Understand the external threat

[Martin Walsh]

Acca , the reason why the CWU Telcoms is carrying out a consultative ballot is two fold , one is that they have not had industrial action since 1986 and secondly we in the middle of a pandemic where membership meetings are difficult to have especially as significant numbers of BT members don’t have a workplace. So the consultative ballot is to test the level of members support m.

It is to put pressure on BT who are currently making individuals compulsory redundant.

In terms of the Telcoms members being able to ballot for industrial action than that will obviously be looked at when this happens.

However there is a significant difference in that if Telcoms go on strike than broadband etc will still run.

That is different to when Royal Mail take strike action we stop the network and Mail being delivered.

Remember we are delivering tens of thousands of COVID test kits , we are delivering medicines to the elderly and sick , we are delivering vital services and on top of this Royal Mail are front runners in gaining the contract for track and trace.

Do you really think Royal Mail won’t once again challenge the ballot based on the emergency powers the Government now has due to CoVID.

Do I like it ? Of course not I have led disputes and I always believe you get a better deal if your willing to fight for one. However I am a realist as well COVID has impacted on our ability to do this. Do you really think we have not sought legal counsel on this ?

[Schiff]

Do you really think we have not sought legal counsel on this ?

The same legal counsel that said that it was OK to encourage members to intercept their ballot papers and complete them in the workplace?

Maybe you should seek a second opinion. Ask exactly how far they think that we can legally take industrial action. I accept that it won't be an all-out strike lasting for 6 months, but there will be a middle ground where we guarantee a minimum essential service provision without delivering every single piece of s**t that Royal Mail need us to do if they are going to function as a viable business.

[Rommagic]

Mon-fri delivery of letters?.

[elteleltel]

I see Duty holders Mon -Fri doing Letters and Parcels .
All Reserves working Sat's doing 2 or 3 Rounds of Tracked /Specials as a rough guess .

Mon will become much busier on letters but it doesn't take much longer to do 2 days letters , happened to me a few times recently.
5 hr delivery span mentioned, I'm near that on Wed -Fri now and sometimes more .

Certainly going to be more pressure but no way to make walking up driveways quicker unless we get Boxes at the edge of property and big enough for Parcels

[2yearpostie]

I see Duty holders Mon -Fri doing Letters and Parcels .
All Reserves working Sat's doing 2 or 3 Rounds of Tracked /Specials as a rough guess .

Mon will become much busier on letters but it doesn't take much longer to do 2 days letters , happened to me a few times recently.
5 hr delivery span mentioned, I'm near that on Wed -Fri now and sometimes more .

Certainly going to be more pressure but no way to make walking up driveways quicker unless we get Boxes at the edge of property and big enough for Parcels

what are the reserves doing mon-fri?

[yubin282]

I love the way they keep quoting the mail was down between april- May,,, we all know that,,, how about we get some mail figures August onwards, cause in my office its way busier on the letters than pre covid, and were already at December levels with the packets,, somebody making some money

Since march i've never seen so many local council postings. 2 last week and 1 so far this week.

[yubin282]

Can someone pls tell me why deliveries always get shat on for making cuts to the business, yet RM are quite happy to keep handsomely paid managers who can’t manage and go home early? Not to mention the various other bulls##t titles in the business that are clearly of no use because we never see any decent changes to help us become more efficient. Get rid of the deadwood. Our office has never been so inefficient, vans that constantly break down, PDAs that are slow with a poor user interface, Frames that now have double slots so you can’t fit packets in... all because managers only care about figures trying to hit unrealistic targets and they’re not paying attention to what’s actually causing inefficiency and how to improve it. How can we possibly operate at 100bsi when we haven’t been given the tools/support to do the job efficiently?

We’re at breaking point in deliveries now. People are going sick with mental and physical problems due to the job. We’re exhausted pounding the streets for 5-6hrs a day 5 days a week. And if you do the job properly you’re seen as not good enough and bullied by managers to go faster. Morale is on the floor.

There was an 'ambassador' visit our office last week telling us "the business finds it extremely to make deliveries more efficient". But there still wasting money trying to.
No wonder they're losing £1,000,000 per day, they deserve it.

[britwrit]

The Keith Williams article is a classic case of not knowing what is happening on the shop floor.
The workload we have is astronomical and yet this is missed out from the article and this is why ALL of RM plans never work due to the detachment of reality.

It's a minor thing but the whole "still signing on with paper" bugs me.

Those sheets are a perfect way for a manager to tell at a glance who's in and who's out. And - in theory - they force the manager out on the shop floor to verify it.

