UK: Royal Mail to cut 10,000 jobs, blames strike for losses

Royal Mail will starting the process of consulting on the cuts “in response to the impact of industrial action, delays in delivering agreed productivity improvements and lower parcel volumes,” the company said in a statement.

Royal Mail said it will cut 10,000 jobs after projecting a full-year operating loss that it blamed partly on a series of crippling strikes.

Royal Mail postal workers hold placards and chant slogans as they stand on a picket line outside a delivery office, in north London, on September 8 during a strike.  (AFP)

The UK’s postal service, whose parent company has been renamed International Distributions Services Plc, said it expects adjusted operating losses of around £350 million ($395 million), following a £219 million shortfall in the first half.

Royal Mail will starting the process of consulting on the cuts “in response to the impact of industrial action, delays in delivering agreed productivity improvements and lower parcel volumes,” the company said in a statement.

Of the job losses required, around half need to come by the end of March and the rest through next August, the company said. Given expected departures, actual firings are expected to number 5,000 to 6,000, it said.

Royal Mail is seeking to transform its business in a bid to grab a bigger share of the next-day parcels market after the coronavirus pandemic spurred a shift to online shopping. The company has said it needs to restructure deliveries and the workforce to address the demand changes, with a shift to rounds much later in the day.

The Communication Workers Union told Bloomberg Thursday that the parcels market can be better addressed without abandoning current working practices, and vowed to resist what it said was a planned transformation of Royal Mail into a gig economy-style employer.