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Royal Mail Plans Job Cuts, Threatens More if Strikes Over Pay Go On

© AP Photo / Frank Augstein / A Royal Mail postman delivers parcels in LondonA Royal Mail postman delivers parcels in London
A Royal Mail postman delivers parcels in London - Sputnik International, 1920, 14.10.2022
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The Communications Workers' Union began to strike in August after the Royal Mail gave out a two percent raise. The firm offered another 1.5 percent if staff "sign away their terms and conditions," the union said, adding that a £500 bonus promised for 2023 was based on "unachievable" targets.
The Royal Mail has announced plans to cut up to 10,000 jobs — and has threatened more layoffs if strikes by staff continue.
The UK's national mail carrier announced it was "consulting on rightsizing" on Friday morning.
The company said 5,000 full-time posts would go by March 2023, rising to 10,000 by August. That would mean imposing 5,000 to 6,000 compulsory layoffs, it said.
Crucially, the Royal Mail warned the Communication Workers' Union (CWU) that the number of job losses would rise if it went ahead with 16 days of strikes over pay in November and December, saying that would "materially" increases its losses.
"This is nothing but an intimidation tactic aimed at crushing the spirit of our members," the CWU charged in a tweet, a day after the latest walk-out by its 115,000 members at the company.
"This announcement is holding postal workers to ransom for taking legal industrial action against a business approach that is not in the interests of workers, customers or the future of Royal Mail," CWU General Secretary Dave Ward said. "This is no way to build a company."
Ward said the announced cuts were due to "gross mismanagement and a failed business agenda of ending daily deliveries, a wholesale levelling-down of the terms, pay and conditions of postal workers, and turning Royal Mail into a gig economy style courier."
He said the company should drop its "asset-stripping strategy" and take advantage of its position as the sole delivery network to 32 million addresses.
Ward has previously accused Royal Mail of holding secret talks with a "private equity investment group" in Luxembourg for a takeover of the firm, which was privatized in 2015 after 499 years of state ownership.
A worker sorts mail at the Royal Mail Distribution centre in Glasgow in what is traditionally the busiest day of the year for mail in the run up to Christmas on December 15, 2016 - Sputnik International, 1920, 31.08.2022
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Royal Mail Strike Gains Momentum as Telecoms Workers Walk Out Too
The CWU launched a strike in August after its members rejected the Royal Mail's pay offer that falls far below the current inflation rate of around 10 percent.
The union says the company imposed a two percent rise without negotiating, then offered another 1.5 percent if staff "sign away their terms and conditions", plus a £500 bonus in 2023 if they hit targets that the CWU calls "unachievable".
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