Catherwood LibraryILR School

Following the British Communication Workers Union (CWU) vote in favor of a walkout protesting Royal Mail’s decision to close its current defined benefit scheme in March 2018, it has been discovered that the CWU has also been planning to restructure its benefit scheme in a similar fashion. While an overwhelming majority of mail workers voted to strike on Thanksgiving weekend, it seems as though the union is agitating its members to demonstrate against Royal Mail for the same policies it implements. CWU General Secretary has been known to criticize Royal Mail for investing pensions in hedge funds while also taking up this practice. In addition to now appearing hypocritical in its stance against Royal Mail, the CWU also appears to have timed its strike very poorly. Lord Norman Tebbit, a senior cabinet minister in Margaret Thatcher's government, criticized the union stating that with the little business Royal Mail currently has in the digital age, strikers might just be hurting their job prospects even more.