Royal Mail condemns CWU strike ballot

Royal Mail described as wholly irresponsible the CWU’s decision to press ahead with a national strike ballot even as talks between senior management and the Union leadership were taking place. The union has been saying for weeks it would call a national strike ballot but the decision to go ahead in spite of the talks underlines the union’s intent to further damage the business and its customers rather than genuinely seeking an end to the current localised disputes, said Royal Mail. The ballot is simply the latest attempt by the CWU to oppose the essential modernisation of Royal Mail on the ground despite its public claims to support change – and shows the CWU’s determination to renege on existing agreements on change, including Pay and Modernisation 2007, which the union’s leadership signed in the presence of the TUC.

Royal Mail remains committed to talking to the union and urges it not to call our people out on further strikes which can only damage the business and its ability to continue to provide the one-price-goes-everywhere Universal Service. The facts are:

• Strikes by the CWU this summer have been concentrated in London. Today, almost all of Royal Mail’s 1,500 operational units nationwide have been working normally apart from a handful of delivery offices in South West London.

• As on each of the previous strike days, more than 90% of people in Royal Mail were working normally.

• The changes being introduced in a fair way by Royal Mail were all agreed by the CWU leadership and are covered by the 2007 Pay and Modernisation Agreement which the union signed in the presence of the TUC.

• UK Mail volumes are now falling year on year by around 10% and with competition in an open market increasing, especially from email and the web, the average postbag today contains almost ten million fewer letters than just three years ago.

• The changes have already been successfully implemented in the majority of offices around the UK.

• Royal Mail faces an absolute need to change and modernise to improve its efficiency, and ensure it can continue providing the one-price-goes-anywhere Universal Service.