The government's Cobra committee is convening for a second emergency meeting this week to hold further discussions on how to mitigate the impact of ongoing strikes.
Rail workers are striking for a second day in succession on Wednesday, while postal workers have also downed tools.
The continued rail strikes have seen roughly half of the railway network in Great Britain shut down on Wednesday.
Nurses across the UK will stage their own industrial action on Thursday (December 15) and on Friday (December 16) there will be further strikes by rail workers, bus drivers, baggage handlers, highway maintenance workers and driving examiners.
Strikes by Royal Mail combined with severe winter weather conditions mean that some other parcel couriers such as DPD and Yodel are experiencing delays in completing deliveries, causing further disruption to the public as they use the mail system to purchase and send cards and gifts.
There will be little respite ahead of Christmas too, with postal workers also set to walk out on December 23 and Christmas Eve.
Royal Mail has insisted that it has already tabled its “best and final pay offer”, which they say amounts to a nine per cent pay rise over the next 18 months.
Royal Mail also accused the CWU union of being determined to hold strikes instead of “working with us to agree on changes required to fund that offer and get pay into our posties’ pockets.”
However, the CWU has disputed Royal Mail's claims around its offer, suggesting that it truly amounts to a three per cent pay rise this year and next year, with a further two per cent awarded if employees agree to substandard working conditions.
Terms and conditions - as well as pay - are a major bone of contention in the negotiations between rail workers’ union, RMT, and railway bosses including Network Rail and the Rail Delivery Group.
Rail operators have warned that they needs to cutback and modernise the railway network to be able to finance pay increases, after passenger numbers fell following the Covid-19 pandemic.
Network Rail wants to reduce its headcount by 1,900 as part of cost-saving measures, which is at odds with the RMT’s demands.
The union is pursuing a guarantee of no compulsory job losses, as well as a pay rise for workers that is reflective of inflation.
On Sunday, RMT rebuffed an offer from the Rail Delivery Group of an eight per cent pay increase over the next two years, saying that the terms and conditions within could see thousands of jobs lost and unsafe practices introduced.
Image by Simon Dawson / No 10 Downing Street - Flickr, on Wikimedia Commons
