Strike-hit Royal Mail issues threat to rip up work deals
ROYAL Mail warned it will ditch working practice agreements dating back up to 40 years as its pay row deepened.
The privatised postal giant claimed the Communication Workers Union was using the deals to “frustrate” plans to overhaul the company.
It comes amid a long-running dispute over pay and conditions. More than 115,000 postal workers have staged strikes in recent weeks and are due to walk out again on September 30 and October 1.
Royal Mail announced yesterday it had written to the CWU to propose talks at the conciliation service Acas.
But the company led by boss Simon Thompson upped the ante by also revealing it would “review or serve notice on a number of historical agreements and policies”.
They include an agreement put in place nine years ago that allows the union a say in plans to modernise the business.
But Royal Mail is also to review deals – including those covering attendance – that go back to the 1980s.
The company has said it made a loss of £92million in its first quarter, the equivalent to £1million a day.
It said yesterday: “Royal Mail needs to adapt much faster to changing customer demands in a highly competitive market.
“The CWU has blocked any meaningful discussion on the change agenda the company has set out, and has not put forward any viable alternatives that will fund further pay increases.”
CWU general secretary Dave Ward hit back.
He said: “Royal Mail management has tried to blind side the CWU to directly inform employees that their job security, working standards and union representation is under imminent threat.
“It couldn’t be more obvious to thousands of workers that this represents a new step in a plan to turn Royal Mail into something more like Uber. But this country’s postal workers are made of stronger stuff than the people currently running Royal Mail.”
It comes amid a wave of industrial unrest. The Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers union yesterday announced that more than 40,000 workers from Network Rail and 15 train companies will strike on October 8 in the long-running dispute over pay, jobs and conditions.