According to an internal memo seen by ITV News, entitled ‘Coming to work', the company will also escort workers past picket lines and allow them to abandon their uniforms and wear plain clothes.
The memo says: "We will not ask you to do anything you are uncomfortable with." The quotes one Communication Workers Union source as comparing the plan to "a witness protection scheme".
The tactics are part of Royal Mail's efforts to minimise the effects of the strikes, particularly on commercial and direct mail. A decision on whether the three-day postal strike will go ahead from tomorrow will go right to the wire today and be made late this afternoon.
Leaders of the CWU and Royal Mail bosses have been locked in talks for two days, with the Daily Mail reporting that lucrative Christmas overtime has become a sticking point.
It quotes a senior source at Royal Mail saying: "The unions were hoping, as in the past, that their workers would have nothing to lose by going on strike as they could work overtime. But we've got a business to run and cannot afford to give in. The union really doesn't want to lose face and admit we need to modernise. The overtime issue has become their main grumble."
In the meantime Royal Mail will ask managerial staff to help keep mail moving if the strike goes ahead. Its website states that:
- More than 900 managerial and contract drivers will move mail around the country on strike days.
- Some 5000 managerial and support people will maintain premium services, open offices and collect mail from Post Office branches, post boxes and customers where possible on strike days.
If the strike goes ahead tomorrow, there will be some collection of mail if it handled by a Royal Mail centre, but handling of overseas mail will stop. For a detailed run-down on movement of mail in the event of a strike this week, .
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