Royal Mail PLC (LSE:RMG) workers have voted for further strike action, this time in a dispute over working conditions - adding to industrial action already planned in each of the coming four weeks in an on-going argument over pay.
Almost 99% of staff represented by the Communication Workers Union (CWU) voted in favour of a strike, with a 72.2% turnout in the ballot.
As with the previously arranged strikes over pay, these next walkouts are likely to involve 115,000 workers.
The union said after workers provided crucial services during the pandemic, they are being "treated with complete contempt" by management.
After agreeing to new terms with the union in March last year, which obliges both sides to negotiate, discuss and agree change measures, the CWU said senior management have shown "increasing hostility" to these principles - most notably returning to "imposed and unagreed change by executive action". This led to the second ballot being called.
“Today’s result is another rejection of those at the top of Royal Mail, who should consider their positions," said CWU general secretary Dave Ward.
“Postal workers in this country are being pushed to the edge, but there can be no doubt that they will fight the planned erosion of their workplace rights with determination."
He said the CWU’s message to Royal Mail’s management is simple: “do right by your workers.”
The union said Royal Mail is attempting to whittle away hard-won working conditions.
The CWU is already planning strikes over pay, with the company's purported 5.5% pay offer actually amounting to a 2% hike in real terms due to soaring inflation. At the same time, Royal Mail made record profits of £753mln, gave shareholders £400mln in returns and awarded directors £2mln of bonuses.
Yesterday, UK inflation hit a 40-year high of over 10%.