer.”
This week, Post Office workers voted to down shutters for a day next month, with the strike also against real-term pay cuts, while earlier this month tens of thousands of rail workers went on strike.
Ballots on industrial action are also under way or planned at BT and Rolls-Royce, while public sector workers and doctors are also up in arms over falls in real pay over recent years.
South West Regional Distribution Centre are voting YES ???? #HomeToVote pic.twitter.com/BU3DDENMbV
— The CWU (@CWUnews) June 29, 2022
Dunstable DO are wanting their pay rise ???? #HomeToVote pic.twitter.com/L0Lacw1lbG
— The CWU (@CWUnews) June 29, 2022