Dave Ward ''Watch out for a Royal Mail scandal''.

[nuisance]

And another one, possibly the most important, shame. Shame at knowing we are doing our jobs badly when we used to succeed and be proud to.

[Dexydog]

If we cover a day out it's tracked, specials, customer collections and boxes only.
If you have time to do a few normal packets they go as well.
Mail not even thrown in so letters not touched.
It's fraud, pure and simple.

[Barnacle]

If we cover a day out it's tracked, specials, customer collections and boxes only.
If you have time to do a few normal packets they go as well.
Mail not even thrown in so letters not touched.
It's fraud, pure and simple.

Yes it is.

[clashcityrocker]

Obviously. The point i was making is that the union really hasn't been pushing hard enough to ensure that the universal service is being delivered.

This is a synopsis of the conversation between a manager and a rep:

Rep: USO failing, Quality of service appalling blah blah blah.
Manager: Ok. Next week I don't have anyone on duty 2. What if I move you off duty 1 every other day to try and improve the quality of service.
Rep: No. I won't move off my duty.

So what is more important - USO and Q of S or duty holders staying on their duty.
Obviously in an ideal world everything would get delivered every day but we aren't living in that Utopia any more so.....

Apparently it has been agreed higher up that people will be moved off their duty to cover uncovered duties.
We shall see.

[Barnacle]

Obviously. The point i was making is that the union really hasn't been pushing hard enough to ensure that the universal service is being delivered.

This is a synopsis of the conversation between a manager and a rep:

Rep: USO failing, Quality of service appalling blah blah blah.
Manager: Ok. Next week I don't have anyone on duty 2. What if I move you off duty 1 every other day to try and improve the quality of service.
Rep: No. I won't move off my duty.

So what is more important - USO and Q of S or duty holders staying on their duty.
Obviously in an ideal world everything would get delivered every day but we aren't living in that Utopia any more so.....

Apparently it has been agreed higher up that people will be moved off their duty to cover uncovered duties.
We shall see.

That’s the illogicality of their solution. In your scenario a walk is still failing every day. Their solution is not a solution.

Failure should not be an option. Pay overtime and get it cleared. Instead they are banning overtime on certain days and not allowing XS. That’s absolute horse.

[clashcityrocker]

That’s the illogicality of their solution. In your scenario a walk is still failing every day. Their solution is not a solution.

Failure should not be an option. Pay overtime and get it cleared. Instead they are banning overtime on certain days and not allowing XS. That’s absolute horse.

Yes a walk will fail every day but it won't be the same one every day.
The quality of service for those on walk 2 won't be as bad and the number of complaints will drop because a lot of people won't notice if they don't get post every day whereas if they don't get post for a week they will.

What if there is no appetite in the office for clearing failed walks on overtime?
What if there is no money in the pot to pay the overtime?
What then?

[scoobydo79]

The biggest question for me is why now?

Those reps/members who were suspended or sacked have either been re-instated or have left the company with a generous pay-off. The universal service has been failing ever since covid and it frustrates me that the CWU actually suspended the vote on the ballot until the company improved its Quality of Service and USO compliance. Has it done this? Have the company genuinely reviewed all its failed revisions? Nope, RM has simply used the bleak financial situation narrative towards cutting costs instead. Somehow, I don't think this company can keep using this excuse because if we are not as profitable now as we were two years ago, why not, having made many changes?

That is something that RM may find difficult to argue in their quest to obliterate the USO in the future. And instead of increasing part-time members contractual hours (on current terms and conditions) the company have instead ploughed ahead with bringing in new entrants on inferior terms and cons. They may argue that current staff may not wish to work evenings and Sundays but the reality is they didn't even give them a choice. There are actually many staff on the older contracts that are working these shifts now either on overtime or as part of their contract.

Dave Ward has said this year that if the Union doesn't get what it wants then it won't rule out strike action especially if there is still no faith in the current board and they don't want a foreign investor to own the company outright who is only making limited assurances. Hopefully, I'm wrong but momentum does seem to be building towards the threat of IA.

Don’t worry about IA. I doubt you will ever see postman strike in the UK again. RM tested the Union resolve last time and We bottled it.

[Barnacle]

The biggest question for me is why now?

Those reps/members who were suspended or sacked have either been re-instated or have left the company with a generous pay-off. The universal service has been failing ever since covid and it frustrates me that the CWU actually suspended the vote on the ballot until the company improved its Quality of Service and USO compliance. Has it done this? Have the company genuinely reviewed all its failed revisions? Nope, RM has simply used the bleak financial situation narrative towards cutting costs instead. Somehow, I don't think this company can keep using this excuse because if we are not as profitable now as we were two years ago, why not, having made many changes?

That is something that RM may find difficult to argue in their quest to obliterate the USO in the future. And instead of increasing part-time members contractual hours (on current terms and conditions) the company have instead ploughed ahead with bringing in new entrants on inferior terms and cons. They may argue that current staff may not wish to work evenings and Sundays but the reality is they didn't even give them a choice. There are actually many staff on the older contracts that are working these shifts now either on overtime or as part of their contract.

