Talks

[scoobydo79]

Can they offer more flexibility in working hours. I'd like to do somewhere between a 25 and 30 hour working week over 4 days.

Maybe combine a 3 day week with someone else who would like to work only 3 days a week?

[WalkerX]

Start times will change a little,sick pay will change a little,Sundays will be docket and the uso will stay,pay rise yes not sure what thou,at the end of the day you clock in do your best and go home

I think you`re probably correct.

[postslippete]

Question is who would vote yes for it after the money everyone’s lost ?

Ignore the other posts, as far as I'm concerned this forum is for posties, ex-posties, reps and overpaid COMs desperate to grab their next bonus.


I still speak to plenty of ex-posties and if they have been in the job for a long time it never really leaves you. But you're right we are heading towards a sell-out agreement. The CWU are busying themselves trying to present this as a win and tbh we can't really do anything about the revisions as that was agreed in the last agreement.

The 35 hour working week with no loss in pay that the CWU and the Labour Party were after a few years ago is history because RM said that it was unaffordable. What they really mean is they are not prepared to recruit more staff to make it work and if everyone is doing more work outdoors for a below inflation pay rise, is that really a good deal? Throw in changes to sick pay and later start/finish times and it makes it even worse, particularly as working longer outdoors is physically tiring and more staff really need the recovery.

[emu72]

think we will be worse off.at the start of the dispute we were all striking and assumed rm would realise the big yes vote would mean we were all united and wouldn’t accept no s**t but it hasnt worked out at all.rm has dug their heels in and now i fear a bad deal is incoming.

[RTP]

Let it go , let it go, let it goooo.....

[Seymour Buts]

Question is who would vote yes for it after the money everyone’s lost ?

Ignore the other posts, as far as I'm concerned this forum is for posties, ex-posties, reps and overpaid COMs desperate to grab their next bonus.


I still speak to plenty of ex-posties and if they have been in the job for a long time it never really leaves you. But you're right we are heading towards a sell-out agreement. The CWU are busying themselves trying to present this as a win and tbh we can't really do anything about the revisions as that was agreed in the last agreement.

The 35 hour working week with no loss in pay that the CWU and the Labour Party were after a few years ago is history because RM said that it was unaffordable. What they really mean is they are not prepared to recruit more staff to make it work and if everyone is doing more work outdoors for a below inflation pay rise, is that really a good deal? Throw in changes to sick pay and later start/finish times and it makes it even worse, particularly as working longer outdoors is physically tiring and more staff really need the recovery.

I think people miss the point of shorter weeking weeks. The idea behind them is to make people more productive, making it cost neutral or even of a cost benefit to the company. Happier people, better work life balance ect make people more productive. The idea was never just to replace the lost hours with extra staff. In our case it was slightly different, because there was a belief automation would be taking virtually all the indoor work away. So as oppose to laying staff off and losing hours, Royal Mail would allow staff to work slightly less. It makes sense, but automation hasn't took over so therefore it isn't viable currently at least.

[postslippete]

I think people miss the point of shorter weeking weeks. The idea behind them is to make people more productive, making it cost neutral or even of a cost benefit to the company. Happier people, better work life balance ect make people more productive. The idea was never just to replace the lost hours with extra staff. In our case it was slightly different, because there was a belief automation would be taking virtually all the indoor work away. So as oppose to laying staff off and losing hours, Royal Mail would allow staff to work slightly less. It makes sense, but automation hasn't took over so therefore it isn't viable currently at least.

Automation hasn't completely took over yet, but it will. RM aren't going to invest billions into parcel hubs for nothing. It's designed to save thousands of indoor hours and maximise our outdoor hours. It was the CWU who proposed the SWW so that postie's were not constantly knackered everyday walking these extra miles. Our dispute was never about money. How else do we reconcile later finishes? A SWW might help and actually boost productivity instead of having postie's either dragging their deliveries out or even leaving because they really can't finish that late

[BigSacks]

I’d suggest for all the board are paid not one of them has thought about the consequences of the government introducing the often spoke of “online shopping tax” in order to regenerate the high street.

Doesn’t fit the RM “basket and eggs” business strategy of the last ten years.
See also, mail automation machines in an era where letter volumes were declining.

[pieoftheday]

I’d suggest for all the board are paid not one of them has thought about the consequences of the government introducing the often spoke of “online shopping tax” in order to regenerate the high street.

Doesn’t fit the RM “basket and eggs” business strategy of the last ten years.
See also, mail automation machines in an era where letter volumes were declining.

Have you noticed online shops are increasing their delivery costs too? Well they have to. Free delivery is still a thing I know but it's on the decline. Was going to buy some walking boots yesterday, £9.99 next day and a £4.99 delivered to store.

