Royal Mail and the Communication Workers Union (CWU) will appear in court this morning after the postal operator applied for a High Court injunction to prevent its employees from striking.

CWU members voted in favour of industrial action last month after four weeks of negotiations over the long-running pension dispute ended in a stalemate.

Royal Mail said that the CWU's 48-hour walkout, scheduled for 19 October, is illegal.

The operator claimed the union hadn't complied with a legally binding dispute resolution procedure that both parties signed in 2014.

CWU and Royal Mail will both present evidence at the Royal Courts of Justice this morning (12 October), where a decision should be made on whether the planned strike can go ahead.

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When Royal Mail announced it was taking the strike to court, CWU general secretary David Ward said: “The fact Royal Mail Group have tried multiple angles to stop our members exercising their democratic right to take strike action shows how desperate they are.

"Instead of playing court room politics they should be listening to the overwhelming ballot result. We call on the public and businesses across the country to back their postal workers in what was always going to be a watershed dispute”.

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