Royal Mail workers to go on national strike on November 4th

After they voted to go on strike, Royal Mail workers have set the date to November 4 for their national 24-hour strike.

13:03 17 October 2013

After almost four years, Royal Mail workers will stage a national 24-hour strike on November 4.

The workers have voted yes and said it was four-to-one in favour.

Their goal is to protect worker’s terms and conditions as Royal Mail was privatised.

Meanwhile, the company said in a statement that it was “very disappointed” by the announcement. It added that it hopes to agree a settlement in the next two weeks, which would possibly avert the strike.

The Communication Workers Union’s deputy general secretary, Dave Ward, said: "Postal workers have spoken very clearly that they care about their jobs, terms and conditions far more than they care about shares.

"We have said from the beginning that we want an agreement and we still do. We have offered the company a two-week period to reach an agreement and having already had many hours of negotiation, this is achievable if there is a will."

Meanwhile, Business Secretary Vince Cable said the government would not intervene.

"When it was in public ownership - and of course it no longer is - we took the view that this is an arm's length body, it operates commercially, it's not a branch of government, and the industrial relations issues should be sorted out by the management and the unions sitting together," he said.