Common ground

We need substantial business changes in order to capture the opportunities from the rapidly growing demand for parcels.

We have been engaged in talks with CWU since July. The focus has been on pay and how we can work together to accelerate the pace of change to improve our productivity and respond to a market that has jumped forward three years in terms of customer behaviour.

We have been clear on the operational changes we need to make, including more regular revisions across delivery, processing and distribution. We have laid out the benefits to CWU that we believe can be delivered, which will fund future pay increases.

Our first half performance demonstrates we can capture the opportunity in the market, and deliver a growth agenda to support jobs, which has long been advocated by CWU. There is common ground in this vision, however, we need to reach agreement soon in order to move ahead to enable the business to deliver a financially sustainable and profitable future.

Keith Williams, interim executive chair, Royal Mail Group, said: ‘Our programme to simplify the way we manage the business is now well under way.

‘We have been consulting with Unite CMA, and we are now moving into the deployment stage of the programme. I appreciate that a change of this scale to our management structures is unsettling. As always, we will deal with the changes sensitively and in ongoing dialogue with Unite CMA.

‘The changes are an essential part of making us more agile and I am sure we will emerge as a better business.’

Looking ahead

We have all been grappling with the impact that Covid-19 has had on both our personal and working lives.

2020 has been a difficult year. But we should all be proud of what we have achieved through hard work, and a determination to deliver for our customers.

‘The future may still hold a lot of uncertainty,’ said Keith. ‘But there are grounds for optimism at Royal Mail. The opportunity is there – we just need to take it.

‘I would like to be amongst the first to wish you a Merry Christmas. Take care of yourselves and your families and please, stay safe.’