Morale in Royal Mail delivery offices has plummeted and some postal workers have stopped “giving a sh*t”, leaving letters and parcels piling up, i can reveal.
For months, Royal Mail has been embroiled in an increasingly bitter dispute with the Communication Workers Union (CWU) over pay and working conditions that has led to a very public war of words and days of strike action.
And with no end to the dispute currently in sight, employees have also accused Royal Mail bosses of “unleashing hell” on staff since the new year by increasing their delivery workloads and putting them under increased time pressure.
One postman, working in the south-west of England who asked to remain anoynmous, told i the job had become “physically and emotionally draining” due to the changes, while another, who is employed in Sheffield, said post was “piling up in boxes” as staff struggled to meet demands.
A Royal Mail spokesperson said the “vast majority of mail is delivered safely and on time” and advised anyone waiting for their post to contact the company.
It comes as talks between the CWU and Royal Mail bosses collapsed again this week after union leaders rejected a pay offer, raising the risk of further postal strikes.
The CWU told its members that it will be “considering all available options” regarding the next steps and said it had made it clear to Royal Mail that it was willing to continue negotiations.
Royal Mail said it was “deeply concerned” that talks with CWU “have concluded without an agreement”. It has warned that the company may have to be put into administration if there are more strikes.
Since the new year, postal workers have been given more post to deliver and most are no longer allowed to clock off after finishing their round.
It is believed extra post is being handed out to workers due to a combination of high demand for parcel deliveries, staff shortages, a backlog from previous strikes and an increase in the number of addresses that must be delivered to.
“I just go in in the morning, head down, finish my round and get out as quickly as I can,” said one postal worker from the South West, who has worked for Royal Mail for 13 years.
“I’ve always been fairly quick at my job but now I’m purposely going slower so I don’t have to take out more post,” he said, adding that there is no incentive to deliver more as he would still get paid the same amount.
He said nearly half of the postal workers in his office have been bringing letters and parcels back each day, which is a “big chunk” of the post, because they cannot manage the higher workload.
i previously reported that piles of letters were being left behind in some Royal Mail delivery offices as staff struggled.
Leaked photographs, previously obtained by i, showing letters and parcels crammed into frames at the end of the day, suggested that the Universal Service Obligation, which requires Royal Mail to deliver letters to every address in the UK six days a week, was not always being met. The company is also obliged to deliver parcels five days a week under the regulations.
Postal workers have also claimed there was an “unwritten rule” that staff should prioritise more profitable Tracked parcels over letters but Royal Mail boss Simon Thompson has insisted that all post is equally important.
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“A lot of posties don’t give a sh*t anymore because Royal Mail is not looking after them so why should we look after Royal Mail,” the postal worker from the south-west of England said.
Another employee working in the Sheffield delivery office said she is seeing “mail pile up in boxes”, including birthday cards, letters, hospital appointments and death certificates.
She said she is “constantly” talking to customers who have been waiting weeks for post to be delivered and said rules within the delivery office appeared to be changing on a daily basis, leaving staff constantly “stressed.”
The worker claimed that one day, she is told to take out all the mail and bring back what she cannot do, then the next day, she is told to leave letters behind and only take out parcels.
Some days she is told she must finish on time and will not be paid for overtime, whereas other days she is told she must clear all the mail regardless of time and she will get paid for additional hours, she also claimed.
“It’s changing every single day and people are getting so stressed because it’s like the ground is moving under our feet all the time,” she told i.
Speaking about the strike action, she said: “We’ve just worked all the way through the pandemic so can we have a little pay rise, please? In return, Royal Mail just turned around and unleashed hell on us.”
The Sheffield postie currently works from 6am to 2pm but is unhappy as her manager wants to change her hours to 12pm to 8pm.
“It would turn my life completely upside down,” she said, explaining that she is now considering looking for a new job despite previously loving the role.
“The people I get to work with are just really, really amazing people and it’s heartbreaking going into work now. I’ve never seen people’s mood change so drastically, dramatically and quickly.
“I really don’t want to have to look for another job. But I think so many of us are going to be left with no other option.
“I went for Royal Mail because I saw it as a steady, secure job for life that you could bring a family up on. Not a zero-hours gig economy job where I wouldn’t know what hours I’d be working and where I’m working late at night in unsafe areas.”
She claimed a colleague in his 60s has been moved away from his usual round to a new one with steep hills.
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “Over the last 10 years, the number of addresses we deliver to nationally has grown by more than 2 million, and many postmen and women’s routes have not been revised in this time. This can mean that some routes can be an hour or two longer than others, for example, where new housing developments have been built.
“Our latest quarterly results show a 25 per cent decline in the volume of letters sent since before the pandemic, during which time the number of parcels has risen. We have therefore revised routes throughout the country to ensure they are fairer and reflect the growth in addresses and parcel deliveries.
“We do not operate a policy of prioritising parcels, and regularly remind colleagues that the delivery, collection and processing of letters and parcels should be treated with equal importance. Due to the amount of space they take up, parcels can restrict the movement of both people and mail in our offices, leading to health and safety issues and delays to other mail.
“At particularly busy times, such as in the recovery days after a strike, we may occasionally at a local level clear parcels to free up space and address health and safety concerns so that we can keep all mail – including letters – moving efficiently through our network.”
They added: “We have zero tolerance for bullying or harassment. We are proud to provide the best pay and conditions in our industry. In an industry dominated by the ‘gig economy’, insecure work, and low pay, our model sets us apart and we want to preserve it. Overtime continues to be available to colleagues when it is required, depending on our workload at any given time.”
Commenting on talks with the CWU concluding without an agreement, a Royal Mail spokesperson said: “We made substantial efforts to reach an agreement, including making a number of further improvements to our offer. These improvements were all based on feedback from the CWU, and we were hopeful that the CWU would put a deal to its members.
“We remain committed to reaching an agreement with the CWU. We have been clear throughout the dispute that not transforming our network and working practices is not an option in a business losing more than £1 million a day. In the best interests of the business, our customers, and the job security of our postmen and women, change cannot be delayed any further.”