Royal Mail & CWU agree ACAS meet

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115,000 postal workers are set to strike again this Tuesday, the 25th October, bringing even more misery on small businesses struggling to survive with ever increasing costs and an audience of consumers with constrained spending placing fewer order. There is a glimmer of good news however, as the Communication Workers Union (CWU) has agreed to enter into talks today with Royal Mail through ACAS.

Following an invitation from ACAS, Royal Mail and CWU have agreed to jointly engage with ACAS facilitation in an attempt to resolve the current disputes on Pay and Change. There is a commitment on both sides to reach a resolution however we all acknowledge there are significant difficulties to overcome.

An opening session will now take place on Tuesday 25th October with the objective to reach an agreed approach for further facilitated talks.

– Joint statement agreed by all parties from Royal Mail, the CWU and ACAS

Regardless of the good news of arbitration, the CWU aren’t calling off the strikes with CWU General Secretary Dave Ward saying: “We welcome the mutual agreement to attend ACAS discussions as a positive development, but at this stage, it is not a greatly significant one either”.

The Union’s attitude isn’t really surprising, as Royal Mail upped the stakes promising 10,000 jobs will be lost and the icing on the cake… the company says they can no longer afford generous redundancy so anyone laid off won’t be getting much of a pay off.

Plus the Union knows that the minute the strikes end and Royal Mail turns even a small profit, the Board is likely to spin off GLS leaving a currently loss making Royal Mail to fend for itself.

The big concern is that Royal Mail are bleeding not just money but also customers. Many businesses have deserted Royal Mail and will never return. The new phrase they describe themselves as is “A parcel company that also delivers letters” and without a parcel business they are on a downward spiral to oblivion, probably to leave the Government to pick up the pieces of the Universal Service.

It’s unfortunate, but if your business is still relying on Royal Mail to deliver to your customers, you should take a look at the upcoming schedule of strike days and then pick an alternative carrier to set up an account with before they are all too busy to take on new custom.

20 Responses

  1. Is this an independent news article or just another Tory Rag attacking working class rights and living standards ?

  2. Don’t pay out 400, 000000 to share holders and stop lying about losing money. Also get the regulator to make all the other companies deliver in a Saturday, or release that requirement from royal Mail.

  3. If they are saying they don’t have the volumes of work to keep on 10000 staff. Yet today they are advertising for self employed drivers on double the current hourly rate. So what work are they going to be giving them.

  4. Do your due diligence and see what ID’S and Simon want. Sure as shit the general public won’t be happy without a six day postal service.
    Fighting for our customers not ourselves

  5. You should get your facts right. Talk to front line staff, or even try doing their job and see if you could hack it. I’m no financial guru, you can see its being run into the ground.. why would a billionaire, want to invest in a so called profit loss making co.pany. my thoughts are it will get assets stripped. How Shareholders can’t see this is beyond me.

  6. What a mess.
    We have sadly moved everything from Royal Mail and Parcelforce to UPS and DPD. Wish I had done it years ago- often cheaper and faster- especially to USA.
    The profit generated for share holders is unbelievable- sadly this hasn’t been shared with the workforce. I can understand the anger.
    Many more companies will migrate away from RM group- it’s just a matter of time. Then the workforce will have nothing to strike over. It’s over for RM and their employees, but sadly neither side can see the inevitable outcome.

  7. royal mail board should have stepped in well before now simon thompson should go he is destroying royal mail he has rewarded the share hilders very well and giving himself bonuses aswell as for not having anymoney giving team leaders a £1000 bonus each its the dedicated royal mail staff who keep royal mail going by working really hard delivering especially through covid etc simon thompson should go as royal mail will go just like the miners, shipyards and textile industries

  8. Why are other couriers like EVRI & YODEL, saying because of the industrial dispute of the Royal Mail, their deliveries are delayed. The dispute is NOTHING to do with these two other couriers, EVRI & YODEL, should both be facing FRAUDULENT CHARGES, neither courier, EVRI or YODEL, fulfil their contractual duties, their delivery drivers are extremely poor in giving service, parcels, packets left unattended in unsecured locations, I’ve had 18 parcels either stolen by the delivery drivers, or because items are being left unattended in unsecured locations, dishonest people think they’ve got the right to walk off with your items. If the delivery is made by EVRI or YODEL, they leave the parcels, packets anywhere they want too, & they never keep you updated as to where or when your items will be delivered. If they do deliver, the delivery drivers NEVER, notify you that the delivery has taken place. The only way of fixing this continuation is making the delivery drivers wear body cams, & unless the delivery is handed to the to the recipient, then the delivery should NOT be left. This problem will NOT go away, until companies start getting fined & the delivery drivers SACKED for NOT fulfilling their contracts of employment.

  9. So the CWU have just announced two more strike days in November. It seems to have backfired on them though. Look at their Twitter feed and the announcement about the extra days, look at the replies from posties. Many of them seem to have had enough and say they can’t afford to strike for two more days. The workers seems to be revolting. Against their union.

  10. Parcels booked in for collection on Thursday, not collected. Emailed and awaiting a response by Tuesday next week. Rebooked for Friday, not collected. Rang the national helpline as the local depot doesn’t have a telephone number. They confirmed the bookings and that no attempts to collect had been made. Rebooked for Saturday, not collected. Luckily, I managed to catch the postman in the street after the 4 hour collection slot and he saved the day by taking the parcels, although no collection was showing as due from my address on his device. It seems the depot are having communication issues between either the booking system or their staff. The postman looked a broken man and said they are having additional major issues at the depot e.g., understaffed with a dozen off sick. I offered to go down the depot to help but then I remembered I sell on eBay so all my spare time will be spent sticking cutlery in my kneecaps to soften the blow of dealing with problems that arise from the parcel delays. I have no alternative courier drop off service in my town and past experience of their delivery/collection services makes all but one unreliable anyway. The remaining company is also unviable as most of my parcels are large letter and/or low weight in a competitive market. I will keep going though. Stiff upper lip, British bulldog spirit and all that b******s.

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