Royal Mail chief steps down after bruising battle with unions

Royal Mail chief executive Simon Thompson has quit after a bitter year-long dispute with the postal workers' union, the company said on Friday.

Thompson, who was in the top job for just over two years, last month finally reached a deal with the Communication Workers Union o pay and conditions after 12 months of strikes that will see staff get a 10% salary increase and a £500 one-off payment.

He said "now the right time to hand over to a new CEO to deliver the next stage of the company’s reinvention".

The acrimonious relationship between the boss and the union was highlighted in a post on the CWU's Twitter account, featuring a picture of Thompson with the word's "Thompson gone".

Parent company International Distributions Services said would leave the job at the end of October, but will continue to pick up his salary every month for half a year after that in lieu of notice, giving him around £289,000.

He will also be in line for a bonus and get to claim up to £17,500 towards legal fees linked to his departure and up to £50,000 towards outplacement support.

Thompson, who was also an executive at Ocado and Apple, led the much-maligned £37bn Covid NHS test and trace scheme, and has faced criticisms from several fronts.

First, the former Royal Mail boss Rico Back questioned his experience and handling of the dispute with unions, saying he was too confrontational.

He was later accused of “incompetence or cluelessness” by MPs on the business committee after appearing before them in January and being recalled over questions about his evidence.

Royal Mail was also hit by a ransomware attack linked to Russian hackers stopped international mail deliveries from the UK.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com