DMA U.K. Blasts Strike Against Royal Mail

An impending strike against Royal Mail, the U.K.’s postal service would drastically hurt business in the country, the U.K. Direct Marketing Association said Thursday.

At deadline, the Communication Workers Union, which represents nearly 250,000 postal workers, said it was working with Royal Mail to try to avoid a strike.

“No party stands to gain from the CWU’s proposed all-out national postal workers strike, however, U.K. business will be the ultimate loser,” said Robert Keitch, membership director of the organization, in a statement. “Strike action will deal a severe body blow to every company that relies on the post to issue invoices, collect payments and market their products and services to their customers.

The CWU, which represents nearly 250,000 postal workers, said Thursday that 76% of its members had voted to authorize a nationwide strike largely over job security and workloads as Royal Mail tried to modernize its operations while reducing its approximately 7 billion pound deficit ($11 billion) deficit, according to the union.

For its part, Royal Mail is encouraging the union to keep on negotiating.

“Royal Mail calls on the CWU to abandon its unjustified strikes and to help the business deliver the service our customers deserve,” said Mark Higson, Royal Mail’s managing director, in a statement.