Strike action

[scottgoreham77]

When we vote to strike forgive me if I'm wrong but won't that mean we will be striking within first couple weeks of January if we do get that far as ballot result will mean 12 weeks of mediation before we can vote.has this been done to get public on side and left this long so we avoid striking at Xmas which means public against us or is it coincidence but still unavoidable

[scottgoreham77]

By the way I'm supporting union all the way

[SpacePhoenix]

When we vote to strike forgive me if I'm wrong but won't that mean we will be striking within first couple weeks of January if we do get that far as ballot result will mean 12 weeks of mediation before we can vote.has this been done to get public on side and left this long so we avoid striking at Xmas which means public against us or is it coincidence but still unavoidable

The full mediation process has to take place before a strike ballot can be held, otherwise RM will just go to court and get the ballot ruled illegal

[hero22]

Has the situation been communicated to offices across the UK because if it wasn't for the site I and rest of office would have no clue. Union reps have stepped down and area rep is never in the area !

[Celgar]

Far as I understand it there is a month of talks followed by a month of mediation with a third party then a ballot can take place legally. The month of talks were delayed supposedly due to AL but they have been completed without any agreements. Since then it has been reported that RM want to get rid of alternative duty structures such as the 'wallington' and four day week as well as an inclination to reinvestigate the idea of bench merging!! So pretty much everything we currently have is destined to be thrown in the skip if Rico gets his evil way.
The month of mediation has begun so theoretically we are on course to begin the strike ballot on September 24th if mediation does not bring any joy. Realistically speaking unless the CWU wish to sell us out, which I don't think they can this time, then it's almost certainly going to the ballot which can only give a yes vote.
Remainers in the UK government are noticeably quiet at the moment but my money is on a call of no confidence followed by a general election in late October before the no deal cut off date. With the ballot result due on October 8th I think this leaves it open for us to strike when postal votes and election materials are due to be delivered. I would think this would break the law or land RM in a lot of trouble and bring pressure on them to make compromise. Given how many aspects they wish to change are we going to be able to turn back the clock.
Maybe a better way to solve the problem is to petition the UK government to enforce the minimum wage requirement and legislate to stop employers using self employed status as a wangle to get around employment law. If our competitors are stopped from doing this then Rico cannot take is into the gutter along with the likes of Hermes & Amazon.

[Celgar]

Has the situation been communicated to offices across the UK because if it wasn't for the site I and rest of office would have no clue. Union reps have stepped down and area rep is never in the area !

Martin Walsh & the London CWU are getting all the specifics of what RM want out there via this forum and maybe via other sources as well. At one point TP was denying some of it was true but he had to back down on that. Main union communications are not still putting out that much detailed information. They still seem to be hung up on the issue of the SWW which is an extremely minor point compared to the multitude of other changes RM would like to implement. To be honest we really need to forget about the SWW now and concentrate on all the other issues.

[SpacePhoenix]

Remainers in the UK government are noticeably quiet at the moment but my money is on a call of no confidence followed by a general election in late October before the no deal cut off date. With the ballot result due on October 8th I think this leaves it open for us to strike when postal votes and election materials are due to be delivered. I would think this would break the law or land RM in a lot of trouble and bring pressure on them to make compromise. Given how many aspects they wish to change are we going to be able to turn back the clock.

Could RM theoretically get an injunction stopping any strikes during an election period?

[rogersh]

Has the situation been communicated to offices across the UK because if it wasn't for the site I and rest of office would have no clue. Union reps have stepped down and area rep is never in the area !

Martin Walsh & the London CWU are getting all the specifics of what RM want out there via this forum and maybe via other sources as well. At one point TP was denying some of it was true but he had to back down on that. Main union communications are not still putting out that much detailed information. They still seem to be hung up on the issue of the SWW which is an extremely minor point compared to the multitude of other changes RM would like to implement. To be honest we really need to forget about the SWW now and concentrate on all the other issues.

I do not agree that the SWW is a minor issue. As part of the pay deal the increase in the hourly rate by reducing to a 37 hour week in October was indicated as a 2.4% pay increase for part timers. Also the obvious benefit for full timers who will receive the same pay & those who work overtime would benefit from the higher rate.

From the managers briefing pack Feb/March 2018.
5. PART-TIME COLLEAGUES
An increase in hourly rate of pay in October 2018 and 2019 to reflect the shorter working week of full-time colleagues. This is in addition to the pay award for all eligible colleagues.
We will honour our agreements regarding part-time colleagues:

[Phantom]

Has the situation been communicated to offices across the UK because if it wasn't for the site I and rest of office would have no clue. Union reps have stepped down and area rep is never in the area !

