Royal Mail and union reach potential agreement after a year of talks over pay dispute

A deadlock in negotiations between the Royal Mail and postal workers which has led to strikes and major disruption of the UK’s letter and parcel deliveries may be over. Today bosses and union leaders issued a joint statement.

The statement says: “After almost a year of talks, Royal Mail and the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) are pleased to announce they have reached a negotiators’ agreement in principle. The proposed agreement will now be considered by the executive of the union before being voted on by the union’s membership.

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“An announcement on the detailed content of the proposed agreement will be made when it is ratified by the union’s executive committee. It is expected this will take place next week.”

Earlier this month talks between Royal Mail and the union ended without a deal, raising the prospect of further strikes.

The talks in the first week of April between postal service bosses and the Communications Workers Union (CWU) at the London-based Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service ended with the two sides failing to reach agreement on pay and conditions.

The dispute has lasted for almost a year, with 18 days of strikes held between August and the end of 2022. The CWU won a strong mandate to take further action in a member ballot in February, and its leaders were considering further strikes in April if talks failed.

In February Royal Mail workers voted overwhelmingly to continue with a campaign of industrial action in the ongoing bitter dispute over pay, jobs and conditions. A fresh ballot of members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) showed almost 96 per cent were in favour of more strikes unless the deadlock is broken.

At the time a Royal Mail spokesperson said: “The company’s financial position is worsening with every strike day, and we know that it is well understood by our employees. Royal Mail reported losses of almost £300 million in the nine months to December 2022, two-thirds resulting from industrial action.”

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