A 5 day USO and what it might mean.

[pieoftheday]

If I didn’t look on this forum I wouldn’t have heard of any of these rumours

Not a peep in my office about it

Me neither, there wouldn't be any job losses if true as most on here say their office is already understaffed, obviously that's just hearsay. From a personal point of view I'd miss my roatating day off

[Cedar_Room]

They are trying to stick all PT’s in my DO onto a perma Wednesday to Saturday shift

[enskied]

Delivery staff who don't drive will end up Monday-Friday as Saturday & Sunday will be Tracked and packets (SDs on Saturdays)

I forgot to mention that part, there are some very grey areas. There is room for creativity. Track parcels via a trolly, two in a van. Will be interesting to see. Though there are a number of non-drivers who can actually drive and the ones that I know that cannot have the opinion that they will need to learn how to to have a job in the future.

Okay. So everyone who doesn't have a driving licence either learns or looses their job? Wow.

That's not very good for Royal Mail's green agenda is it ? Forcing cyclists to pollute.

[A2B]

They are trying to stick all PT’s in my DO onto a perma Wednesday to Saturday shift

If we had a decent leave system where you could actually get days off without selling your soul away at first glance it doesn't look too bad

[Cedar_Room]

They are trying to stick all PT’s in my DO onto a perma Wednesday to Saturday shift

If we had a decent leave system where you could actually get days off without selling your soul away at first glance it doesn't look too bad

Had a mixed response. All the 24hr Posties have been promised an uplift in hours too

[Navalron]

As most of you will now have heard by now in union briefings or seen on CWU socials, there is intent from RM to push through a temporary 5 day USO.

Putting aside the wrongs or rights of this, and any bickering as to whether it is likely or just words with asterix' in, let us focus on what it would mean for your shift patterns, job roles and job security. I know from other threads that a few people are concerned and we have a lot of questions.

I politely ask that if all you are interested in point scoring or shooting down people's opinions, please bugger off!


Let's begin.

If we look at how things currently are; generally speaking we are short-staffed. RM is trying to attract new staff but with the newer contracts, this seems to be failing. Royal Mail is spending too much on agency staff, especially on Sundays. Mail volumes are currently very low. New contracts have been taken for Sunday parcels. And of course, RM loses a million pounds every time the wind changes.

A 5 day USO will reduce the amount of staff needed for a Saturday. Redeploying most of the staff to Sunday could completely remove all Sunday overtime and agency work.

There is no way duty holders will get away with a Monday to Friday week, unless it directly benefits Royal Mail, and it doesn't. They would have to do an enormous recruitment drive for weekend only workers, and they would be stupid to think that would go well.

No instead, initially i'd expect shift patterns to remain mostly the same. I think their first move will be to move the easiest people to move to Sundays from Saturdays. That's the people with contracts from the past few years. They can keep them flexible and move them between the weekend days as needed.

If they need any more to move to Sundays then they will look at asking older contracted staff. A fair amount would be happy to work Sundays over Saturdays.

I'd imagine that would be enough staff to cover weekend demand and also fill gaps during the week with spares.

Wage bill will be massively reduced without the need for redundancies due to reduced overtime and agency. Sunday demand will be met. Holes created by staff leaving will be filled and there will be less pressure on recruitment. Win, win, win for RM.

I don't think there needs to be any panic about job losses, for one there are still many more looking to leave after September.

All the new staff from last year have it in their contracts that they need to work Sunday's if required and most are working them with no Sunday premium. They don't get paid breaks, they get paid monthly, they don't get delivery supplement or rrp and only get 12.29 per hour. And RM wonder why their not staying we are having a big recruitment drive in DWP, so if your a bit computer savy look on the website. Starting at 27k for 35 hours mon_fri. Also new security staff on 25k again mon_fri. You will go up to about 31k after 3 years.

[Ddarko85]

As most of you will now have heard by now in union briefings or seen on CWU socials, there is intent from RM to push through a temporary 5 day USO.

Putting aside the wrongs or rights of this, and any bickering as to whether it is likely or just words with asterix' in, let us focus on what it would mean for your shift patterns, job roles and job security. I know from other threads that a few people are concerned and we have a lot of questions.

I politely ask that if all you are interested in point scoring or shooting down people's opinions, please bugger off!


