by Royal Mail postal workers have voted to take strike action over job security after Royal Mail insisted that postmen can’t deliver the vast majority of today’s email.
Their union, the Communication Workers Union, has said they will try over the next few days to reach an agreement to let postmen deliver email and prevent any stoppages.
But should those efforts fail, we would see the first UK-wide walkout by postal staff since the last time they were unhappy about the success of the Internet.
Dispute
The dispute remains essentially the same as two years ago, that postmen and women are not being allowed to deliver email, and as such are no longer able to justify their jobs.
“It’s crazy,” said Union spokesperson, “This is an ideal opportunity for the Royal Mail to differentiate its service.”
“What better way to receive your email than printed out and hand-delivered by one of our well-trained, highly-skilled unionised workers?”
“We have done the research, and not one email service currently provides the level of personal delivery service you could expect from a Royal Mail employee.”
“Okay, it might not be ‘free’ any more, but think of all the union fees you will be saving.”
A Royal Mail spokesperson told us, “Look, we have sympathy with the Union, and we have agreed that all the postmen can keep their jobs moving around paper messages, just as soon as the Internet goes out of fashion.”
