Royal Mail to hold 19 days of strike action

Employees at Royal Mail will hold 19 days of strike action over both pay and terms and conditions during the peak build-up to Christmas time.

The Communication Workers Union said late on Tuesday that the strikes will cover Black Friday and Cyber Monday in order to best reflect the "level of anger" amongst workers.

Strikes have been called for 24 hours from 0400 BST on a number of days, with action to be taken by all workers on 13, 20, and 25 October, as well as on 28 November.

A spokesman for the CWU claimed that Royal Mail hopes to "casualise" the postal service and turn it into "an Uber-style employer" and Royal Mail Group stated that further strikes would only further threaten jobs.

Royal Mail said: "Royal Mail is losing £1.0m a day and must change faster in response to changing customer demands.

"Further strikes and resistance to transformation by CWU will only make our financial position worse, and threatens the long-term job security of our postmen and women."

As of 0900 BST, Royal Mail shares had sunk 5.98% to 182.40p.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com