But hey, paper's really cheap. Let's spend a whole lot more to put in a system we don't need. That'll fix things.

[elteleltel]

The Reserves will be covering Holiday leave aswell...perhaps.
I'm only guessing;)

[Cucumber]

They won't target non drivers for redundancy but you may find some non drivers might have to move units depending on local circumstances.

It's going to depend partly on what RM's strategy ends up being for the location of DOs and if they go for creating any "Super-DOs" which would probably require all staff to be able to drive

No it depends entirely on whether we are looking at compulsory redundancies which as far as I'm aware the business has ruled out at least for the moment.

Even if it were the case that there were compulsory redundancies the number of non drivers in each DO is relatively small and getting smaller, trying to justify that there was absolutely no role for a non driver in a DO would be next to impossible especially as for the foreseeable future we're still going to need to deliver letters.

Even if there are compulsory redundancies in order to make sure the process was fair the business would have to offer relocation as a first option and use driving as only one of a range of criteria ensuring that it doesn't impact on one particular protected group more than another.

As I said the business is not going to target non drivers for redundancy, it's pointless and over complicated but the options for non drivers as far as deciding what kind of work they do may be limited in the future.

What's the accepted % to make those numbers relatively small, in your view.
Would offices that have 30-40% or even more of their staff 'non drivers' be given special consideration in these transformation talks, as they certainly do exist.

[RTP]

I have to say I am surprised no one has picked up on the pressure that Royal Mail are under to agree a deal.

No deal with the CWU will mean real pressure on GLS being sold and than as Royal Mail has not made a profit on its own for several years the share price drops and than a take over with the direct aim of breaking up the profitable parts of the company and letting the rest including the USO wither on the vine.

The CWU don’t need a ballot to get a deal Royal Mail need a deal , but it is what change are we willing to agree under any pay or wider agreement.

We know what our red lines are but we also know change is never welcomed but sometimes done for the greater good of the membership remember D2D ? Remember Saturdays becoming a normal day ? Remember absorption , remember sequencing Mail , remember cuts the second delivery , remember Mail centre closures ? Remember the cut to final salary ?

None of those were welcomed changes but necessary moves based on evidence and facts and in exchange for job security and benefits.

So be warned any agreement will come with significant change but not the attack on terms and conditions Royal Mail want.

Finally it does make me laugh I put up what Royal Mail want and you argue with me on there merits , I won’t be agreeing them and I don’t think they will work , but please believe me Royal Mail are deadly serious about them.

Pressure from who exactly to sell of GLS?

The shareholders?

Why on earth would shareholders want GLS selling when as you have said, the share price would then sink. That makes no sense at all.

[Woody Guthrie]

What's the accepted % to make those numbers relatively small, in your view.
Would offices that have 30-40% or even more of their staff 'non drivers' be given special consideration in these transformation talks, as they certainly do exist.

It would depend on the size of the office and the availability of alternative duties like HCT but in my experience of these kind of changes they tend to be based on local solutions to local problems. How an office can function even now with 30-40% non-drivers is pretty difficult to understand but I would imagine since we've had at least 10 years of specific driving requirement for applicants it is pretty rare.

[Woody Guthrie]

Pressure from who exactly to sell of GLS?

The shareholders?

Why on earth would shareholders want GLS selling when as you have said, the share price would then sink. That makes no sense at all.

Short term return vs long term return.
Not all shareholders are interested in the long term viability of the company.
They will push for the proceeds of any sale to be paid to share holders in the form of a special divided, when Tesco sold it's Asian interests they returned £8bn to their shareholders this way.
Once they've had their cash they'll dump the shares and move on.

[Cucumber]

What's the accepted % to make those numbers relatively small, in your view.
Would offices that have 30-40% or even more of their staff 'non drivers' be given special consideration in these transformation talks, as they certainly do exist.

It would depend on the size of the office and the availability of alternative duties like HCT but in my experience of these kind of changes they tend to be based on local solutions to local problems. How an office can function even now with 30-40% non-drivers is pretty difficult to understand but I would imagine since we've had at least 10 years of specific driving requirement for applicants it is pretty rare.

Thanks :)

[RTP]

Pressure from who exactly to sell of GLS?

The shareholders?

Why on earth would shareholders want GLS selling when as you have said, the share price would then sink. That makes no sense at all.

Short term return vs long term return.
Not all shareholders are interested in the long term viability of the company.
They will push for the proceeds of any sale to be paid to share holders in the form of a special divided, when Tesco sold it's Asian interests they returned £8bn to their shareholders this way.
Once they've had their cash they'll dump the shares and move on.

Thanks Woody, I get it now.