The union representing Royal Mail workers is set to renew calls for strike action, calling the company’s latest pay offer “unacceptable”. Royal Mail Group said it had put forward a deal, which included a pay rise worth 7% of a worker’s salary over two years, and a 2% lump sum this year. However, Royal Mail said the offer was subject to agreeing to changes with Sunday working and start times. Union bosses accused the company of “imposing change not negotiating”. The Communication Workers Union (CWU) said it would meet on Tuesday to call for strikes, after it previously called off planned walkouts on Sunday. Royal Mail to axe up to 10,000 jobs as losses rise Why are so many workers going on strike? The CWU has been locked in a long-running dispute with Royal Mail over pay increases keeping up with the soaring cost of living and working practices. The median pay at Royal Mail is £32,465 a year, with the average pay for a postal delivery worker lower than that at £25,777. Royal Mail has blamed strike action for rising losses and job cuts, as well as lower volumes of parcels being posted.
Its chief executive, Simon Thompson, said the company had reported losses of £219m in the first half of 2022, which demonstrated the “need for change at Royal Mail is urgent”. “We have always been clear that the more we can change the business, the more we will be able to pay our people – both now and in the future,” he added. Royal Mail has not provided specific details of the changes to working patterns, but said its pay offer was subject to the union agreeing to “changes to Sunday working, start times and flexible working, so that Royal Mail can re-invent and compete in the growing parcels market”. Mr Thompson urged union bosses to “accept the change and pay offer without delay”. Talks between the union and the company have been held at the conciliation service Acas, and planned strikes in the next two weeks were called off following a legal challenge by the company. The union said on Monday the latest offer included “more unacceptable changes” and a “derisory 7% two-year pay offer that is well below projected inflation for both years”. “This reaffirms the company’s whole approach of imposing change rather than negotiating it,” the CWU added. “Not only is the offer not applicable to Perciformes and fleet employees, but the company have confirmed that, as of tomorrow, new entrants will be brought in on lower terms, and will be introducing owner-drivers into Royal Mail – a service that will be comparable to Uber.”
