Update on Royal Mail and CWU in run up to General Election

ruorbe · Post by **ruorbe** » 04 Nov 2019, 10:23

https://tamebay.com/2019/11/update-roya ... 3475853909" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Royal Mail have issued the following statement regarding post and the General Election.

“Last Tuesday, Royal Mail wrote to the CWU to say that if the union provides a binding commitment to remove the threat of strike action for the rest of 2019, the Company will enter into discussions without preconditions. Royal Mail will also extend the life of the ballot result by the same amount of time as the pause on industrial action. The CWU has said it is not prepared to take up this offer made by Royal Mail.

Shane O’Riordain, Royal Mail Managing Director of Regulation and Corporate Affairs said: “In the event of industrial action in the run up to a General Election, election mail will be our number one priority. We will invest significant resource to seek to ensure a seamless process for the handling of postal election material. Royal Mail volunteers will also work on the processing and delivery of election mail.

“Royal Mail is also meeting the CWU as a matter of urgency to discuss the union’s request for an increase in the dedicated payments postmen receive for delivering each poll card and individual item of candidate mail.

“The recent ballot result for industrial action does not necessarily mean that industrial action will take place. In addition, Royal Mail continues to believe that a binding commitment from the CWU to remove the threat of strike action during the period of any general election is vital to ensuring a seamless electoral process in relation to postal votes.”
– Royal Mail

Royal Mail also say they are honouring the 2018 Agreement with the CWU. Since it was put in place they say they have:

Awarded two pay increases of five per cent and two per cent
Granted the first hour’s reduction in the Shorter Working Week
Worked together with CWU to lobby Government for a new CDC pension scheme
Additionally

The average pay for full time frontline staff, as at year end (31 March 2019) was £26,850 per annum, including base pay, allowances and overtime.
Postmen and women received an average of £267 for election mail delivery in the 2017 General Election.

Newbie001 · Post by **Newbie001** » 04 Nov 2019, 12:13

Awarded pay rises of 5% and 2%.
Correct me if I'm wrong, did we not go 2/3 years without any rise. And also how many increases have managers had in last 5/6 years.
We're a selfish lot.

Post by **baldrick** » 04 Nov 2019, 13:13

ruorbe wrote: Royal Mail also say they are honouring the 2018 Agreement with the CWU. Since it was put in place they say they have:
Awarded two pay increases of five per cent and two per cent
Granted the first hour’s reduction in the Shorter Working Week
Worked together with CWU to lobby Government for a new CDC pension scheme

No mention of increased bullying and harassment of staff though.

roadrunner bill · Post by **roadrunner bill** » 04 Nov 2019, 14:30

The media are siding with royal mail.. what the media dont want to talk about is over loading work loads,, and delivery being run into the ground. Bullying and harrassment.. the 97.1 % Shows that..

But, the bullshitters, media deliberately miss these factors out of the current dispute..

Celgar · Post by **Celgar** » 04 Nov 2019, 17:15

Who are the 'Royal Mail volunteers' mentioned in the above article?
I guess maybe the six thousand jobs at £12.50 per hour that Martin Walsh has mentioned are to do with making sure the postal votes and election materials are processed & delivered. Even so I doubt six thousand 'volunteers' will not be enough to get them delivered.

worktotime · Post by **worktotime** » 04 Nov 2019, 17:48

Celgar wrote:Who are the 'Royal Mail volunteers' mentioned in the above article?
I guess maybe the six thousand jobs at £12.50 per hour that Martin Walsh has mentioned are to do with making sure the postal votes and election materials are processed & delivered. Even so I doubt six thousand 'volunteers' will not be enough to get them delivered.

I wish them all the best to get that lot delivered

, but to be honest does anyone give a s**t .

goneaway · Post by **goneaway** » 04 Nov 2019, 17:53

The statement doesn't mention whether these "volunteers" will be paid or unpaid? Will they be RM staff, agency or will some of the election material be "contracted out? And is that even allowed?

Post by **POSTMAN** » 04 Nov 2019, 18:13

It's a copy/paste of the original RM statement put out today (https://www.royalmailgroup.com/en/press ... mber-2019/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) with some bits added by Mr Dawson RE our wages ect.

chickenwittle · Post by **chickenwittle** » 04 Nov 2019, 18:48

Get real Royal Mail , what union would hand over its trump card in negotiations. It’s the same as pilots threatening strike action in the summer holidays .

gary1975 · Post by **gary1975** » 04 Nov 2019, 19:26

What's all this about a binding agreement not to strike during a general election, I can sense a injunction case coming up.

matthew68 · Post by **matthew68** » 04 Nov 2019, 20:37

Wish I earnt nearly 27000 and got 267 for election material I must be working in wrong office as our Dom hardly pays any overtime for being late and just complains we are too slow! Election material will be a nightmare to deliver and I will just cut off on my time

Mr Rush · Post by **Mr Rush** » 05 Nov 2019, 20:52

ruorbe wrote:Postmen and women received an average of £267 for election mail delivery in the 2017 General Election.

I don't believe that figure reported as an average. Isn't it likely that areas getting 6p per item are throwing off the average when many may be as low as 2p? The mean value would actually represent what most people got.

ted_e_bear · Post by **ted_e_bear** » 06 Nov 2019, 07:17

Mr Rush wrote:
ruorbe wrote:Postmen and women received an average of £267 for election mail delivery in the 2017 General Election.
I don't believe that figure reported as an average. Isn't it likely that areas getting 6p per item are throwing off the average when many may be as low as 2p? The mean value would actually represent what most people got.

Sounds like bollox to me too, 1300 calls total on our "buddy" duty,we shared the payments (2p/item at our office) equally and was more like £120 each !

Celgar · Post by **Celgar** » 07 Nov 2019, 16:42

The payment values you get for delivering poll cards & election materials are negotiated locally by your union rep so it depends on how good a negotiator your rep is. I think we got five or six pence per item last time but can't remember exactly. I'm not looking forward to doing them at Xmas time at all but it is obvious that the house of parliament is at a stalemate so it had to be either an election or a second referendum. Both of these choices could result in ending up back where we are now. It really is a proper mess.

RTP · Post by **RTP** » 07 Nov 2019, 17:40

Celgar wrote:The payment values you get for delivering poll cards & election materials are negotiated locally by your union rep so it depends on how good a negotiator your rep is. I think we got five or six pence per item last time but can't remember exactly. I'm not looking forward to doing them at Xmas time at all but it is obvious that the house of parliament is at a stalemate so it had to be either an election or a second referendum. Both of these choices could result in ending up back where we are now. It really is a proper mess.

That's misinformation. The payments where negotiated years ago by whoever was the rep at that time and have stayed the same for years. Said on here before they are totally unfair. It should be the same payment per item for every office.