The British postal workers union is set to strike Royal Mail next Thursday if the two sides cannot come to agreement.
In a letter to Mark Higson, managing director of the U.K.’s postal corporation, Dave Ward, deputy general secretary of the Communication Workers Union said: “We made a genuine offer to Royal Mail that would have given space for detailed discussions without a strike. We were severely disappointed that within two or three hours the company rejected it, apparently without even affording it proper consideration.”
If the strike goes forward, approximately 120,000 workers could walk of the job, according to the CWU, which noted at deadline the two sides were still talking.
The strike focuses job security and workloads as Royal Mail tried to modernize its operations while reducing its nearly 10 billion pound deficit ($16.2 billion) deficit, according to the union.
For its part, Royal Mail also encouraged the CWU to keep talking.
“We also again invite the union to re-engage with our agreed industrial relations framework at national and local level,” Royal Mail said, in a statement.
