Rejoined after 12 years, what happend!

[pieoftheday]

End of my 2nd week, been a pretty bad week parcels wise, worked over my time by 30mins twice this week, thing is with looping/van share you can't just say right I'm cutting off, as the other postie is happy to work over, I'm not though.. oddly during my previous 8 years as a postie when it was one walk to each person i never once had to work over my time.. My loop partner said tomorrow we will be leaving both walks and just concentrate on the parcels, my how it's changed!

Of course you can say you're cutting off, if your partner wants to work over they can go back out after you've been dropped off at the office

[Mr Rush]

One thing is certain though your more likely to get better terms and conditions through being in the union.
It's arguably more important for the new starters to join for this reason.

Is the union really going to extract those benefits from the company? According to the company, and the union, RM is broke and there's no money for these things. However, were things to miraculously turn around then riches would be showered upon us and the old sickness policy would be reinstated, etc. So it's all at the company's discretion and it pays little heed to the CWU except where it can use them. The complete indifference to the Christmas Eve strike was revelatory. The moment they marched us back down the hill sealed our fate.

[malnuman]

End of my 2nd week, been a pretty bad week parcels wise, worked over my time by 30mins twice this week, thing is with looping/van share you can't just say right I'm cutting off, as the other postie is happy to work over, I'm not though.. oddly during my previous 8 years as a postie when it was one walk to each person i never once had to work over my time.. My loop partner said tomorrow we will be leaving both walks and just concentrate on the parcels, my how it's changed!

Of course you can say you're cutting off, if your partner wants to work over they can go back out after you've been dropped off at the office

I duuno, I would feel bad expecting him to go back to office then back to his round to finish off the parcels, I'm with someone else next week so hopefully will fin on time..

[pieoftheday]

End of my 2nd week, been a pretty bad week parcels wise, worked over my time by 30mins twice this week, thing is with looping/van share you can't just say right I'm cutting off, as the other postie is happy to work over, I'm not though.. oddly during my previous 8 years as a postie when it was one walk to each person i never once had to work over my time.. My loop partner said tomorrow we will be leaving both walks and just concentrate on the parcels, my how it's changed!

Of course you can say you're cutting off, if your partner wants to work over they can go back out after you've been dropped off at the office

I duuno, I would feel bad expecting him to go back to office then back to his round to finish off the parcels, I'm with someone else next week so hopefully will fin on time..

Dont feel bad, if someone wants overtime then taking you back will give them a little more overtime,

[TopperGas]

One thing is certain though your more likely to get better terms and conditions through being in the union.
It's arguably more important for the new starters to join for this reason.

Is the union really going to extract those benefits from the company? According to the company, and the union, RM is broke and there's no money for these things. However, were things to miraculously turn around then riches would be showered upon us and the old sickness policy would be reinstated, etc. So it's all at the company's discretion and it pays little heed to the CWU except where it can use them. The complete indifference to the Christmas Eve strike was revelatory. The moment they marched us back down the hill sealed our fate.

But how bad would it be with no union to even try and fight our corner, just think back a year or so at all the proposals RM came up, committ to deliver, compulsory Sunday working, being just a couple of examples.

Without a union you can probably say goodbye to paid breaks, F/T contracts being increased to 40 hours a week, compulsory Sunday working, potentially commit to deliver, and possibly owner driver schemes for DPR drivers.

If anybody is dismissed for any reason it's then you against the RM's legal team with no legal support unless the employee funds it himself.

[SMS1969]

End of my 2nd week, been a pretty bad week parcels wise, worked over my time by 30mins twice this week, thing is with looping/van share you can't just say right I'm cutting off, as the other postie is happy to work over, I'm not though.. oddly during my previous 8 years as a postie when it was one walk to each person i never once had to work over my time.. My loop partner said tomorrow we will be leaving both walks and just concentrate on the parcels, my how it's changed!

Of course you can say you're cutting off, if your partner wants to work over they can go back out after you've been dropped off at the office

This is what I’ve done many times, adds half an hour to my overtime.

[postslippete]

But how bad would it be with no union to even try and fight our corner, just think back a year or so at all the proposals RM came up, committ to deliver, compulsory Sunday working, being just a couple of examples.

Without a union you can probably say goodbye to paid breaks, F/T contracts being increased to 40 hours a week, compulsory Sunday working, potentially commit to deliver, and possibly owner driver schemes for DPR drivers.

If anybody is dismissed for any reason it's then you against the RM's legal team with no legal support unless the employee funds it himself.

Sadly, I believe a lot of these things will come our way. I know its early days for many of these new posties on the new contracts but none of them have had their contract upgraded to ours and every week I see new faces. How long are they expected to work before they get any sort of parity with us? The cynic in me suggests that the business will level our contracts down to theirs, rather than level theirs up to ours. There are some posties in our office who have been working overtime for years and yet they still don't have a full-time contract!

