In a statement released yesterday (20 December), the CWU said that it extended an offer to the company to suspend the strikes and establish a period of calm from now until 16 January 2023, as well as the union and the company both signing a joint statement incorporating Royal Mail’s latest promise of no compulsory redundancies “was rejected almost immediately”.
The strikes will be the 17th and 18th days of action and will affect deliveries of pre-Christmas post, including items like gifts and cards.
CWU general secretary Dave Ward said: “For Royal Mail Group to reject our offer just hours after receiving it demonstrates that they were never serious about saving Christmas for customers and businesses.
He added their sole intention was “to destroy the jobs of postal workers and remove their union from the workplace”.
“Our members will not stand for this, and further action will take place in 2023," he said.
“Our message to the public and businesses is that postal workers do not want to be here, but they are facing an aggressive, reckless and out-of-control CEO committed to wrecking their livelihoods.”
In response, a Royal Mail spokesperson said: “Throughout December, we have urged the CWU to call off their strike action and work together to deliver Christmas for our customers.
“The CWU have consistently refused our offer to do so, choosing instead to repackage old pay offers, absent of the change needed to fund the pay deal, in the misleading guise of new proposals to resolve the pay and change dispute.
“Our priority is to deliver for our customers, and this has never been more important as we approach Christmas.
“We would like to thank the increasing number of posties returning to work each strike day. They have been joined by thousands of employees from across the business who have swapped their regular day jobs to work in the operation as we focus all our efforts on delivering Christmas for our customers.”
Royal Mail’s chairman warned over the weekend that the price of a First Class stamp could go up to more than £1 if the group has to keep making Saturday deliveries.
In November Royal Mail called for urgent reform of the Universal Service Obligation, and said it wanted the requirement to deliver on Saturdays to end.
