Royal Mail Update

Royal Mail Update

Dear Colleagues,

We have attached a letter that was sent to our Branches and Representatives last week which clearly set out CWU’s position in relation to the USO and our agreements with EP Group and Royal Mail.  

It is very important that our members take a moment to read the content of the attached communication.  

We are aware that Royal Mail is writing to employees today explaining that they have triggered our dispute resolution process over the issue of how USO reform is deployed.  This means that there will be a 4-week process of further talks between the company and the union with the aim of reaching an agreement.  

In the event that no agreement is reached by the end of this 4-week period – the company and CWU will be free to take whatever course of action they deem necessary.  

Our position as explained in last week’s communication to our representatives, remains that even if Royal Mail decide to take executive action and impose their version of USO Reform – we will not agree to that proposal.  

This is because all of the evidence from the pilot sites demonstrates conclusively that Royal Mail’s model is flawed and has not met any of the previously agreed success and evaluation criteria.  

If the company takes executive action, on top of the current quality of service failures, we all know it will be a disaster for customers and increase the likelihood of huge ongoing fines from Ofcom.  The CWU has put an alternative USO Reform proposal forward that we believe is the only realistic way of supporting our members and putting customers and the service first.   

The actions of the company now call into serious question whether EP Group and Royal Mail’s senior leadership are committed to the agreements they reached with both the union and the UK Government.  

It is important to remember that a key part of EP Group’s takeover with Royal Mail was conditional on the Government being given written guarantees and assurances to support and protect employees and the Royal Mail brand.  

These assurances formed part of an agreement between the Government and EP Group and were also summarised (in the Government’s own words) as a section of the CWU/EP agreement that became the Rebuilding Royal Mail Agreement Part 1 that was endorsed by our members.  

Our objective is still to reach an agreement and we will be engaging in the dispute resolution process in a constructive way.  However, we simply cannot accept that a model that has proven not to work is the answer for customers, our members and the future of the company.  

Neither can we accept that EP Group and the company do not have the finances to honour all of the commitments they made to our members, including the full equalisation of new entrant’s terms and conditions.  The CWU will now trigger the dispute resolution process on this issue

In the coming weeks the union will be communicating further with our representatives and members and we will explain in more detail our response to dealing with this serious situation.  

In the meantime, it really is important that you read the attached communication and going forward we will be holding briefings with our representatives and asking them to hold subsequent meetings with our members in the workplace.  

Finally, we are also taking steps to hold the Government to account and will ask you soon to take steps to support us in this objective.

Yours in solidarity. 

Dave Ward                                                              

General Secretary                                              

Martin Walsh  

Deputy General Secretary (Postal)

Attached Communication – Letter to Branches 019/26 – Royal Mail Update