Celebrating The UK’s Postal Service Key Workers

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29 April 2020

This National Postal Workers Day, the work of these essential service providers during COVID-19 is being championed by the Communication Workers Union (CWU).

The event is held annually to create an opportunity to promote the dedication of postal workers, but it is particularly pertinent this year due to the Coronavirus crisis. 

The CWU is calling postal workers and other key workers the "new rock stars”.

"Today’s heroes wear uniforms of pride. The bus driver, the train driver, the NHS worker, the shop worker, the policeman, the Post Office worker and the Royal Mail Group worker, are the new ‘Rock Stars’ that keep the heart of our nation pumping."

–Terry Pullinger

Deputy General Secretary, Communication Workers Union

“The postman always delivers”

The significant role of the postal service throughout this pandemic is being celebrated today. This section of the workforce has been working throughout the lockdown to make sure the community still receives its mail, providing an essential service to society.

As Terry Pullinger, Deputy General Secretary of the Communication Workers Union writes: 

“Postal workers have continued to work through all major disruptive events in our history, be it world wars or extreme weather that has brought the country to a standstill, ‘the postman always delivers’, never has that old adage been more tested than in the last few weeks.”

The “Good Samaritan” spirit of the postal service is also being praised. The role postal workers play in the community, with many in contact with the most vulnerable and elderly is highlighted by the CWU:

“Of course postal workers do so much more than deliver the mail and parcels to over 30 million addresses six days a week at a uniform price.

“They regularly go the extra mile to serve the communities they deliver to all year round and keep an eye out for the vulnerable and elderly. They are the eyes and ears of the local communities and many play the role of ‘Good Samaritan’, helping people and customers they encounter while out on their daily deliveries.”

The CWU is the biggest union for the communications industry in the UK with almost 200,000 members. They represent members in postal, telecom, mobile, administrative and financial companies including Royal Mail Group, UK Mail and BT, Telefonica O2, Virgin Media, EE and Santander, as well as outsourcing company Capita.

Facing the front line of Coronavirus

Postal workers, along with other key workers, have been working on the “frontline of the Coronavirus war”, walking, delivering, sorting and driving to deliver what is recognised as a vital service. 

Today also serves as a day of remembrance of postal workers who have, in the course of carrying out their duty, lost their lives to COVID-19.

Picture: A UK post box 

Article written by Ella Tansley | Published 29 April 2020

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