Rejecting a 5.5 per cent pay offer, more than 115,000 workers at Britain's Royal Mail launched a four-day strike on Friday, with the postal group warning customers of significant disruption.
Employees across the UK workforce are demanding higher wages in the face of a cost-of-living crisis, with energy bills soaring and inflation projected to exceed 13 per cent.
"We are going to fight very hard here to get the pay rise our members deserve," said Dave Ward, the Communication Workers' Union general secretary.
Royal Mail says it has offered a 5.5 per cent pay rise for CWU-grade workers, its biggest increase in years. The protest action is being described as the UK's biggest strike of the summer so far.
The CWU said its members were taking the action for a “dignified, proper pay rise” after they voted in favour by 97.6 per cent in a ballot. The strike on Friday will be followed by further stoppages next Wednesday, and on September 8 and 9.
The union said management imposed a 2 per cent pay rise on employees, yet they were classified as key workers throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.
“In an economic climate where inflation looks set to soar to 18 per cent by January 2023, the imposition will lead to a dramatic reduction in workers’ living standards,” said a union spokesman.
Mr Ward said he expected a “tremendous outpouring of workers’ unity in villages, towns and cities across the country”.
“There can be no doubt that postal workers are completely united in their determination to secure the dignified, proper pay rise they deserve.
“Royal Mail’s leadership has lost the dressing room — and unless they make efforts to get real on discussing a pay rise that postal workers deserve, serious disruption will continue.”
CWU deputy general secretary Terry Pullinger said the Royal Mail Group had left workers with “no choice but to fight”.
Strikes in Britain — in pictures
Royal Mail said it has “well-developed contingency plans” to minimise disruption, focused on getting mail delivery back to normal as quickly as possible after the strike action.
The company said that on days when strike action is taking place, it would deliver as many Special Delivery and Tracked24 parcels as possible, prioritising Covid-19 test kits and medical prescriptions.
Customers are advised to post items as early as possible before the strike dates. Collections will be less frequent on days of protest action.
The union is also in dispute with Royal Mail over efficiency.
A company representative said: “We are losing £1 million [$1.1m] a day and we need to change what we are doing to fix the situation and protect jobs.
“This change is also needed to support the pay package we have offered to CWU grade colleagues, worth up to 5.5 per cent.
“This is the biggest increase we have offered for many years and the CWU have rejected it. This would add around £230m to Royal Mail’s annual people costs when the business is already loss-making.”
The union expects it to be the biggest strike of the summer, following strikes in other sectors such as rail, telecoms and the legal profession.
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
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Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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Sarfira
Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal
Rating: 2/5
Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
if you go
The flights
Emirates have direct flights from Dubai to Glasgow from Dh3,115. Alternatively, if you want to see a bit of Edinburgh first, then you can fly there direct with Etihad from Abu Dhabi.
The hotel
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Located in the heart of Mackintosh's Glasgow, the Dakota Deluxe is perhaps the most refined hotel anywhere in the city. Doubles from Dh850
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Events and tours
There are various Mackintosh specific events throughout 2018 – for more details and to see a map of his surviving designs see glasgowmackintosh.com
For walking tours focussing on the Glasgow Style, see the website of the Glasgow School of Art.
More information
For ideas on planning a trip to Scotland, visit www.visitscotland.com
MATCH INFO
Inter Milan v Juventus
Saturday, 10.45pm (UAE)
Watch the match on BeIN Sports
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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Australia
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South Korea
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Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
The five pillars of Islam
More on Quran memorisation:
RESULT
Liverpool 4 Southampton 0
Jota (2', 32')
Thiago (37')
Van Dijk (52')
Man of the match: Diogo Jota (Liverpool)
