UK's Royal Mail makes 'final' offer of up to 9% pay hike to union

ROYAL Mail’s parent firm, International Distributions Services, on Wednesday (Nov 23) offered a pay increase of up to 9 per cent over 18 months in its “best and final” offer to its largest labour union, the Communication Workers Union (CWU).

Royal Mail said it will make Sunday working optional and offer “more generous” voluntary redundancy terms than originally proposed, while also committing to no compulsory layoffs until the end of March.

The revised offer comes after months of pay dispute between Royal Mail and the CWU. The union has engaged in strike action over multiple days in the past few months and recently announced another 10 days of strikes between Nov 24 and Dec 24, a busy period for the postal firm.

The CWU, which represents more than 115,000 postal workers at Royal Mail, last month rejected a 7 per cent salary increase over two years. REUTERS