CWU CALL FOR SUMMIT MEETING WITH GOVERNMENT AND THE COMPANY ON THE FUTURE OF ROYAL MAIL
You will be aware that there has been further media coverage today on the major problems being experienced with quality of service in Royal Mail.
The BBC’s story led with the headline that around 400 postal workers a week were leaving the company, an increase from the 326 on average per week that had been leaving prior to DM26 deployment. Both these figures were provided to the union by Royal Mail and to verify these we have asked for more detailed information to understand the office breakdown and the length of time that these figures have been held in this format. As branches know, the union had released these figures last week in an LTB where we set out why there is a need for a different approach to the future of the company.
Therefore, today in our own press release (copy attached), we have expanded on these issues and explained that whatever delivery system is utilised, unless Royal Mail can attract and retain staff, quality will continue to fail in the lead up to Christmas.
You will also be aware, as reported in previous LTB’s, that the union has suspended our involvement in the roll-out of DM26 until Royal Mail fixes the problem offices.
In a letter exchange with senior management, Royal Mail has also now provided their DM26 figures on what they say are the offices that are working and those that are not, with supplementary information on current backlogs of mail. This information is being pulled together and will be shared with branches as soon as possible, alongside further information for branches to support local reps, members and the overall unions position.
In the meantime, we can confirm the union has written today to the Secretary of State calling for an urgent three-way meeting to discuss the future of Royal Mail.
It is our strong belief that the multi-layered challenges that we are all trying to overcome can only ultimately be resolved through some form of government intervention.
In this regard the union has today welcomed the government’s launch of its consultation to end bogus self-employment and we recognise this as a significant step forward and something which the union has long campaigned for.
The consultation closes on 8 January 2027. The union will be pressing for robust legislation, backed by serious enforcement measures, which are essential to addressing the unfair playing field that Royal Mail operates in against its competitors. The legislation will be included in the next King’s Speech, setting out the government’s plans to deliver these reforms.
However, this issue in itself is not going to solve the deep-rooted problems within the company and we see these broadly as set out below:
- A regulator that continues to promote unfair competition over Royal Mail.
- A company that has never recovered from handing all of its profits to shareholders and imposing inferior new entrant’s terms and conditions that remain the root cause of Royal Mail’s quality of service failures.
- A growth strategy that relies solely on declining letters being replaced by parcels, in a market where Royal Mail is being undercut on a daily basis and where increased workload is not being matched by increased revenue.
- A failure of liberalisation and privatisation.
The CWU also continues to acknowledge that perhaps the biggest challenge of all is that Royal Mail, like other postal administrations across the world, is in structural decline and now operates in a permanently changed world of communications. This is why the union wants to bring these issues to a head and work with the company and the government on a new direction. In the coming weeks you will hear more information on this and we will also be holding a national briefing next week, the date of which will be announced tomorrow.
Finally, we can confirm that the union will be addressing a significant group of MP’s later this evening to explain what’s really happening in Royal Mail and what we see as the way forward. A further LTB will be issued tomorrow to update branches on exchanges with the company over DM26.
Any enquiries on the above LTB should be addressed to the General Secretary’s office dlynch@cwu.org.
Yours sincerely
Dave Ward Martin Walsh
General Secretary Deputy General Secretary (Postal)
26LTB276 CWU CALL FOR SUMMIT MEETING WITH GOVERNMENT AND THE COMPANY ON THE FUTURE OF ROYAL MAIL
PRESS RELEASE – POSTAL UNION CALLS FOR EMERGENCY SUMMIT TO SAVE ROYAL MAIL
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