Royal Mail said it had made its “best and final offer” and accused the union of “holding Christmas to ransom”. A representative for Royal Mail said that the company must modernise its working practices to address its losses, which it says amount to £1 million per day. On 24 November, Royal Mail said it had made its “best and final offer”, and accused the union of “holding Christmas to ransom”. However, it will deliver as many parcels and Special Delivery letters as possible.
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The postal company said it will begin notifying workers of its plan, which includes up to 6,000 redundancies. But he said Royal Mail’s chief executive and board “should seriously consider their futures” as the ballot was “also a vote of no confidence”. “The CWU rejected our offer worth up to 5.5% for CWU grade colleagues, the biggest increase we have offered for many years,” he said. Royal Mail’s latest adjusted operating profit for the year to March was £416m, up from £344m the year before.
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Royal Mail also wants to end the extra payments that postal workers get for doing things like driving bigger trucks. Postal workers etoro I’ve spoken to say they’d lose £50 a week if those allowances were to end. Royal Mail says it is in such financial peril that without immediate changes to working practices it could go out of business.
The company says it must modernise in order to run a more productive and competitive service. Industrial action will threaten the job security of postal workers, said Royal Mail, calling on the leaders of CWU to cancel the walk-out and accept invitations for talks. Staff will get a 10% pay rise over three years and a one-off lump sum of £500. Headcount will be scaled back by a further 4,000 through not replacing people when they leave, cutting temporary staff and reducing overtime.
A year of strikes: what has changed?
“While bosses rake in £758m in profit and shareholders take £400m, workers are expected to take a serious real-terms pay cut,” he added. Any strike dates are yet to be decided but the CWU said if a walk out goes ahead, it could amount to the biggest ever action taken by its members. Mr Eatwell claims Royal Mail was looking to cut 700 jobs on top of 1,200 slashed last year, with managers who remain facing cuts to salaries of up to £7,000. Delays to key services such as next-day delivery and tracked items could potentially be impacted. Chairman Keith Williams has said that the firm is losing £1m a day as parcel volumes fall and efforts to modernise the business stall.
During the first half of its financial year, Royal Mail said strike action cost the business £70m, leading to an operating loss of £219m compared to a £235m profit last year. Dave Ward, CWU general secretary said there will now be a “small window” for talks to avoid walkouts before strike dates are set. Mr McAulay said the company needed to modernise to “offer more of what our customers want, at a price they are willing to pay – all whilst protecting jobs on the best terms and conditions in our industry”. Workers on the railways and at airports are also in pay disputes with employers, with train drivers set to strike on Saturday.
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- The timescale commitment offered on Special Delivery Guaranteed items will be suspended the day before any strike.
- For its full financial year, it pointed to an adjusted operating loss “around the mid-point of the existing £350 million to £450 million range” it had already forecast.
- “For those managers who remain, they face cuts to their salaries of up to £7,000.
- “The price of everything’s going up, people are having to do more and more overtime,” she said.
- Fears are growing that teachers, nurses and other NHS workers could add to the strike action after being balloted by their unions over underinflation pay rises.
For its full financial year, it pointed to an adjusted operating loss “around the mid-point of the existing £350 million to £450 million range” it had already forecast. International Distribution Services said 18 days of industrial action by postal workers — including seven in the run-up to Christmas — cost it around £200 million in the nine months to the end of December. Parcel volumes fell by a fifth, taking revenue from that part of the business down by almost 18% year-on-year.
Royal Mail also revealed that it will have to enter talks with the union because, it said its legacy voluntary redundancy scheme, which offers up to two years’ of pay, “is now unaffordable”. “Despite nearly three months of talks, the CWU have not engaged in any meaningful discussion on the changes we need to make to adapt,” a statement added. Royal Mail said it had offered workers a “deal worth up to 5.5% for CWU grade colleagues, the biggest increase we have offered for many years, which the CWU rejected”.
- Twenty-one days will be affected by the strikes, which the union says will have a “dramatic impact” on peak periods such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the run-up to Christmas.
- It said this included “the direct impact of eight days of industrial action” as well as lower volumes of parcels being posted.
- The union objects to working pattern changes proposed by Royal Mail as part of the company’s plans to focus on parcels, which include a move away from the morning delivery of letters.
- Trade union Unite said the industrial action will impact the postal service across the UK “immediately”.
