Royal Mail plans future without union support
A leaked Royal Mail document has allegedly revealed the postal service’s action plan against union members as they prepare to stage a two-day national strike.
The BBC last night (16 October) obtained the leaked document which proposed changes to Royal Mail’s staffing with the backing of the Government. In its “Strategic Overview”, it says it plans to achieve reform “with or without union engagement”.
In response, a Royal Mail spokesman says: “No member of the board or the senior management team at Royal Mail has seen, or is aware of any such presentation.
“Royal Mail’s policy and strategy in relation to the current dispute with the Communication Workers Union (CWU) is to reach agreement so that the CWU calls off its damaging and irresponsible strikes. For the avoidance of any doubt Royal Mail has never had any strategy to derecognise the CWU and nor would we seek to do so.”
The CWU yesterday announced two 24-hour nationwide strikes. The first day of the strike on 22 October will primarily involve mail centre staff and drivers, while the following day will involve delivery and collection staff.
A growing number of large retailers are deserting Royal Mail or implementing contingency plans with other delivery services as a result of the strike action. They include John Lewis, Amazon, eBay and Argos.
Meanwhile, Royal Mail is planning to postpone some of its marketing campaigns and is reviewing future activity.
