The Communication Workers Union (CWU) has said that all deliveries and collections will “shut down” during the Royal Mail strike.
There will be four days of strike action across Scotland the union has warned which will take place on 26 to 31 August and 8 to 9 September in a dispute over pay.
Workers have been offered a £500 bonus, with a 5.5% pay rise the Royal Mail said but the CWU says this reflects just a 2% pay increase with a further 1.5% in exchange for new terms and conditions.
On Wednesday the Scottish regional secretary of the CWU, Craig Anderson told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme negotiations had broken down.
He said, “We’re taking this action because we’ve been given no other option.
“The negotiations started in February regarding a pay rise for the workers within Royal Mail and the negotiations have broken down.
“They’ve imposed a 2% pay award without agreement.
“They offered another 1.5% based on signing away terms and conditions, and a further £500 as a bonus for having targets that they knew weren’t achievable. So there was never a 5.5% pay offer put on the table.”
He said that Royal Mail should “sit back round the table” and look at where the workers are at regarding the cost-of-living crisis.
He added, “A fair offer from our perspective would be for them to sit back round the table with us and actually look at where or what comes out at the moment with a cost-of-living crisis, where the company’s been with the profits that they’ve made, and actually start negotiating on a percentage pay raise that reflects that.”
“Our members don’t want to go on strike but we’ve been given no other choice. We’re at gridlock at the moment and as I say we’d be quite happy to sit back round the table to discuss a pay offer,” he continued.
Royal Mail has said that the union has “failed to engage” in discussions about changes that are needed to modernise the business.
A spokesman said, “Industrial action is a significant act of self-harm. Unlike some other sectors like rail, our customers have many choices.
“Even since our last strike in 2009, the market has changed markedly.
“Our retail customers can switch their volume to our competitors at the press of a button and they will press that button if they need to.
“We have a 97% permanent workforce. We pay up to 40% more than our competitors. And our people work for us for, on average, 17-years, reflecting the fact that working for Royal Mail is about more than just finding a short-term job to pay the bills.
“People stay and build careers with us.
“Our industry is very competitive, and our customers are price sensitive. We have to deliver high quality at a lower cost.
“We can’t charge our customers 40% more, so it is up to us to demonstrate the value and quality they get with Royal Mail.
“We also need to find better and more efficient ways of working so we can compete on price and protect jobs long term.”
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