Royal Mail boss’s six-figure send-off
THE boss of Royal Mail has quit with a six-figure pay-off after strike chaos hit millions of customers.
Simon Thompson claimed it was the “right time” to go.
Mr Thompson’s departure follows a long-running pay dispute with the Communication Workers Union.
Last month, Royal Mail finally agreed a settlement with the union.
Industrial action caused huge delays and backlogs of mail, including in the busy run-up to Christmas.
Reportedly, some locations have become “postal deserts” with households getting post once a fortnight.
Mr Thompson will remain in his role until the end of October.The board is in the “advanced stages” of finding a replacement.
As well as receiving full pay until then, he is also entitled to seven monthly payments totalling almost £300,000.
He could also get an annual bonus, covering the end of March to May, if any is paid. For the last financial year, his annual bonus was £142,000. Mr Thompson said he was “proud” to have led Royal Mail.
However, CWU General Secretary Dave Ward said: “Simon Thompson is one of the key individuals responsible for the financial crisis that Royal Mail Group has created over the last year.”
In February, the CWU said that more than 150 of its members were, at the time, suspended directly as a result of a wave of industrial action.
Royal Mail said the figure was just over 70, but acknowledged there had been 375 disciplinary cases since strikes began last year.
A CWU spokesman said it was “outrageous” that the CEO “who led this company into the crisis” was rewarded while “hard working postal workers are still dismissed and suspended on trumped up
charges”.