Postmen to strike just days before Christmas
... and Royal Mail wants to end Saturday deliveries
POSTAL workers will stage new strikes on six days next month – including Christmas Eve.
Union chiefs yesterday said more than 91 per cent of members voted to walk out in a ballot with a 65 per cent turnout in a long-running dispute over pay, jobs and conditions.
The Communication Workers Union has arranged the new strikes during the busiest time of the year despite Royal Mail already being in ‘intensive’ talks with the CWU to avert walkouts next Thursday and Friday.
The vote comes after Royal Mail asked ministers to scrap letter deliveries on Saturdays as it faces huge losses. Andy Furey, of the CWU, said: ‘This dispute has always been about a company having respect for dedicated public servants who... provided unprecedented customer service during the pandemic.
‘The determination of these people hasn’t swayed and nor has their sense of betrayal. They won’t accept their living standards being smashed by people running a service that generated tens of millions of pounds in profit out of our members’ efforts.’
He insisted: ‘There is more than enough money for a reasonable pay rise. Implementing this realterms pay cut has always been a management choice, not a necessity. We urge management to see sense, get into real negotiations and cut a fair deal to avert these strikes.’ A Royal Mail spokesman said: ‘We acknowledge the results of the CWU ballot amongst their members. Our preference remains an accord with the CWU that will remove the need for any possible future strike action.’
Company boss Simon Thompson has vowed to do ‘whatever it takes’ to turn the firm around after half-year results showed losses hit £219million compared to £235million profits previously. Eight strike days are said to have cost it around £100million.
Royal Mail is making up to 6,000 redundancies in an overhaul to turn around its fortunes. The postal service has formally asked the Government to allow it to switch from a six-day-a-week letter delivery service to a Mondayto-Friday one under its Universal Postal Service agreement.
A Government spokesman said: ‘There would need to be a strong case that showed changes would meet reasonable needs of users of postal services and ensure the financial sustainability of the Universal Postal Service.’
Royal Mail expects full-year losses of about £ 350million£450million. Keith Williams, of International Distributions Services, which owns Royal Mail and parcel business GLS, said: ‘In the event of the lack of significant
‘Sense of betrayal’
operational change, the board will look at all options to preserve value for the group, including the possibility of separation of the two businesses.’ IDS is understood to want to focus on the postal service’s profitable six- day parcel delivery business.
Letter deliveries, which peaked at 20billion annually in 2004, have fallen to 8billion, with volumes down eight per cent a year. Regulator Ofcom said in 2020 a reduction to a five-day letter delivery service would meet 97 per cent of the needs of households and small and medium businesses.
Its research found that Britons would be ‘largely indifferent’ to Saturday deliveries being dropped.
Ofcom also estimated that Royal Mail could save between £125million and £225million annually from cutting back letter deliveries.