CWU sides with Royal Mail over catastrophic changes to postal service

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) top brass have once again sided with Royal Mail management to push through a controversial overhaul of the postal service, to the fury of some postal workers across the UK.

Royal Mail: winning over CWU bosses – but not the workers?

As the World Socialist Web Site reported, in a letter titled “USO Update on Pilot Sites,” dated April 15 CWU Deputy General Secretary (postal) Martin Walsh and assistant secretaries Davie Robertson and Tony Bouch attempt to spin pilot trials aimed at dismantling Royal Mail’s Universal Service Obligation (USO) as positive progress.

Yet, behind this polished PR lies a plan that threatens thousands of jobs, brutal workload increases, reduced service standards, and a betrayal of postal workers’ interests.

The letter, addressed to union branches and members, claims the pilot projects—taking place at just six of the proposed 37 sites—are progressing based on four “overarching principles” agreed between Royal Mail and the CWU.

These include meeting “commercial targets,” achieving Ofcom’s newly lowered 90% quality of service for first-class letters, and ensuring workloads are “fair, manageable and achievable.”

On the surface, these sound reasonable, but in reality, the new Operational Delivery Model (ODM) slashes the number of postal routes while pushing call rates up by nearly a third. Delivery workers face shifts stretching over five hours, rotating between “core” and “combined” routes, robbing them of steady duties and predictability.

The CWU’s letter promises “extra Saturdays off” but ignores the fact these are designed to accommodate longer weekday hours—sapping workers’ energy rather than providing genuine respite. Absurdly, it speaks of reducing fatigue and improving morale while supporting longer, more intense work patterns that postal staff have already denounced as unworkable.

Mounting outrage

This letter follows mounting outrage from rank-and-file postal workers over the “USO Reform Pilot Terms of Reference” agreement Walsh signed last December, literally signing away protections to deliver Royal Mail’s corporate agenda and billionaire owner Daniel Kretinsky’s plan to “financially sustain” the service by gutting it.

The CWU’s own fightback efforts have been stifled: in January, postal workers at Cumbernauld in Scotland voiced serious concerns about the pilots during a workplace meeting, only for a motion opposing the changes to be blocked by the local union rep—a clear indication of the union bureaucracy squashing member dissent.

Walsh tried to brush off these criticisms by visiting the Cumbernauld depot and promising further communications “to prove the truth will prevail.” The latest letter though contains no testimonials from workers directly affected by the pilots.

This absence speaks volumes—it exposes how the CWU leadership is out of touch and aligned with management rather than acting as a genuine voice for postal staff.

The letter unabashedly endorses Ofcom’s attack on postal service standards. First-class next-day delivery targets have been quietly slashed from 93% to 90%, and second-class deliveries will now only take place four days a week instead of six. Walsh and Co even argue the current USO imposes “substantial unnecessary costs” on Royal Mail.

This claim dismisses the huge value postal workers deliver every day to communities across Britain, especially those in rural or vulnerable areas who rely on the consistent six-day delivery.

CWU: cold and calculated?

Despite claiming not to have “agreed as yet to full USO reform,” the letter warns that failure to implement the ODM will result in harsher cuts—reducing delivery days to just three or four each week. This backtracking is less a protection and more a threat, indicating the CWU’s collusion in dismantling the service.

The CWU admits the trials’ inevitable job losses will be managed through “not filling vacancies” and “voluntary redundancies.” Tens of thousands of postal workers have already been forced out or left due to the punitive regime imposed on them.

In November, Walsh coldly stated that 1,000 job losses would come directly from USO reform, with another 6,000 “natural wastage” attritions added on top—all as Royal Mail’s workforce had already been cut by 10,000 between 2023 and 2024.

There is a stark contrast between the CWU leadership’s cosy cooperation with management and the reality faced by postal workers struggling under increased workloads, longer hours, and job insecurity. The pilots are mired in problems, with many sites delaying their start dates to May amid clear staff resistance and already visible signs of fatigue and route “not clearing.”

These changes are being pushed through while the government and regulator Ofcom stand by, approving the erosion of a vital public service to appease billionaire shareholders. The public, along with postal workers themselves, express growing disgust at seeing a national treasure handed over to asset-strippers and oligarchs like Kretinsky—who view Royal Mail only as a cash cow to be milked.

Royal Mail workers must organise

In this bitter atmosphere, the only hope for postal workers lies in organising rank-and-file networks independent of the union bureaucracy, which has consistently failed to defend members.

The Postal Workers Rank-and-File Committee (PWRFC) has called for a fighting strategy to oppose these attacks, inviting postal workers nationwide to an online meeting on 27 April at 7pm. The session aims to unite opposition across delivery offices, mail centres, and Parcel Force, empowering workers to stand up for their interests against corporate greed and union collusion.

The CWU leaders’ recent letter reveals their role as enforcers of Royal Mail’s destructive plan, not protectors of working people. Postal workers continue to bear the brunt of longer hours, job losses, and slashed services while management and union officials try to sweep dissent under the carpet.

The future of the British postal service and its workforce hangs in the balance, depending on whether rank-and-file workers can organise and fight back against this assault.

Featured image via the Canary