The Royal Mail has been slammed after making a bizarre request to staffers' families to help 'save Christmas'.
As many of you will be well aware, members of the CWU union - which represents more than 115,000 postal workers - recently took national strike action amid calls for better pay.
The 48-hour action started on Wednesday, 14 December, and a further two-day strike is set to begin on Friday, 23 December.
This means the festive season has been made decidedly more difficult for people and businesses to get their parcels, cards and gifts delivered on time.
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Although the Royal Mail has followed its usual tradition of recruiting seasonal workers, the national postal service has been left devastatingly short-staffed at the busiest time of year.
In a bid to try and sort out the backlog of post, an internal memo shared by the CWU shows the company is now asking staff to bring their friends and family along to help.
The memo reads: "Evening everyone, we have just 8 more opportunities to delight our customers and save their Christmas.
"I know how important our customers are to all of you.
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"We have an initiative to allow you all to bring friends and family to support the operation and deliver Christmas.
"It's a really great initiative and really quick. If you have any friends or family that would love to come and help us, please speak to your line manager who will be able to give you all the details."
The union described the initiative as 'next level desperation from Royal Mail', adding: "The support for the strike is so strong that they are asking managers to bring in friends and family to clear the backlog.
"Not only are you are a strike breaker but your family can be too. On. The. Ropes."
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According to the Telegraph, a staffing agency posted an advertisement for mail staffers at the post office's Staines site offering up to £18 an hour.
The Royal Mail confirmed to the paper that any friends and family who were enlisted would be paid the same as agency workers.
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But the CWU maintains its stance on the move, with a spokesperson telling the outlet: "Royal Mail are risking serious security risks by bringing in completely untrained randomers with no experience to plough through your Christmas post.
"There is a better day of dealing with this backlog: stop the destruction of your workers' livelihoods, guarantee you’ll treat them with the respect they deserve, and let them get back on with grafting over Christmas."
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LADbible has contacted the Royal Mail for comment.
Daisy Phillipson