Royal Mail to spark Christmas chaos with new strikes in December

Royal Mail to spark Christmas chaos with SIX new strikes to wreak havoc on gift deliveries (Image: Getty)Last minute Christmas deliveries may be hard to come by this year as Royal Mail workers announce six new strikes next month, including on Christmas Eve. The Communication Workers Union (CWU) had earlier accused Royal Mail Group chief executive Simon Thompson and the board of causing financial issues for the company with “dramatic errors of judgement” – although the Royal Mail has pointed to the strikes themselves as the reason for falling profits.The delivery company even asked the government to let it stop delivering letters on Saturdays, arguing that it was no longer financially sustainable to do so. The CWU already had strike dates set for November 24, 25 and December 1 prior to today’s announcement.The union said some progress had been made in recent negotiations, but accused Royal Mail management of failing to put any commitments into writing.The CWU’s general secretary, Dave Ward, accused Roya Mail bosses of “gross mismanagement”, claiming “no business making record profits of £758 million in May this year should be losing over £1 million a day in a matter of weeks”.He added: “The current senior leadership of Royal Mail have been treating employees, union representatives or future investors with a lack of integrity and transparency.”Royal Mail reported a £219million loss in the six months to September – compared with a £235million profit in the same period a year prior. It warned it may need to cut as many as 10,000 jobs by next August amid the plummeting revenues.MORE TO FOLLOW