Royal Mail looking to take union talks to arbitration

Royal Mail said on Thursday that it wants to take talks with the Communication Workers Union to arbitration, having failed to make any progress over pay rises after five months, and that it will "review" agreements aimed at protecting jobs and conditions that were signed nine years ago when the company was privatised.

The company highlighted its £92m first-quarter loss, equivalent to around £1m a day. It said the CWU has blocked any meaningful discussion on the change agenda it has set out, and has not put forward any viable alternatives that will fund further pay increases.

The company accused the union of blocking any "meaningful" discussion on the change agenda it has set out, and said it has not put forward any viable alternatives that will fund further pay increases.

Given the lack of progress and "the ongoing damaging impact" of strikes, Royal Mail has decided on two steps to break the impasse.

Firstly, it has written to the CWU to propose that talks be taken to the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Ac). Secondly, it has informed the union that it wants to modernise the ways of working with them.

"As part of this, Royal Mail will review or serve notice on a number of historic agreements and policies which are currently being used by the CWU to frustrate transformation, and intends to move to a more modern industrial relations framework designed to make the business more agile, and able to compete more effectively," it said.

At 1045 BST, the shares were down 3.3% at 207.90p.