Union calls for summit on future of Royal Mail

Alan Jones, Press Association Industrial Correspondent

The postal workers union is calling for an emergency summit to discuss the future of Royal Mail, claiming the organisation is “on the brink of collapse”.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) said the Government should also join formal talks between the union and management to avert a “serious crisis.”

The union has called for the rollout of a new delivery model to be paused, citing operational issues and unmanageable workloads.

CWU general secretary Dave Ward said: “We are calling for a summit between stakeholders and the Government to address the ticking timebomb that is Royal Mail.

“Royal Mail has been in structural decline for well over a decade, and the continuous failure to deliver quality of service is killing the brand, demoralising the workforce, and letting down the communities that postal workers are proud to serve.

“At this stage, it doesn’t matter what delivery model is adopted. Unless the company faces up to its self-inflicted recruitment and retention crisis, the company is on the brink of collapse.

“For years, we have had select committees, promises of £500 million improvement plans, a broad array of agreements and threats to improve from Ofcom.

“Yet nothing has changed, every agreement reached has never been honoured, and Ofcom’s only role has been to favour competition over improving Royal Mail, with its universal service obligation.

“Royal Mail is in serious need of a business vision that provides dignified work for employees and quality service for consumers and communities.

“The time for developing and implementing this vision is long overdue, and we must begin the work now.”

The CWU claimed the Royal Mail was on the “brink of collapse.”

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “The rollout of our new delivery model is now 90% complete across our 1,200 delivery offices and we are continuing to see positive results – delivering on average to 95% of addresses every day across the UK, up from 88% before deployment.

“The rollout continues across our network and we expect quality of service to improve as deployment progresses.

“These reforms are an important part of our plan to deliver a more reliable, efficient and financially sustainable Universal Service for customers across the UK.”

Royal Mail is hiring 22,000 temporary workers over the Christmas period to help transport, sort and deliver the additional mail expected over the festive period.

It has acknowledged there is more to do on meeting delivery targets and published an improvement plan in April which included a commitment to invest £500 million in quality of service over five years.

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