Royal Mail yesterday proposed a 6% pay rise over three years to stave off a looming strike ballot but the CWU postal workers union delivered a quick rejection.
The moves came as the British postal operator aims to speed up implementation of its ‘Journey 2024’ turnaround and investment plan unveiled last year, including large-scale automation of its “Victorian” manual parcel sorting operations.
The union, which opposes some of the measures, plans a renewed strike ballot within the next few weeks. It got an overwhelming majority for a pre-Christmas peak season strike but this was blocked by a court injunction.
In a pay proposal made to the CWU, the company offered a 6% three-year pay deal, which it said effectively meant an increase of more than 16% between 1 April 2018 and 31 March 2023.
Shane O’Riordain, Royal Mail’s Managing Director of Regulation, Corporate Affairs and Marketing, said: “Our proposal underlines our commitment to being the best employer in our industry. It maintains our policy of no compulsory redundancies for frontline operational colleagues. We will not become a gig economy employer. We will not introduce zero hours contracts for permanent employees. Nor would we look to outsource Royal Mail’s core operations.”
He explained: “We have said that we can only afford to do this if we deliver on the plan we announced to our stakeholders in May 2019. To do this, we need to change more quickly than before.
“We want to invest £1.8 billion in the UK. We need to turnaround and grow our UK business. This means the further automation of parcels, including the deployment of three new automated parcel hubs. Most of our parcels are currently hand sorted, just as they were in the Victorian period.”
Under the parcels growth strategy, Royal Mail plans to introduce a second van delivery in most parts of the country for next-day deliveries to capitalise on e-commerce growth.
“We will do this by introducing around 7,000 dedicated van delivery routes from about 300 delivery offices by 2023. Delivery of letters and small parcels will remain unchanged through our existing Delivery Office network,” O’Riordain explained.
In parallel, Royal Mail wants to react to the structural decline in mail volumes by reducing the number of daily walking rounds by 8,000 to 50,000, while investing £115 million to upgrade facilities and £400 million in new vehicles.
“Our plan is about a modern, contemporary Universal Service. It is about what our customers want. It is about ensuring we remain the best employer in our industry. We hope to convince the union to support us to grow Royal Mail,” O’Riordain concluded.
But in response the CWU declared on Twitter: “They aren’t serious and are playing to an audience. Our focus now must be to deliver the biggest YES vote possible in the national ballot.”
In addition, the union has organised ‘gate meetings’ of members outside various Royal Mail facilities ahead of a ‘National Gate Meeting Day’ next Tuesday.
Earlier this month, CWU deputy general secretary Terry Pullinger responded to Royal Mail’s disappointing latest financial results and downbeat outlook in a strongly worded statement, describing them as “the consequence of gross mismanagement of this great public service”. He claimed that “workplace culture is worse than ever and industrial relations are at an all-time low”.
Pullinger declared: “The business has a one trick pony vision of just growing parcels. They have stated to the union that our contribution to society in the UK is no longer about service but all about profit. It is evident that in their eyes, Royal Mail is no longer a great public service that can generate revenue by merging entrepreneurism, innovation and social aims but a privatised public service in the grip of a potential corporate raid of greed.
“If the new regime at Royal Mail Group go unchallenged the real losers will be the people of this country, one of the greatest inventions of our social history and our members. We will always defend our agreements, our members and this great public service.”
