ROYAL MAIL bosses are “holding striking workers to ransom” by threatening to cut 10,000 jobs, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) said today.

Management at the 500-year-old delivery giant claimed the cull, which could include up to 6,000 redundancies by next August, is needed due to financial losses amid ongoing industrial action over pay and working conditions.

But CWU general secretary Dave Ward condemned the announcement, saying it is the “result of gross mismanagement and a failed business agenda.”

Mr Ward demanded an urgent meeting with bosses, who he accused of planning to “end daily deliveries, introduce a wholesale levelling-down of terms, pay and conditions of postal workers and turn Royal Mail into a gig economy-style parcel courier.

“What the company should be doing is abandoning its asset-stripping strategy and building the future based on utilising the competitive edge it already has in its deliveries to 32 million addresses across the country.”

The firm’s chief executive Simon Thompson warned that the planned redundancies are a “minimum” and more could take place if current strike action – which began in late August and is set to see another 19 days of walkouts in the run-up to Christmas – is extended further.

He claimed that the assault on jobs is in response to the “impact of industrial action, delays in delivering agreed productivity improvements and lower parcel volumes.”

The company said it expects its full-year losses to hit £350m and is therefore seeking “short-term cost efficiencies through the planned reduction of 5,000 full-time equivalent roles by March and around 10,000 by August.”

It posted record profits of £758m as recently as April.

Its plans include removal of overtime, leaving empty roles unfilled and a reduction in temporary workers, requiring between 5-6,000 redundancies, it claimed. 

Mr 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.”

However, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn noted Royal Mail’s recent dividend payments, tweeting: “Did the strikes force you to pay out £400m to shareholders last year?

“This is a transparent and callous attempt to intimidate workers and quash their rights.

“Solidarity with CWU members standing up to mismanagement, privatisation and greed.”