The staff of Royal Mail Group Ltd. had voted to go on strike. This was after less than a week when the UK postal service launched its GBP1.7 billion initial public offering. According to the unions of the company, the IPO would put the jobs at Royal Mail at risk.

About 78% of the Royal Mail staff had voted in favor of the strike action that would take place on November 4. The strike would push through unless a deal safeguarding employment would be reached before the scheduled protest date. This was according to a statement released by the Communication Workers Union. The vote had attracted around 63% of the 112,000 Royal Mail staff, the labor group said in a statement.

The shares of Royal Mail were sold to investors for GBP.330 in the UK's largest state asset sale. This was since British Rail was broken up in the 1990s. The shares had rose 44% to GBP.473.75 since the trading debut of Royal Mail last October 11.