Our DGSP Terry Pullinger publicly challenged Royal Mail to focus on building and growing the business going forward this morning, as he expressed regret at the news of 2,000 management job cuts within the company.
Speaking to Ian King on Sky News, Terry explained that management grades in the company are represented by the Unite union, but commented that “it’s always sad to hear of job losses” and expressed sympathy with those affected.
King referred to the new leadership of the company after the departure of Rico Back and his replacement as CEO by Keith Williams and asked if the CWU could “do business” with him, to which Terry replied: “We think so and we hope so.”
There has been and there will be ongoing dialogue, he continued, pointing out that this needs to be on the basis of fully resolving the issues in dispute with the business and “working together to our agreements.”
The union has already been well aware of the “dynamics” of the industry and the way that it is changing, but, our DGSP insisted: “As this pandemic has proven, this is an essential service and it does connect everybody in this country.
“Working together, we’ve got to find a way of building – this is about growth, about focus and about vision. It’s about building on the concept of the universal service and putting other services in there as well.”
Postal workers had been, “absolutely fantastic, as key workers, in delivering this service during this Covid-19 period and we’ve got to build on that – and we genuinely believe we can.”
New technologies, automation and other innovations will be supported by the union, our DGSP told King, but, he stressed: “Our members must benefit from this too – there must be mutual-interest solutions.
“We’ve dealt with automation in letter sorting and walk sequencing and we can deal with automation in parcels too,” Terry explained, and cited the example of Parcelforce, where parcel automation had already been introduced.
Speaking to CWU News afterwards, Terry said: “As I made clear, it’s always sad when jobs are lost and we wish our Unite colleagues the very best in seeking to mitigate this as best they can.
“As for our own CWU grades, we have strong existing agreements and make no mistake, we will ensure that they are all adhered to fully. We will make sure this happens and we will work constructively with the business to fight for growth and future job security.”
Posted: 30th June 2020