Update on Reset
Over the last few weeks since the National Agreement was endorsed, we have been working with Royal Mail on how to launch the much needed Reset of Employee and Industrial Relations.
You will have seen that the Royal Mail CEO, Alistair Cochrane wrote to all employees to express his support for the Reset of both Employee and Industrial Relations (copy attached). Alistair Cochrane, Kieran Judd (Chief People Officer), Jamie Stephenson (Chief Operations Officer), Andrew Smith (Head of Industrial Relations), James Brockbank (Industrial Relations Director), Rachael Batty (Industrial Relations Director) and Fiona Hamilton (Industrial Relations Director) attended a Postal Executive Meeting to discuss how to move forward a genuine Reset across all of Royal Mail Group and in every workplace.
The idea of the Reset was first agreed in the CWU and EP Agreement, which stated the following: “Underpinning every part of this agreement is a recognition and belief from both parties that the only way to rebuild trust in Royal Mail Group is for a fresh start in the way the business is run, at all levels and in every workplace. The agreement signifies a complete reset in Employee and Industrial Relations and is about putting customers and postal workers at the heart of everything we do.”
The recent national agreement allowed us to move forward and agree the initial programme for the Reset, which is attached.
There will be a formal launch event in September for all Senior Directors and Managers along with the Postal Executive and Senior Field Officials, which will, as part of the structure, show how this is cascaded to every level and in every workplace. Royal Mail have appointed Fiona Hamilton as their lead on Reset.
The programme includes the following initiatives:
- A Joint Royal Mail/CWU Working Time Listening and Learning session to be delivered in every workplace supporting the Reset; this will be overseen centrally to ensure this takes place.
- An independent survey of employees to test how the Reset is working.
- Each Unit/Area will be jointly assessed as either Red, Amber or Green on how Employee and Industrial Relations are currently working. The assessment will be used to support and improve all units which are red or amber.
The Joint Working Group for the CWU comprises of Andy Furey, Rob Wotherspoon, Alan Tate, Luke Elgar and Steve Halliwell. They are working on a range of issues to support the Reset including how we improve those units with poor Employee and Industrial Relations.
This is possibly the biggest Reset of Employee and Industrial Relations that Royal Mail and the CWU have launched since the Lord Sawyer Review in the 1990s and it is therefore important that we all support the Reset activity and programme over the next few weeks and months.
We will provide further updates on the Reset as it progresses.
Any enquiries relating to the content of this LTB should be referred to the Postal Department at hford@cwu.org.
Yours sincerely,
Martin Walsh Andy Furey
Deputy General Secretary (Postal) Assistant Secretary
Attachment 1 – 26.07.26 CEO letter – reset of ER and IR FINAL (002)
CWU Eastern No5 Branch 
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