After 11 months of talks, including mediation by Sir Brendan Barber and Acas, we are deeply concerned that our talks with CWU have concluded without an agreement.
Where did we get to in the talks?
We thought we were making progress. The CWU seemed to understand the serious financial situation we are in.
They seemed to recognise that change is needed. We understood that agreement was within touching distance, and we were hopeful that the CWU would finally put a deal to its members.
We made substantial efforts to reach an agreement, including making a number of further improvements to our offer. These improvements were all based on feedback from the CWU.
As we continued talks late into last night, whilst we had made progress on a number of issues, the main sticking point was new contracts for new starters.
These contracts were introduced last year, and we had offered to level up over five years. The CWU did not accept this proposal.
The offer
Some of the improvements we made in the recent talks include:
Pay - We increased our pay offer, and extended the offer until April 2025. We offered two options to the CWU:
o Option A: 10% three year pay deal, plus £500
- 2% pay rise from April 2022 (already paid), 6% from April 2023 plus a lump sum of £500, 2% from April 2024
o Option B: 10% three year pay deal, plus £1,500
- 2% pay rise from April 2022 (already paid), 2% from April 2023 plus a lump sum of £1,500, 6% from April 2024
- Plus achieving pay parity for new starters over a five year period
Allowances – We said that all allowances would remain for existing employees
Profit share – We proposed a significant profit share arrangement for employees, so that we all benefit when we get Royal Mail back to profitability
Later start times – We amended our proposal so that start times in delivery offices would move 60 minutes – 90 minutes later (instead of our original proposal of up to three hours for everyone), with a last letter delivery time of 4.30pm. We also said that no start time changes would happen until March 2024, to give everyone time to adjust
An independent review of conduct cases led by a senior lawyer
These improvements are designed to reduce the impact on you, whilst ensuring the business can transform and survive. This builds on other improvements we have made earlier in the talks, including:
Job security - Commitment to no Compulsory Redundancy for the life of the agreement
Sunday working – Remains voluntary and we keep the Sunday Premium for existing employees
Where do we go from here?
In the end, the CWU were unable to agree to the change needed to ensure the future of this company.
There is nothing left to give.
We urge the CWU to agree the deal, and put it to a vote.
That is in the best interests of Royal Mail, our customers and all our employees.
Simon Thompson
Chief Executive Officer
Zareena Brown
Chief People Officer
Ricky McAulay
Operations Development Director
