Royal Mail strikes go ahead as last minute talks fail

Members of the CWU communications workers’ union were embarking on the first day of a national strike as Workplace Report went to press, after a “peace plan” offered by the union was rejected by employers. Paul Tolhurst, Royal Mail’s operations director, appeared to offer to sign the agreement but the CWU remained adamant that the Royal Mail offer was not genuine.The letter sent by Royal Mail’s managing director, Mark Higson, had offered “substantively different” words, it said. “The form of words that was drafted between the negotiating teams was precisely that – a form of words that may have allowed the sides to keep talking,” said a spokesperson. The CWU reiterated its call to take the talks on pay and modernisation to Acas.