Dave Ward has said this year that if the Union doesn't get what it wants then it won't rule out strike action especially if there is still no faith in the current board and they don't want a foreign investor to own the company outright who is only making limited assurances. Hopefully, I'm wrong but momentum does seem to be building towards the threat of IA.

Don’t worry about IA. I doubt you will ever see postman strike in the UK again. RM tested the Union resolve last time and We bottled it.

Is that what people said after the previous IA?

Dave Ward needs to be replaced because he’s stopped listening to us. He doesn’t hear our dissatisfaction.

[postslippete]

Yes a walk will fail every day but it won't be the same one every day.
The quality of service for those on walk 2 won't be as bad and the number of complaints will drop because a lot of people won't notice if they don't get post every day whereas if they don't get post for a week they will.

What if there is no appetite in the office for clearing failed walks on overtime?
What if there is no money in the pot to pay the overtime?
What then?

You make some good points here clash - but what if there is actually plenty of money in the pot? Should we just roll over and accept delivering two or three days worth of mail because it allows the company to make even more money at the expense of reducing the service that they have a universal obligation on?

Either employ more staff and pay the overtime or get managers out delivering and make them earn their 45k a year salary. I've noticed in our office when I've got back off delivery that it's not just mail that hasn't gone out but Yorks full of Tracked parcels that haven't been scanned and left to roll over on to the next day. That is the issue when you start prioritising to save money imho

[SpacePhoenix]

I've noticed in our office when I've got back off delivery that it's not just mail that hasn't gone out but Yorks full of Tracked parcels that haven't been scanned and left to roll over on to the next day. That is the issue when you start prioritising to save money imho

I wonder how much it'd cost to embed RFID tags into every last york. If they did that then it would show that the delay is in the DO and not distribution or the MC

[dddelta]

I do hope Dave Ward will announce the "new role" for postal workers he's been blabbing on about for the past two years, alongside this new Royal Mail scandal announcement. I've not been able to sleep at night wondering what my new role might be. I think we might need to wait another couple of years for the "scandal" to be announced.

[Mr Rush]

I do hope Dave Ward will announce the "new role" for postal workers he's been blabbing on about for the past two years, alongside this new Royal Mail scandal announcement. I've not been able to sleep at night wondering what my new role might be.

The union already revealed the secret in their document from October 2022. I remember reading it on the picket line. I read it all and I couldn't tell you. Reading between the lines, though: Dave doesn't know either.

I don't know what the f**k they pitched to the shareholders not too long ago. I can only imagine there was a lot of throat clearing, fumbling with overhead projector slides, and capped off with 'To conclude, Britain is a land of many contrasts'.

[nuisance]

Obviously. The point i was making is that the union really hasn't been pushing hard enough to ensure that the universal service is being delivered.

This is a synopsis of the conversation between a manager and a rep:

Rep: USO failing, Quality of service appalling blah blah blah.
Manager: Ok. Next week I don't have anyone on duty 2. What if I move you off duty 1 every other day to try and improve the quality of service.
Rep: No. I won't move off my duty.

So what is more important - USO and Q of S or duty holders staying on their duty.
Obviously in an ideal world everything would get delivered every day but we aren't living in that Utopia any more so.....

Apparently it has been agreed higher up that people will be moved off their duty to cover uncovered duties.
We shall see.

That's interesting that you've used a line put to us a couple of days ago about a clear office only being possible in some sort of utopia situation. BS, it was the standard for over 500 years through wars and plagues and deep freezes, etc, etc. I refuse to swallow that lie any more than the last one that they were churning out about how duties were only not getting covered in exceptional circumstances (e.g a van breaking down, someone going sick... i.e. everyday, almost entirely predictable, occurrences). An ideal world is not in the least bit necessary for us to deliver the flaming post, there has never been an ideal world, all that's necessary is the bosses of RM to stop penny pinching and under-resourcing.

And the next one - it's all our fault for not being flexible enough and up for switching duties to clear double mail, just no. One duty, one postie, one fair wage. For the next duty, another postie. It is not too much for us, or the customers, to expect.

[Smoothbackground]

And the next one - it's all our fault for not being flexible enough and up for switching duties to clear double mail, just no. One duty, one postie, one fair wage. For the next duty, another postie. It is not too much for us, or the customers, to expect.

It’s precisely this type of inflexibility that needs eradicating pronto from RM. What happens when this fine, upstanding, pillar-of-the-community postie (who only ever does his own duty, ofc) decides to pull his semi-regular sickie as he fancies yet another impromptu week off? Who ought to cover it all in the scenario you describe?

[Barnacle]

And the next one - it's all our fault for not being flexible enough and up for switching duties to clear double mail, just no. One duty, one postie, one fair wage. For the next duty, another postie. It is not too much for us, or the customers, to expect.

It’s precisely this type of inflexibility that needs eradicating pronto from RM. What happens when this fine, upstanding, pillar-of-the-community postie (who only ever does his own duty, ofc) decides to pull his semi-regular sickie as he fancies yet another impromptu week off? Who ought to cover it all in the scenario you describe?

You say you aren’t a manager but you talk exactly like one.

The walk has to be covered. That’s what happens. Having people on set jobs ensures that those jobs are done and done properly, the majority of the time if not all the time. It’s the leftovers that require attention and staffing.