Royal Mail is consulting on a programme of job cuts which is expected to see around 10,000 full-time roles axed by August next year.
The company said it has started the process of consulting over “rightsizing the business in response to the impact of industrial action, delays in delivering agreed productivity improvements and lower parcel volumes”.
The firm said it is seeking short-term cost efficiencies through the planned reduction of 5,000 full-time equivalent roles by March and around 10,000 by August. This is expected to require up to 6,000 redundancies by August, the Royal Mail said in a statement on Friday.
It comes amid a warning by parent group International Distributions Services that Royal Mail is expected to tumble to a £350m operating loss for the year after being hit by industrial action.
On Thursday, Royal Mail workers held the first of 19 days of planned industrial action including Black Friday week and Cyber Monday, as well as 20 and 25 October, and 28 November.
Letters will not be delivered and some parcels will be delayed, the company warned.
Royal Mail chief executive Simon Thompson said: “This is a very sad day. I regret that we are announcing these job losses.
“We will do all we can to avoid compulsory redundancies and support everyone affected.
“We have announced today losses of £219m in the first half of the year. Each strike day weakens our financial situation.
“The CWU’s decision to choose damaging strike action over resolution regrettably increases the risk of further headcount reductions.”
In a statement, the company said it would offer a voluntary redundancy scheme in order to avoid all compulsory redundancies.
It added: “The financial position of the business means that our legacy voluntary redundancy policy, which offered up to two years’ pay, is now unaffordable. We will consult with CWU on any new voluntary redundancy arrangements.”
