Further to our recent article regarding Royal Mail creating 17,500 temporary jobs for Christmas, the company has now said it will actually be recruiting for 30,000 temporary jobs to help them through Christmas and to assist them during planned strike action.
The Communication Workers Union (CWU) has called for two 24 hour strikes this week, claiming that Royal Mail are attempting to force through changes to working patterns and other modernisation measures without consultation. The CWU has threatened further strike action in the coming weeks to reach agreement on jobs, pay and conditions.
The recruitment for the temporary jobs puts Royal Mail in a dubious position as, under employment law, it is illegal to hire more people to fill the jobs of striking staff. The company, however, insist that they would not break the law as the new staff would not be doing the strikers’ work but would only be employed to clear any backlogs between the strikes and help with the increase in volume before Christmas.
Chief Executive of Royal Mail, Adam Crozier, said that he was "absolutely determined" to do all he could to reduce any delays to the public over the Christmas period. Crozier went on to say: "Every year, Royal Mail recruits thousands of additional fully vetted, temporary staff as part of the operation which successfully delivers the Christmas mail. This year we'll have twice as many people on board, and we'll have them in place much earlier in the autumn."
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