Post Office strikes to overlap with Royal Mail and BT industrial action

theguardian.com:

Post Office workers will take their fourth round of industrial action over the August bank holiday weekend in an escalating row over pay that will overlap with strikes by workers at Royal Mail and BT.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) said on Friday that members will strike on 26, 27 and 30 August.

Staff who work in crown offices – the larger branches often sited on high streets – plus supply chain employees and admin grade workers will stop work on 26 August, the same day as more than 100,000 Royal Mail workers go on strike.

Crown office employees will strike again on 27 August, while supply chain and admin members of the union will walk out on 30 August.

The last day of the Post Office strikes coincides with a strike by about 40,000 BT and Openreach workers, who will also walk out the following day, 31 August, after two previous 24-hour strikes earlier in the summer.

Meanwhile, train drivers are to strike again on Saturday, with further industrial action planned by railway workers belonging to the RMT at 14 train operating companies and Network Rail for 18 and 20 August.

And London Underground workers are set to walk out on 19 August, stopping a large number of tube services in the capital.

CWU assistant secretary Andy Furey said its members would not accept a “massive lowering of their living standards”.

In a statement released on Friday, Furey added: “Although ours is a separate trade dispute to that of our Royal Mail colleagues – and our BT Openreach fellow members – the issues at stake here are all remarkably similar.

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