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Royal Mail has apologised for an April Fools’ joke in which staff at a Gloucester branch were promised a pay rise.
A poster was placed at the Gloucester North delivery office on 1 April informing staff they would receive an 11% pay rise backdated to April 2022 after an agreement was reached with the Communication Workers Union (CWU).
A spokesperson for Royal Mail said the poster has now been removed and the joke was “misjudged”.
Postal workers have been part of an ongoing dispute over pay, jobs and conditions.
The poster was put up in the office as the CWU was preparing to announce new strike dates.
In a statement, Royal Mail said: “We apologise for any upset caused by this misjudged April Fools’ joke at one of our delivery offices.
“The poster was removed and the local manager has apologised.”
The prank poster also said Royal Mail would employ 10,000 new “telegram boys” and introduce a “brand new fleet of diesel vans and bicycles to replace electric vans”.
A CWU spokesman said: “Hundreds of CWU members have been sacked and dismissed for far less than this ‘joke’.
“It seems to be the case at the moment that Royal Mail managers can do anything they like as long as what they’re doing hurts employees.
“It is destroying morale and is playing its role in running the company into the ground.”
The Royal Mail has seen 18 days of strikes by workers in the industrial dispute so far, including walkouts during the Christmas period.
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