Strikes cost us £200m, says Royal Mail as it posts large loss | Business

Strike action at Royal Mail has cost the besieged postal company about £200 million, sending it to a large operating loss.

International Distributions Services (IDS), the recently renamed parent company, posted operating losses at Royal Mail, its UK business, of £295 million for the first nine months of its financial year as it was laid low by 18 days of industrial action by workers at the Communication Workers Union (CWU), including over the peak Christmas period.

Royal Mail remains locked in a bitter nine-month dispute with the union over below-inflation pay rises and an overhaul of working practices that has become increasingly political.

This week the Commons business, energy and industrial strategy select committee summoned Simon Thompson, Royal Mail’s chief executive, back to parliament amid