02/10/2025
UPDATE FOR CWU MEMBERS – REBUILDING ROYAL MAIL
Over recent weeks and months negotiations have taken place with Royal Mail Group on all elements of section 5 of the Rebuilding Royal Mail part 1 agreement, including equalising new entrants' terms and conditions and the future of the USO.
Given the complexity of the negotiations, they have taken longer than first anticipated. This is primarily due to both parties being unable to reach agreement on USO reform. Whilst we would have wanted to be able to move this issue forward, we have been clear to Royal Mail that there are serious problems in the pilot units, and we cannot agree to their Optimised Delivery Model.
We are pleased that Royal Mail / EP Group have taken a step back and have now fully confirmed there will be no further pilot units or roll out of the USO until the new year / a national agreement has been reached with the CWU. We welcome this approach as it is markedly different to what we saw under the previous senior management team who oversaw the destruction of the service through a relentless programme of executive action.
We have agreed with Royal Mail to ensure our immediate focus will also be to support all the current pilot units and ensure these units are fully resourced and achieving all quality of service targets. We want to thank our members in the pilot units for the support and understanding in recent months.
We will use this period to reach a comprehensive agreement on the USO that delivers on quality of service and improves the work / life balance for our members.
The protracted nature of these negotiations has also impacted on other areas of the agreement including agreeing the first step in equalising new entrants' terms and conditions.
Following discussions last week we can confirm that EP Group will now be taking the lead on these talks, and they will intensify from next week. The CWU position is that any settlement we reach will have to be backdated to September to ensure we deliver on the terms of the Rebuilding Royal Mail Part 1 agreement.
We are fully aware that the true test of our agreement and of the new owners of Royal Mail is whether you are seeing and feeling change in the workplace. We know that is not currently the case. However, in the coming weeks, a number of initiatives and communications will be shared which will believe will begin a full re-set of employee and industrial relations. We want to see real and meaningful actions from Royal Mail and EP Group and through the negotiations we are determined to ensure this is what will be delivered.
Finally, we will keep you updated with any developments from the negotiations.
Martin Walsh
Deputy General Secretary Postal
Dave Ward
General Secretary
