28 July 2009 - Steve Lawson - © Hellmail Postal News

The Communication Workers Union said this week that it intends to continue to support industrial action to force Royal Mail to rethink its modernisation plans, whilst Royal Mail maintains that a fall in mail volume makes it essential for the company to forge ahead on change, that there is nothing more to be gained by further discussion and that it must provide the service customers want.

The deadlock has effectively left the UK's mail service limping, and companies that rely on the final mile service, such as TNT, also unable to provide a full service

In a surprise move, Royal Mail wrote to the CWU this week, stating that it will no longer pay employees who take part in strike action for part of a shift, including overtime or sheduled attendance. Royal Mail justified the move by saying that employees are expected to work for an agreed number of hours and if they were unwilling to work as agreed, they would not be paid.

The move is likely to infuriate union leaders and prompt a legal challenge as partial strike action was seen as a way to minimise financial losses to union members whilst still ensuring that mail services were severely disrupted.

With growing unease amongst some postal workers that strike action is unlikely to yeild a u-turn by Royal Mail bosses or intervention by government, and concerns that extended strike action could see Royal Mail closing existing pension arrangements, it is thought than only around 20% of Royal Mail's workforce fully supports national strike action.

Royal Mail said that it has had numerous meetings with CWU representatives and accused the union of not accepting the reality of a significant fall in mail volume or the urgent need for change. The latest move is likely to further open up the rift between the CWU and the government over the future of Royal Mail, having already threatened to withdraw Labour party funding.

Earlier this week, Dutch-owned TNT announced a fall in profits of 60% and German Deutsche Post, a drop of 71%. TNT also announced it would be laying off 11,000 employees after unions consistently rejected a plea by TNT for workers to accept a 15% pay cut in the face of declining mail volume and a difficult trading year.

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