[Woody Guthrie]

I’d suggest for all the board are paid not one of them has thought about the consequences of the government introducing the often spoke of “online shopping tax” in order to regenerate the high street.

Doesn’t fit the RM “basket and eggs” business strategy of the last ten years.
See also, mail automation machines in an era where letter volumes were declining.

I agree.
I would also suggest their "basket and eggs" obsession with next day delivery is also slightly deaf to the necessarily environmentally sustainable future of online retail.

Nothing about next day delivery is future proof, it's an unnecessarily expensive ecologically damaging logistical nightmare and I'm not even convinced the consumer in most cases gives a crap whether they get the item on day one or day two but let's change our entire business model to suit.

Ironically next day delivery was pioneered by Amazon as a loss making subscriber drive and even they are moving away from that position.

[ted_e_bear]

I’d suggest for all the board are paid not one of them has thought about the consequences of the government introducing the often spoke of “online shopping tax” in order to regenerate the high street.

Doesn’t fit the RM “basket and eggs” business strategy of the last ten years.
See also, mail automation machines in an era where letter volumes were declining.

I agree.
I would also suggest their "basket and eggs" obsession with next day delivery is also slightly deaf to the necessarily environmentally sustainable future of online retail.

Nothing about next day delivery is future proof, it's an unnecessarily expensive ecologically damaging logistical nightmare and I'm not even convinced the consumer in most cases gives a crap whether they get the item on day one or day two but let's change our entire business model to suit.

Ironically next day delivery was pioneered by Amazon as a loss making subscriber drive and even they are moving away from that position.

Is it just another predictable example of royal mail trying to copy the competition/parcel companies, as usual attempting to imitate rather than innovate, and yet again too late to the party.

[ted_e_bear]

I'll add to my above comment, this scan to core route shite is unnecessary overkill as there's no way that we can copy such as dpd with a delivery timescale window until they get shut of that pesky mail and d2ds, it's a waste of time when currently a simple acceptance scan is all that's required.

[stevejm]

Question is who would vote yes for it after the money everyone’s lost ?

Ignore the other posts, as far as I'm concerned this forum is for posties, ex-posties, reps and overpaid COMs desperate to grab their next bonus.


I still speak to plenty of ex-posties and if they have been in the job for a long time it never really leaves you. But you're right we are heading towards a sell-out agreement. The CWU are busying themselves trying to present this as a win and tbh we can't really do anything about the revisions as that was agreed in the last agreement.

The 35 hour working week with no loss in pay that the CWU and the Labour Party were after a few years ago is history because RM said that it was unaffordable. What they really mean is they are not prepared to recruit more staff to make it work and if everyone is doing more work outdoors for a below inflation pay rise, is that really a good deal? Throw in changes to sick pay and later start/finish times and it makes it even worse, particularly as working longer outdoors is physically tiring and more staff really need the recovery.

AND increase chances of long term ill-health with knees+hips+back+shoulder+ankles+feet - we posties are our own worse enemies and THIS is one of the reasons why historically our unskilled jobs have paid significantly more than minimum pay level wages. This is being severely eroded now - especially for new starters. We are paid more to compensate for the increased suffering as the years go by. All union members should have this forefront of their minds when considering pay disputes.

[guardianangel]

Stalling tactics and we all know it ,serious negotiations will only happen while we are striking.

[norris9]

I think people miss the point of shorter weeking weeks. The idea behind them is to make people more productive, making it cost neutral or even of a cost benefit to the company. Happier people, better work life balance ect make people more productive. The idea was never just to replace the lost hours with extra staff. In our case it was slightly different, because there was a belief automation would be taking virtually all the indoor work away. So as oppose to laying staff off and losing hours, Royal Mail would allow staff to work slightly less. It makes sense, but automation hasn't took over so therefore it isn't viable currently at least.

To be honest - I don't know how people can be more productive over 4 days rather than 5, but the trials they have had in the UK have proven it works...

In terms of being a postie... you would be less exhausted, less likely to have health issues, more likely to come in and complete your round, less likely to quit, happier.

And a 4 day working week could work for both Royal Mail and the staff if the government allowed a 4 day postal service. Royal Mail would just have to work out how they are going to fill in the other 3 days of parcel deliveries. Maybe with a mixture of posties doing overtime, agency and permanent employees of a 4 day week - 3 days working on the parcel only days and 1 day helping out in the office while the posties are in delivering parcels or filling in for absentees.


Anyhow - the government aren't going to allow a 4 day letter service and Royal Mail would prefer to pay us 1 days pay for 7 days work, not 5 days pay for 4 days work.