Received from: CWU
Congress condemns Royal Mail’s recent disgraceful actions in announcing on Friday 14th October up to 10,000 redundancies by August 2023.
This comes after the company posted record profits in May 2022 of £758 million, paid £400 million to shareholders and walked away from a Modernisation Agreement without any explanation.
The recent announcement is part of a wider jobs and asset stripping business plan that will lead to the breakup of Royal Mail, the end of the Universal Service and a wholesale levelling down agenda on postal workers jobs, pay, terms and conditions.
The plan is about turning Royal Mail into a gig-economy parcel courier, managing existing employees out of the business and replacing these with self-employed owner drivers and new starters on 20% less pay and 3 hour increase in the working week.
Congress resolves:
- To call upon the Royal Mail Board to immediately abandon their planned job losses and work and agree with the union an alternative business plan in the interest of the workers, customers and the company.
- To call on the Government to intervene immediately to protect the Universal Service and widen their current investigation into a takeover bid by VESA (a private equity investment group based in Luxemburg), to now include an immediate inquiry into the actions of the CEO and Royal Mail Group Board.
- That the General Council will work with the CWU and all unions who wish to defend this public service and save the Universal Service Obligation.
Moved: Communication Workers Union
Seconded: Unite