Royal Mail strikes: Leeds postal workers begin 19 days of walkouts - 18 other strike dates confirmed

Royal Mail workers are walking out on strike action on October 13 which will see disruption to mail service across Leeds on 19 dates.

This is the sixth Royal Mail strike, along with several other major strikes across the UK including criminal barristers and rail workers.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) has called their members to take action against an unagreed pay deal, whichdoes not match the current rise in inflation.

The strikes will affect deliveries on days such as the Black Friday week, when a lot of people order items online.

Here is everything you need to know about the Royal Mail Group Strike.

Why is the CWU urging its members to take action against Royal Mail?

The CWU is in dispute with royal mail over an unagreed two percent pay rise imposed on its employees.

The union says the pay rise does not match the RPI inflation currently running at 11.8 percent, and that the company can afford to pay more after it has been paying millions of pounds to its private shareholders.

Royal Mail’s CWU members have voted by 97.6 percent in favour of strike action.

What has CWU said

CWU general secretary Dave Ward said Royal Mail workers are facing “biggest ever assault” on jobs, terms and conditions “in the history of Royal Mail”.

The union also accuses Royal Mail of upcoming plans for structural change, which will heavily affect employees job security and turn them into a “casualised, financially precarious workforce overnight”.

Picket lines will take place in front of Royal Mail offices in Leeds.

What has Royal Mail said

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: "Royal Mail is losing £1m a day and must change faster in response to changing customer demands.

“We are doing all we can to minimise any delays and keep people, businesses and the country connected."

Full list of Royal Mail group strike dates

October – National Action – all Members Across all Functions

• 24 hours from 04:00 Thursday 13th October into Friday 14th October (Pay)

• 24 hours from 04:00 Thursday 20th October into Friday 21st October (Change)

• 24 hours from 04:00 from Tuesday 25th October into Wednesday 26th October (Change)

November – Functional Action (with the Exception of a Single Day’s National Action)

• 24 hours from 04:00 on Wednesday 2nd November into Thursday 3rd November = All Network

• 24 hours from 04:00 on Thursday 3rd November into Friday 4th November = All Processing, Area Distribution, International, Collections, Admin and MDEC

• 24 hours from 04:00 on Friday 4th November into Saturday 5th November = All Deliveries

• 24 hours from 04:00 on Tuesday 8th November into Wednesday 9th November = All Network

• 24 hours from 04:00 on Wednesday 9th November into Thursday 10th November = Processing, Area Distribution, International, Collections, Admin and MDEC

• 24 hours from 04:00 on Thursday 10th November into Friday 11th November = All Deliveries

• 24 hours from 04:00 Monday 14th November into Tuesday 15th November = All Network

• 24 hours from 04:00 Tuesday 15th November into Wednesday 16th November = Processing, Area Distribution, International, Collections, Admin and MDEC.

• 24 hours from 04:00 Wednesday 16th November into Thursday 17th November = All Deliveries

Black Friday week

• 24 hours from 04:00 on Wednesday 23rd November into Thursday 24th November = All Network

• 24 hours from 04:00 on Thursday 24th November into Friday 25th November = All Processing, Area Distribution, Collections, International, Admin and MDEC

• 24 hours from 04:00 on Friday 25th November into Saturday 26th November = All Deliveries

• 24 hours all out on Cyber Monday 28th November into Tuesday 29th November = Everyone

• 24 hours from 04:00 on Wednesday 30th November into Thursday 1st December = All Network

• 24 hours from 04:00 on Thursday 1st December into Friday 2nd December = All Processing, Area Distribution, Collections, International, Admin and MDEC

• 24 hours from 04:00 on Friday 2nd December into Saturday 3rd December = All Deliveries