Let's begin.

If we look at how things currently are; generally speaking we are short-staffed. RM is trying to attract new staff but with the newer contracts, this seems to be failing. Royal Mail is spending too much on agency staff, especially on Sundays. Mail volumes are currently very low. New contracts have been taken for Sunday parcels. And of course, RM loses a million pounds every time the wind changes.

A 5 day USO will reduce the amount of staff needed for a Saturday. Redeploying most of the staff to Sunday could completely remove all Sunday overtime and agency work.

There is no way duty holders will get away with a Monday to Friday week, unless it directly benefits Royal Mail, and it doesn't. They would have to do an enormous recruitment drive for weekend only workers, and they would be stupid to think that would go well.

No instead, initially i'd expect shift patterns to remain mostly the same. I think their first move will be to move the easiest people to move to Sundays from Saturdays. That's the people with contracts from the past few years. They can keep them flexible and move them between the weekend days as needed.

If they need any more to move to Sundays then they will look at asking older contracted staff. A fair amount would be happy to work Sundays over Saturdays.

I'd imagine that would be enough staff to cover weekend demand and also fill gaps during the week with spares.

Wage bill will be massively reduced without the need for redundancies due to reduced overtime and agency. Sunday demand will be met. Holes created by staff leaving will be filled and there will be less pressure on recruitment. Win, win, win for RM.

I don't think there needs to be any panic about job losses, for one there are still many more looking to leave after September.

All the new staff from last year have it in their contracts that they need to work Sunday's if required and most are working them with no Sunday premium. They don't get paid breaks, they get paid monthly, they don't get delivery supplement or rrp and only get 12.29 per hour. And RM wonder why their not staying we are having a big recruitment drive in DWP, so if your a bit computer savy look on the website. Starting at 27k for 35 hours mon_fri. Also new security staff on 25k again mon_fri. You will go up to about 31k after 3 years.

What IT jobs are available with DWP? 27k ones specifically, if you don’t mind me asking

[Thommo44]

Sunday working has nothing to do with the agreement but sure let’s blame that for everything I guess.

It has a lot to do with the agreement, the union has shown how easy they roll over and will offer no resistance to part timers or new starters working Sundays
The only ones who won’t work Sunday are full timers on rurals and management

[LouBarlow]

Sunday working has nothing to do with the agreement but sure let’s blame that for everything I guess.

It has a lot to do with the agreement, the union has shown how easy they roll over and will offer no resistance to part timers or new starters working Sundays
The only ones who won’t work Sunday are full timers on rurals and management

How can they show resistance when Sunday working is explicitly stated as required in new starters contracts?

[enskied]

5 day USO is impossible. Tracked will clear,but mail will pile up even more.

[markyRFC]

5 day USO is impossible. Tracked will clear,but mail will pile up even more.

a 5 day USO would be great in some offices, some might only have been on 3 or 4 days for months

[jahbalon]

Sunday working has nothing to do with the agreement but sure let’s blame that for everything I guess.

They were always going to blame Sunday working, sure as a cat has kittens.
The Saturday post is dead in the water. It makes economic sense to go to a 5 day USO.
We have to move with the times and become a more nimble and agile service.
Sunday delivery of parcels is crucial now.

[LouBarlow]

Sunday working has nothing to do with the agreement but sure let’s blame that for everything I guess.

They were always going to blame Sunday working, sure as a cat has kittens.
The Saturday post is dead in the water. It makes economic sense to go to a 5 day USO.
We have to move with the times and become a more nimble and agile service.
Sunday delivery of parcels is crucial now.

Every day is dead for letters. I can’t remember a day where I had more than one tray of walk-sorted mech. As you say, we have to adapt to survive, and fortunately both RM and the CWU agree.

[richietns]

So why do the government think we still need 6 days there was 8 billion letters delivered in 2022 thats not a minuscule number we are also in the summer lul wait a month we will get more running up to winter.

[LouBarlow]

So why do the government think we still need 6 days there was 8 billion letters delivered in 2022 thats not a minuscule number we are also in the summer lul wait a month we will get more running up to winter.

Why on earth would I care what this government thinks? They can’t even keep kids safe in schools, never mind understanding the minutiae of the mail delivery system in this country.