Royal Mail delivery managers to vote on strike action as hundreds of jobs could be axed
Delivery managers at Royal Mail will be balloted for strike action, with union bosses warning there could be parcel delivery chaos this summer.
Postal workers are unhappy with plans to slash some 524 frontline delivery manager roles, with Unite the union declaring there would be a ballot.
Some 2,400 managers will decide on whether to take strike action and industrial action short of a strike between 6 June and 29 June.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Our members are the backbone of the Royal Mail, holding the service together while the shareholders seize the profits.
“Royal Mail is awash with cash. There is no need whatsoever for these cuts, or this ill-thought out redeployment programme. Unite will oppose these plans every step of the way. “
A Royal Mail spokesperson said the company was disappointed that union bosses had informed them of an intention to ballot operational managers.
“We committed to protect pay for all managers who will stay with Royal Mail and the vast majority will see an increase in their earnings,” a spokesperson added.
“As part of an extended consultation period, we gave managers the option to request voluntary redundancy with a package of up to two years’ salary and this was over-subscribed. This ballot is not an announcement of industrial action and we will continue to engage with Unite/CMA, as we have throughout the process.”
It comes as the company could fall out of the FTSE 100 in a reshuffle on Wednesday, with shares battered by more than five per cent on Tuesday afternoon.
“Some investors appear to think its pandemic performance has now come unstuck with parcel numbers on the decline, but although volumes have fallen from last year’s highs, they crucially appear to be rebasing at a much higher level than pre-pandemic,” Susannah Streeter, Hargreaves Lansdown markets analyst, said earlier this week.