DAYMER, the Turkish-Kurdish Solidarity Centre organized a panel on the subject of “Joint struggle against the cost of living” on Saturday, September 24.
Haringey Union of Trade Unions member Paul Power and postman Bahattin Yadırgı attended the panel held at the London Community Centre as speakers.
During the panel event the discussion looked at how throughout the country, unions and social institutions that have been fighting for years are taking steps to combine their strength and experience against the cost of living, which has become one of the most fundamental problems people today face.
Royal Mail employees are preparing to go on a 19-day strike in the build-up to Christmas. Speaking on this subject, Yadırgı used the following expressions: “If you ask how we came to this strike process; Every April, union and Royal Mail officials sit at the table for collective bargaining. This April, however, an agreement could not be reached, Royal Mail offered a 2 per cent raise to employees, stated that it had decided that no sick pay will be paid, Sunday will be a normal working day and working hours will change. Working hours normally start at 6, will be reduced to 9 and this means more workload. The union voted to strike.
“Royal Mail has a total of 115,000 employees, while the number of participants in the strike vote is 83 thousand. This makes up 72.2% of workers in total. The number of those who said yes to the strike is 81 thousand, or 98.7%. The number of people who say no to the strike, on the other hand, is 1% in total, with 1,110 people. We see how these results support the workers’ decision to strike. There is no doubt that postal workers are fully united in their determination to provide the dignified, appropriate pay increase they deserve. We can’t continue to live in a country where bosses make billions in profits while their employees are forced against the cost of food.”