Martin Walsh & the London CWU are getting all the specifics of what RM want out there via this forum and maybe via other sources as well. At one point TP was denying some of it was true but he had to back down on that. Main union communications are not still putting out that much detailed information. They still seem to be hung up on the issue of the SWW which is an extremely minor point compared to the multitude of other changes RM would like to implement. To be honest we really need to forget about the SWW now and concentrate on all the other issues.

Sww minor??? I don't think so, this is one of the most important aspects of the 4 pillars, without it, walks could end being 6,7 or 8 hours long, just the walking part, as all indoor work would either be automated or done by someone else as a separate operation.

[Woody Guthrie]

What we have to keep in mind is that we do not have any official position from the business with regards to what its future plans are.

Terry is fighting what he has been told during negotiations, Martin and the LDCs list of potential outcomes are their own interpretation of where the business is heading and what its aims are. We've had long lists of threats before from the London Divisional Committee that have never appeared on anyone else's radar.

That's not to say they aren't possible but if you walk into a meeting and start shouting about what you think the business is about to do you'll simply get denial and obfuscation.

Let the national officers do their job and we'll follow their lead.

[Phantom]

What we have to keep in mind is that we do not have any official position from the business with regards to what its future plans are.

Terry is fighting what he has been told during negotiations, Martin and the LDCs list of potential outcomes are their own interpretation of where the business is heading and what its aims are. We've had long lists of threats before from the London Divisional Committee that have never appeared on anyone else's radar.

That's not to say they aren't possible but if you walk into a meeting and start shouting about what you think the business is about to do you'll simply get denial and obfuscation.

Let the national officers do their job and we'll follow their lead.

If the CWU doesn't know what RM plans are then that means they are not working together which is in principal the whole idea of joint ventures. You can't have RM putting out videos on RMTV saying "we are working with our unions" when they are clearly not, this then leads on to hidden agendas and lies from RM. We see that the shift in Parcelforce is just the start of the break up of the company and after nearly 30 years working for this company, I know how sneaky and nasty this company can be. That's enough for me to back the Union.

[rogersh]

Very good summation Phantom.

Edited from RMtv;
"The CWU has said we should have involved it in the discussions about our strategy earlier. The CWU is correct. We should have done. But now is the time to work together to deliver that strategy."

My interpretation is that Royal Mail admit they did not work together pre strategy but have said they now want to work together with the CWU post strategy.

[Acca Dacca]

Very good summation Phantom.

Edited from RMtv;
"The CWU has said we should have involved it in the discussions about our strategy earlier. The CWU is correct. We should have done. But now is the time to work together to deliver that strategy."

My interpretation is that Royal Mail admit they did not work together pre strategy but have said they now want to work together with the CWU post strategy.

And the CWU dont agree with the strategy

[Yamr1]

Its the rico SHOW

its his way or no way

Backing the cwu 100%

Wtl videos load of crap working with cwu load of nonsense

[rambo1]

Far as I understand it there is a month of talks followed by a month of mediation with a third party then a ballot can take place legally. The month of talks were delayed supposedly due to AL but they have been completed without any agreements. Since then it has been reported that RM want to get rid of alternative duty structures such as the 'wallington' and four day week as well as an inclination to reinvestigate the idea of bench merging!! So pretty much everything we currently have is destined to be thrown in the skip if Rico gets his evil way.
The month of mediation has begun so theoretically we are on course to begin the strike ballot on September 24th if mediation does not bring any joy. Realistically speaking unless the CWU wish to sell us out, which I don't think they can this time, then it's almost certainly going to the ballot which can only give a yes vote.
Remainers in the UK government are noticeably quiet at the moment but my money is on a call of no confidence followed by a general election in late October before the no deal cut off date. With the ballot result due on October 8th I think this leaves it open for us to strike when postal votes and election materials are due to be delivered. I would think this would break the law or land RM in a lot of trouble and bring pressure on them to make compromise. Given how many aspects they wish to change are we going to be able to turn back the clock.
Maybe a better way to solve the problem is to petition the UK government to enforce the minimum wage requirement and legislate to stop employers using self employed status as a wangle to get around employment law. If our competitors are stopped from doing this then Rico cannot take is into the gutter along with the likes of Hermes & Amazon.

The Union helped to get rid of our 9 day fortnights 5 yrs ago, said they were going nationwide, back then. So thats not new news, unless management and Union were spinning us lies back then.