Royal Mail workers in Cwmbran continued their 48-hour strike in Cwmbran today. They gathered outside the former post office in General Rees Square for the second day.
Members of the Communication Workers Union stopped working yesterday morning in an ongoing dispute over pay and conditions.
Cwmbran Life spoke to Byron Weaver who said: “We are here today because me personally, I’m really angry with the company. They promote themselves as a family employer.
“When I first joined they said they needed people who played sport, because they said we need fit people who could do the job. I had to stop playing rugby because they changed the times a few years back so I lost my social side of the game as well. I had to stop playing in the end because of work hours and now that I’ve got a young family I feel that what they are trying to impose is not family-friendly. Working weekends, working late on a Saturday and possibly a Sunday would totally rule out any valuable family time.”
The former Girling RFC and Croesyceiliog RFC player said: “I’ve heard we are possibly going to have to start two hours later which means we will finish two hours later. I’ve heard some offices may work midday until 8pm, 9pm to 5pm even on a Saturday and a Sunday.”
‘You can’t plan any family time’
“As someone who would only get one in six Saturdays off and someone with a young family you can’t plan any family time like going away for weekends and stuff like that.
“You just think in the end, is this really worth what I want to do? Work is taking over my life. I want to work to live, not live to work. A lot of people joined because they’ve got kids, and they could pick the kids up at the end of the day and now I think they (Royal Mail) are maybe doing it on purpose to force people to leave so possibly they won’t have to pay redundancy.
“Eleven people have left in the last few months because people think if this comes in it’s going to ruin our lives and we are going to be on lower pay as well. We get a payment for the leaflets we deliver, they are going to get rid of that. If we work Sunday is going to be flat-rate throughout the business so there is no perks of working a Sunday.”
Future strike dates
- Thursday 13 October 2022
- Thursday 20 October 2022
- Tuesday 25 October 2022
- Monday 28 November 2022
Response from Royal Mail
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “On September 22, Royal Mail invited CWU to enter into talks through Acas to find a resolution to our dispute on change and pay. This evening, rather than responding to our offer of Acas talks, the CWU announced further damaging industrial action, once again taking the path of prolonging disruption over resolution.
“Royal Mail is losing £1 million a day and must change faster in response to changing customer demands. We operate in a competitive market, and our customers have choices.
“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. The CWU has a responsibility to recognise the reality of the situation Royal Mail faces as a business and engage urgently on the changes required.
“We apologise to our customers for the inconvenience the CWU’s continued strike action will cause. We are doing all we can to minimise any delays and keep people, businesses and the country connected.”
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