Strikes by European trade unions of postal operators

We inform you that at the beginning of November there may be some delays and restrictions in the delivery of postal items in the following countries:

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

The designated operator of the United Kingdom, Royal Mail, wishes to provide updated information concerning rolling postal strikes in November 2022. The strikes will affect postal services on the following dates:

• 04.00 on Wednesday, 2 November to 04.00 on Thursday, 3 November – all network operations;
• 04.00 on Thursday, 3 November to 04.00 on Friday, 4 November – all collection, processing, distribution and international operations;
• 04.00 on Friday, 4 November to 04.00 on Saturday, 5 November – all delivery operations.

Royal Mail will implement extensive contingency plans (as follows) to minimize disruption during the industrial action and will continue to do all it can to support customers as far as possible:  

• All mails for the UK should continue to be sent as normal. For inbound air services, the London Air Mail Unit will be operational and will continue to accept and process all inbound arrivals. For inbound road services, the International Logistics Centre (ILC), the Heathrow Worldwide Distribution Centre (HWDC) and Parcelforce Worldwide’s Coventry International Hub will all remain open and be fully operational;
• Each of these sites will continue to carry out customs clearance and processing activities as usual. The UK’s delivery operations will be affected on days when strike action is taking place. Despite the contingency plans, it will not be possible to replace the daily efforts of the entire frontline workforce. Royal Mail will do what it can to keep services running, but there will be significant disruption on the days of the strikes;
• All Union member countries and designated operators should therefore expect to see some delays in items sent for delivery in the UK;
• With regard to exports from the UK, all Union member countries and designated operators will continue to receive export mails from Royal Mail Group, including Parcelforce, as usual. Export volumes may temporarily be lower, but arrivals will continue as normal.

Please visit www.royalmail.com/latest-news for up-to-date and detailed information on services.

Royal Mail thanks all partners and customers for their understanding and will provide future updates.

Belgium

The designated operator of Belgium, bpost, would like to inform  that the major Belgian trade unions have called a 24-hour general strike, commencing at 00.01 CEST on 9 November 2022.

This industrial action will affect letter-post and parcel-post deliveries, as well as bpost’s domestic and international logistics network.

Road blocks are expected, especially in industrial areas. Therefore, bpost’s facilities will most likely not be reachable by road, and bpost will not be in a position to accept and process inbound arrivals, nor to process and dispatch outbound volumes.

Furthermore, as this strike will also involve ground handlers and other airport and airline personnel, the handling of inbound and outbound airmail dispatches at Brussels Airport is expected to be disrupted.

As a consequence, designated operators are kindly requested to hold back their export volumes for all categories of mail (letter-post, parcel-post and EMS items, as well as open and closed transit services) scheduled to arrive in Belgium on 9 November 2022.

bpost apologizes for any inconvenience and thanks for cooperation and understanding.

Portugal

The designated operator of Portugal, CTT –  Correios de Portugal, informs about a strike in the period of:

•          October 31 – Monday – 24 H (0h00 until 23h59)

•          November 2 – Wednesday – 24 H  (0h00 until 23h59)

CTT –  Correios de Portugal will deploy  contingency plans that to keep the OE’s and airmail unit operational.