Royal Mail’s largest union to suspend vote on deal with postal firm

May 24 (Reuters) – Royal Mail’s largest union warned on Wednesday it would suspend voting on an agreement reached with the British postal services firm last month over pay and worker terms, charging the firm of not abiding by some of the agreed-upon conditions.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) had said in April it would recommend its members vote in favour of a deal with Royal Mail, which included a 10% salary increase and a one-off lump sum of 500 pounds ($631.05).

It came after a prolonged period of strikes and disruption to regular business at the company that cost it millions of pounds and saw CEO Simon Thompson step down earlier this month.

Last week, Royal Mail blamed union disputes for its failure to meet delivery targets for the year to end-March, 2023. That led British regulator Ofcom to probe the firm with the possibility of imposing a fine.

“However, what has become clear is the environment we are attempting to deliver this agreement in remains toxic,” the CWU said in a statement.

The union laid out a series of actions to be met by Royal Mail, including improving the quality of service and providing surety over a zoom meeting that agreement terms will be implemented.

“The need to change is critical so that we can improve our quality of service, deliver for our customers and get back to profitability,” a spokesperson for Royal Mail said on Wednesday.

“The sooner we can get a positive ballot result the sooner we can give our people the pay rise that we have agreed with the CWU and provide greater job security.”

($1 = 0.7923 pounds)

Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru
Editing by Vinay Dwivedi

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