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Unions have been forced to call off a wave of planned strike action at Royal Mail after being challenged by the company on a legal technicality.
The Communication Workers Union (CWU), which represents 115,000 Royal Mail employees, said that following a letter from Royal Mail’s legal team, it had decided to cancel industrial action that was meant to run every day from Wednesday, Nov 2 until Thursday, Nov 10.
It is understood that the union had to abandon the strikes after problems with the way it gave legal notification of its plans.
Royal Mail previously warned striking workers that they stood to lose up to £2,000 each by pressing aheads with industrial action.
Dave Ward, general secretary of the CWU, said: “We recognise the deep frustration felt by many members over this decision. But the fact remains that the current direction of Royal Mail doesn’t benefit the company, the community or the country.
“We still need to secure a decent future for this industry, and no attempts to attack our union and our members will change our determination in fighting for that. The current focus of the coming days will be negotiations that can hopefully achieve a sensible deal to end this dispute.”
Strike action will resume on Nov 12.
Royal Mail said: “The CWU has withdrawn strike action following Royal Mail writing to CWU to highlight numerous material concerns with the formal notification of planned rolling strike action.
“We will continue to do all we can to keep business, companies and the country connected.”
Simon Thompson, Royal Mail’s chief executive, said in a video to staff earlier this month that they would lose hundreds of pounds as strikes continue.
The company estimates that each worker will be left £2,000 out of pocket if all walkouts are held as planned. The average member of staff earns £30,000 a year including overtime and allowances.
The CWU has vowed to fight plans to cut costs and change working practices.
Royal Mail has responded by preparing to tear up a legal agreement with the union, and announcing plans for up to 10,000 job cuts.
Eight days of strikes have taken place already.
Mr Thompson said: “We need to understand that strike action means a smaller company and fewer jobs. My view? I think enough is enough.”
Despite the rhetoric, efforts to reach a compromise are continuing. Two days of arbitrated talks went ahead at the end of last week with plans to continue discussions – overseen by Acas – this week.
In his address to staff before the Acas talks began, Mr Thompson said: “I’m not sure that Royal Mail and the CWU sat in room works.
“We definitely need some help and we definitely need some mediation.”
The CWU last week announced an extra day of strikes on Nov 12. It said: “Although talks are continuing at Acas, we need to put further pressure on Royal Mail in order to make progress.”
The Royal Mail board has offered staff a 5.5pc pay rise – but this is conditional on cutting costs and changing working practices, such as increasing the automation of sorting, and delivering parcels seven days a week.
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