ROYAL Mail’s future plans represent the biggest attack on workers by a company in decades, the head of the Communications Workers Union has said.
CWU general secretary Dave Ward also exclusively told GB News he’d call off the industrial action if Royal Mail offered a 9% rise
He said: “This dispute is probably the biggest attack on any group of workers that we’ve seen in the UK for decades.
“It’s about their jobs going forward in the future and it’s about the services that we provide to the public. It is about pay. But we believe we can find a resolution to pay as part of the dispute.
“The bigger issues that we’re facing now are the reality of the attacks on jobs. Royal Mail are asking us to accept it and our members to accept it while they go about sacking thousands and thousands of postal workers. They want to bring in new workers, self-employed owner drivers, they want to bring in workers on 20% less pay terms and conditions.
“They also want to retain around 11,000 agency workers and what we’re saying is that no company who has a workforce that is so dedicated, like Royal Mail employees, who have a special relationship with customers up and down the country, no company would treat workers like this.
“Royal Mail wants our members to start up to three hours later in the day, we’re saying that that means that they will abandon the AM delivery period and we don’t think that’s a viable business plan for the future. So that’s why our members are out on strike.”
He told Martin Daubney and Isabel Webster: “What we said to the company a couple of days ago, is that we would accept a 9% offer if it was truly 9%. And that means the full value of 9% on basic pay.
“The company is not offering 9%. If they were, I’m saying now we would settle that part of the dispute.
“We’ve made that clear to them, we put that in writing. And also as part of that, by the way, we asked them if they were to confirm that, along with some job security commitments that we’ve spoken about, then we would have suspended today’s strike.
“The company didn’t even want to come into the room to discuss that and it really is time now that you held these people to account. They are destroying the future of a great British public service. They’re destroying one of the best companies and the best group of workers that you’ve got anywhere in the UK.”
Asked if the union was destroying Christmas, Mr Ward told GB News: “It’s absolute rubbish. This really is over the future in their jobs and the future of the service that we provide and provide to the public for years and years and years.
“Royal Mail now is responsible, the people at the top of the business, are responsible for this dispute.
