Royal Mail managers to walk out as UK labor strife worsens

Royal Mail Plc managers across the UK will strike over job and pay cuts later this month as the country’s fraught labor situation worsens.

Britain’s postal service has moved to cut 700 senior posts and slash pay by as much as £7,000 ($8,400), the Unite union said in a statement Tuesday. About 2,400 managers are expected to take part in the three-day walkout from July 20, according to the group. 

The strike will deepen UK labor woes during what’s been termed a summer of discontent, with rail workers, airline employees, barristers and others walking off their jobs or threatening to do so as the cost of living soars. The protests have led to snags at transport hubs and threaten to exacerbate inflation.

Royal Mail has been seeking to reduce costs and revamp operations as gains from parcel deliveries spurred by a switch to home shopping at the height of the Covid crisis begin to wane. The company began consulting with Unite in January on reducing management layers, and said on May 19 that while there had been threats of industrial action, an agreement on key principles had been reached.

The union said the job cuts come after Royal Mail eliminated 1,200 positions last year. The company announced two years ago that it would shed 2,000 managers in a bid to streamline the business after the start of the pandemic triggered a collapse in letter volumes.

‘No Other Option’

Members “have no other option but to take strike action as months of consultation have failed,” the union said. In addition to the strikes, managers will also work to rule on a number of days.

Royal Mail said in an email that the consultation concluded earlier this year and that a restructuring involving 700 jobs is already in place, leaving “no grounds for industrial action.”

Managers were able to request voluntary redundancy in exchange for up to two years’ salary, which was over-subscribed, according to the firm, which condemned Unite for taking the “very unusual step to ballot with the restructure complete.”

The company has 6,000 operational managers, just over one-third of whom are representated by Unite.

Royal Mail shares fell as much as 2.2% and were trading 0.5% lower as of 2:30 p.m. in London. The stock has lost close to half its value in 2022 after gaining almost 50% in each of the prior two years.

The company said it has contingency plans in place to minimize disruption for customers in the event of a strike, which it said will not involve any workers who collect, process and deliver items to and from customers.