British postal workers voted narrowly on Wednesday against staging the country’s first national mail strike in seven years.
According to news reports, a pay dispute between the Communications Workers Union and the Royal Mail had threatened to throw the country’s postal network into chaos and upset the company’s bid to return to profitability.
Although a majority of postal workers in London voted in favor of a local strike for the capital, 50.9% voted against a national strike.
The union had urged its members to strike in protest at a pay raise offer of 14.5% over 18 months which it said had “more strings than the Philharmonic Orchestra.”
Royal Mail had said it could not improve the pay increase, pointing to last year’s loss of 611 million pounds ($979 million) and the 340-million-pound annual cost of its offer.
Network