Regarding commit to deliver we have had overtime bans and managers telling us to prioritise the parcels instead of delivering the mail. You can also opt out of working above 48 hours by law. As for Sundays, it's not every Sunday and from what I've read on here it's only delivering parcels and there are many people willing to do it, so is it really a big deal? I get why some people are in the Union as it's a bit of insurance in case they have a dispute with the managers, but that's really all it is, and if you understand how the company works you are sometimes better off pursuing things on your own.

Obviously, I don't blame the Union for privatisation and the state of the company now. Their role is often one of devils advocate and I don't doubt that the company forced out the more militant reps and those who were resistant to many of the company's policies, during the strikes. My gut feeling is that this Union has now just become a mere mouthpiece for the company but there's no disrespect to the reps who continually challenge the managers in their office.

[malnuman]

[/quote]
As for Sundays, it's not every Sunday and from what I've read on here it's only delivering parcels and there are many people willing to do it, so is it really a big deal?
[/quote]

My manager told me he hasn't sent anyone to work a Sunday yet, but if the request comes in he has to do it, it's at a diff depot and it's just normal pay rate even though it's a Sunday, but he said you get a day off in the week as you can't work 7 days a week..

[malnuman]

[quote
Dont feel bad, if someone wants overtime then taking you back will give them a little more overtime,
[/quote]

Thing is he don't book overtime, I asked him today, he said it would mess up his gov benifits pay as he's only part time..

[mjd24]

On Trustpilot, the Communications Workers Union have 30 reviews with 93% giving it the lowest rating of 1 star. Some of the reasons being....the reps work for the employer, they are a company union, the leadership are totally overpaid, people who have had to find their own solicitor for a tribunal, the union is more concerned about their own reputation than those who they are supposed to be defending, total waste of money, ACAS give better advice for free.

While we need a union in our workplace I would also agree with all of the above. Unless we have a change of leadership and a complete reform in the organisation of how the Union is run the Union is in grave danger of becoming extinct. Many reps are becoming and acting more like managers these days and that is not a good thing for this Union. Even I'm strongly considering pulling my subs.

Kind of obvious that only those with negative experiences or grudges would bother to review the CWU on Trustpilot.

[mjd24]

On Trustpilot, the Communications Workers Union have 30 reviews with 93% giving it the lowest rating of 1 star. Some of the reasons being....the reps work for the employer, they are a company union, the leadership are totally overpaid, people who have had to find their own solicitor for a tribunal, the union is more concerned about their own reputation than those who they are supposed to be defending, total waste of money, ACAS give better advice for free.

While we need a union in our workplace I would also agree with all of the above. Unless we have a change of leadership and a complete reform in the organisation of how the Union is run the Union is in grave danger of becoming extinct. Many reps are becoming and acting more like managers these days and that is not a good thing for this Union. Even I'm strongly considering pulling my subs.

100% agree with you. CWU is rotten. Every single one of them is a grifter and only interested in self preservation.

Yikes, generalisation much!!

[mjd24]

One thing is certain though your more likely to get better terms and conditions through being in the union.
It's arguably more important for the new starters to join for this reason.

Is the union really going to extract those benefits from the company? According to the company, and the union, RM is broke and there's no money for these things. However, were things to miraculously turn around then riches would be showered upon us and the old sickness policy would be reinstated, etc. So it's all at the company's discretion and it pays little heed to the CWU except where it can use them. The complete indifference to the Christmas Eve strike was revelatory. The moment they marched us back down the hill sealed our fate.

But how bad would it be with no union to even try and fight our corner, just think back a year or so at all the proposals RM came up, committ to deliver, compulsory Sunday working, being just a couple of examples.

Without a union you can probably say goodbye to paid breaks, F/T contracts being increased to 40 hours a week, compulsory Sunday working, potentially commit to deliver, and possibly owner driver schemes for DPR drivers.

If anybody is dismissed for any reason it's then you against the RM's legal team with no legal support unless the employee funds it himself.
[/quote

[Playmail]

The CWU are starting to realise they can't continue without gaining new starters as members. As old contracts retiring or leaving there numbers are dwindling and there pockets aren't getting filled as much. New starters who are part of the union should give them a altermatom get a new deal by April 2025 or they all cancel there subs and try get old contracts to do it see how fast they push it thru then.

[postslippete]

Kind of obvious that only those with negative experiences or grudges would bother to review the CWU on Trustpilot.

People only take the time to write a review on there if they have had an overwhelmingly positive or negative experience. I get why people are often more critical than complimentary but it's something for the Union to take on board instead of just having blind faith.

Workers took strike action to oppose a two tier workforce and the 'race to the bottom' and the agreement states that they would review this. Let's see what happens by April 2025 and see if they can resolve this.

[Binsey]

2025 will be Annus Horriblis for us all….