Are Royal Mail on strike today? And when are the next dates?

7 February 2023, 11:45 | Updated: 16 February 2023, 10:50

Royal Mail and union CWU have currently called off all strike action as they work towards making a pay agreement - here's the latest news and updates on all walkout action.

Postal strikes have been causing disruption across the UK since August 2022 after workers walked out following their biggest ever dispute over pay due to the cost of living crisis.

Royal Mail has claimed the series of walkouts, which included strikes action over Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas, has cost them more than £100million.

The Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) and Royal Mail have struggled to reach an agreement with union leaders saying Royal Mail bosses needed to "wake up" and negotiate.

However, all current strikes have been called off following recent Royal Mail claims made against the CWU ballot.

Read more: Are Post Offices open during Royal Mail strikes?

Read more: February strike dates - here's who is striking and when this month

With no final pay agreement in place, are there any more postal strikes in place? And why were they actually called off?

Has the Royal Mail strike been called off?

Walkouts planned for later this month, on February 16th and 17th, have been called off after Royal Mail went forward with a legal challenge against the union.

In a newsletter from the CWU to members, they blamed laws that are "heavily weighted against working people" for the cause of the cancelled strikes.

The letter did not go into detail on what the challenge was but did explain they have sought legal advice of their own.

It said: "Having discussed this with our lawyers they have advised that we could defend our position in court. Given the laws in this country are heavily weighted against working people, the risks of losing in court may potentially impact on the re-ballot - we simply cannot allow this happen."

This means strike action from post workers will see a delay before their next walkout.

When are Royal Mail workers striking next?

At present, there are now no dates for Royal Mail to strike in February or March 2023.

This is because the CWU's six-month strike mandate will run out on 17 February and members are currently voting on whether to hold another six-month mandate.

On their website, the Royal Mail have stated talks are still ongoing to resolve the situation.

They wrote: "The CWU has cancelled their planned strike action after making an error in their strike notification. Royal Mail welcomes the fact that the strike action has been called off by the CWU. We intend to use this time and space for further discussions to try to agree a deal."

Why are Royal Mail workers striking? And what's the latest in negotiations?

The union has been working towards gaining a pay rise that is in line with the current rates of inflation, with members voting overwhelming in favour of action.

Since August 2022, CWU and Royal Mail have failed to reach any suitable deal leading to many more strike dates placed.

CWU are intent on getting the appropriate pay rise they need for workers while Royal Mail are refusing to compromise on certain terms.

The union says its members are facing ‘massive real-terms pay cuts’ and that management wanted to ‘force through thousands of compulsory redundancies’.

Following the notice of legal action, union bosses have said now is more important than ever to have the support of its members.

Union bosses said that negotiations with Royal Mail Group would resume this week but warned: "If talks fail, we will significantly step up the programme of strike action."

In total, they have staged 18 days of walkouts so far.

Union officials said though pay is one of the issues in the dispute, they are also concerned with how Royal Mail is being run.