POSTIES warned of a “long and bitter dispute” today as they held a national day of strike action against plummeting pay.

Nearly 120,000 Post Office and Royal Mail employees, represented by the Communication Workers Union (CWU), downed tools after bosses imposed another year of wage increases far below soaring inflation.

Addressing a large crowd of striking workers and campaigners outside Royal Mail offices in Farringdon, central London, CWU general secretary Dave Ward warned greedy bosses at the privatised company that workers would not give in easily.

To loud cheers and the tooting horns of passing buses, he said: “When we say we’re in this for the long haul, you better believe we bloody well mean it.”

Around 115,000 workers at the firm are also set to walk out on Wednesday and on September 8-9, after the union said management imposed a 2 per cent pay rise without consultation.

Royal Mail insisted the offer actually amounts to 5.5 per cent, about half the lowest rate of inflation in July, but CWU categorically rejected this claim as a lie.

The union’s members at the Post Office, who first walked out in May, are also set to strike today and on Tuesday after the state-run company imposed a pay freeze in 2021-22 and offered 5 per cent plus a £500 lump-sum for this financial year.

About 3,500 workers are involved in that dispute. 

Mr Ward called for solidarity with workers nationwide, as rail staff, dockers, criminal barristers and exam board employees also take industrial action.

He said: “Solidarity has never been more important, solidarity with your colleagues and other unions is the way we’re going to win.

“Solidarity with workers who are not in unions, who are getting shafted up and down the UK. At CWU, we say every worker counts.

“We’ll win our disputes, but we’ve got to do more. I think it’s time that we push the boundaries further than they’ve ever been pushed.

“I think it’s time we saw collective action led by trade unions, led by community organisations and we get the whole of the working class in the UK together to fight back.”

Rail union RMT’s head Mick Lynch also addressed the lively demo, which included campaigners from the National Education Union, the University and College Union, Unison, Equity and Jewish Voice for Labour.

Mr Lynch, whose union has held six national strike days this summer, said: “The billionaires and the big corporations are telling working people to cough up for the problems in this society and become poorer.

“Our message to them is simple, enough is enough.”

He urged Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who has warned his shadow cabinet not to attend picket lines, to “wake up and smell the coffee,” saying: “You’re either with us or against us.”