- This is the sixth strike for postal workers, and comes after a summer of unrest which saw rail workers and criminal barristers walk out amid disputes with their employers.
It said this included “the direct impact of eight days of industrial action” as well as lower volumes of parcels being posted. Ricky McAulay, operations director at Royal Mail accused the union of failing to engage in “any meaningful discussion” after more than three months of talks on changes to modernise the company. Union bosses the action was “for a proper pay rise” and said the strikes would be the biggest this summer. Some 115,000 Royal Mail workers are set to strike on four days in August and September in a dispute over pay. While the industrial action will be carried out by managers, the union warned postal staff might also refuse to work in unmanaged buildings.
The union has demanded Royal Mail group enters into negotiations to secure a “straight, no-strings pay increase for workers”. Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) backed the action on Tuesday after ballot papers were sent out three weeks ago. The union had been told an additional 3.5% rise is available, subject to further talks and agreements – which would total a 5.5% rise. “There is not a single aspect of these cuts which is about improving customer service. They are being driven entirely by a culture of greed and profiteering which has seized a 500-year-old essential service, driving it close to ruin. Mike Eatwell, Unite national officer with responsibility for Royal Mail, said members have been “forced to the position of taking industrial action because those running Royal Mail refuse to see sense”.
This includes cutting overtime, temporary staff roles and not filling roles when employees leave the business. No letters will be delivered during strike days, said Royal Mail, but as many special delivery and Tracked24 parcels as possible would be delivered. But while there have been calls for pay rises, there are concerns that higher wages to cope with the current cost of living could fuel further inflation. The union has announced 19 further days of strike action in the coming weeks. “If these take place, the loss for the full year would increase materially and may necessitate further operational restructuring and headcount reduction,” the company said. “We will also continue to push for talks with CWU at Acas, which need to be time bound as the damage from further strikes will only necessitate further changes in the business, beyond those already announced.”…
So the company wants to switch its focus to parcels and in particular to next-day parcel delivery. Picket lines were mounted outside Royal Mail offices on the sixth day of action in recent months. The company welcomed the cancellation of the planned February strike, intending “to use this time and space for further discussions to try to agree a deal”.
The owner of strike-ravaged Royal Mail today revealed the scale of the devastating impact of industrial action on its profits after strikes brought chaos to the peak Christmas parcel and card delivery season. It is the latest move in the bitter row between stock market index trading strategies Royal Mail and the Communications Workers Union (CWU). The union accuses the company of planning structural changes, which would in effect transform employees in secure, well-paid jobs into a “casualised, financially precarious workforce overnight”.
I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Ashleigh is a former editor of OHW+ and former HR and wellbeing editor at Personnel Today. Ashleigh’s areas of interest include employee health and wellbeing, equality and inclusion and skills development. She has hosted many envelope indicator webinars for Personnel Today, on topics including employee retention, financial wellbeing and menopause support. Tracked 24 mail, including medical prescription items and COVID tests, will also be prioritised but people are again warned to expect delays. Special Delivery mail will still be prioritised “as resources allow” but the usual next-day guarantees are being suspended and customers can’t claim compensation for delays.
The government claimed the code would clamp down on controversial tactics used by unscrupulous employers who failed to engage in meaningful consultations with employees. The Unite union says 2,400 managers will work to rule on July 15-19, which means they will follow the official rules and hours exactly to reduce their output and efficiency. First, Royal Mail managers are set to “work to rule” between 15 and 19 July, meaning they will work strictly according to contracted hours and duties. “The price of everything’s going up, people are having to do more and more overtime,” she said. Rooms at the M Social Singapore cost from SG $179 (Dh488) per night including taxes. Outside emergencies, the WFP provides school meals to up to 25 million children in 63 countries, while working with communities to improve nutrition.
This is set to be followed by three days of strike action between 20 and 22 July. However Royal Mail says it “does not recognise” the pay cut figures and argues the job losses have been met through voluntary redundancy. The union claims that more than 2,400 managers will be protesting against plans to cut up to 700 jobs and reduce pay by up to £7,000 for some. On strike days it will deliver as many Special Delivery and Tracked 24 parcels as possible, it said. It will also prioritise the delivery of medical prescriptions where possible. The union criticised Royal Mail’s “aggressive” stance over the talks and called for an improved pay deal, a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies and other improvements to the offer.