Brits handed Black Friday and Christmas warning as Royal Mail announces 19 strike days
The Royal Mail has said it plans to strike across Black Friday and in the run-up to Christmas as it schedules 19 days of industrial action.The strikes are a follow-up to action in August and September which focused on working conditions and pay rates. READ MORE: 'Superhero' bloke's Pizza Express loyalty hack hands out £70 of discounts to strangers The walkouts will take place over a number of different days, The Communication Workers Union (CWU) said, with the first expected to kick off from 4am on Thursday, October 13, and will last 24 hours.There will be more action expected on October 20 and 25, and November 28.Black Friday will take place on November 25.Big stores are expected to offer big discounts, drawing big crowds and putting big demands on postal services – potentially causing a really big problem in light of the strikes.Cyber Monday – the online wing of the retail therapy weekend – follows two days later.Amazon has also launched Prime Day, adding a second date – which will now fall over October 11 and 12.The Royal Mail meanwhile, said it needed to make changes to its business as it is losing £1million a day.Further strike action is expected this week, on September 30 and October 1.“Significant disruption” has been warned by the service, which has apologised for any inconvenience caused.It is expected it will prioritise prescriptions and Covid testing kits – no letters will be delivered.Workers collecting, delivering and sorting will be striking on September 30, October 1, 13, 20 and 25 and November 28.Collections, admin, international operations, and processing will be striking on November, 3, 9, 15 and 24 and December 1.Deliveries will be striking on November 4, 10, 16 and 25 and December 2, and Network