CWU: Agreement reached on the biggest ever National uplift in Part time contracted hours

[Martin Walsh]

Open the spreadsheet which is attached to the LTB and it does add up to 8552 and we also have the names !

[norris9]

100 in Doncaster ,61 in Bristol Mail Centre , 130 in North West Hub , 100 in Midlands Hub, 94 in South Midlands Mail Centre ,57 in Crow Lane Northampton,53 in Sheffield Mail Centre , 53 in Lincoln Delivery unit ,48 in North Tyneside , 34 in Colchester.

Only on this site would we make a good news story for 8500 part time to full time feel like it is a disaster.

I will just ask a straight question - Have you disregarded seniority when agreeing with Royal Mail which posties should get an uplift in their contract?

If the answer is no - then there isn't much for people to complain about.

If the answer is yes - then members have the right to be furious over this and if you cannot understand why people would be annoyed then that is hugely concerning.


Why are you trying to make out people are annoyed with part timers becoming full timers - that's not the case. People are annoyed as it looks like seniority has been ignored.

[Lfc1983]

100 in Doncaster ,61 in Bristol Mail Centre , 130 in North West Hub , 100 in Midlands Hub, 94 in South Midlands Mail Centre ,57 in Crow Lane Northampton,53 in Sheffield Mail Centre , 53 in Lincoln Delivery unit ,48 in North Tyneside , 34 in Colchester.

Only on this site would we make a good news story for 8500 part time to full time feel like it is a disaster.

If you look on the other social media platforms people are only more positive because you have reported it in a confusing way that makes part timers think they have a chance on getting more hours.

When in actual fact the people who are getting these contracts have had these hours anyway but are just going from a temporary contract to a permanent.

It is positive news definitely but no way near as positive as the union have made out. Getting the hopes up of thousands of part time posties who have been waiting for a full time contract for years.

Even our managers got excited for a second thinking they was getting more full timers in the office only to find out 1 person is being made up who was already doing full times hours temporarily anyway.

[goddard7]

I would ask Martin as regards the spreadsheet how many of these have been flagged up as inaccurate as I know some that are certainly so!
I would also suggest a temporary variation is just that...temporary and any necessity for Pt-FT should be done on a seniority basis in each unit.
Call me old fashioned but seems fair and equitable!

[tramssirhc]

100 in Doncaster ,61 in Bristol Mail Centre , 130 in North West Hub , 100 in Midlands Hub, 94 in South Midlands Mail Centre ,57 in Crow Lane Northampton,53 in Sheffield Mail Centre , 53 in Lincoln Delivery unit ,48 in North Tyneside , 34 in Colchester.

Only on this site would we make a good news story for 8500 part time to full time feel like it is a disaster.

You've got some front having a pop at us. 11,000 the CWU said. This isn't a 'good news' story. It's blatant opportunism. What sort of union let's it's members linger on temporary contracts, clinging on for years? What sort of union watches the duty structure get binned to 'keep our members in work during the pandemic' and years later still hasn't fought to get them back? What sort of union never advised it members they had a legal claim to the hours they were working? The CWU is a disgrace.

[Martin Walsh]

Last year Royal Mail introduced a blanket policy white stated that in the future partners had to a the new entrants terms and conditions if they wanted to uplift in hours.

The union resolved this in December and any part timer who gets an up lift in contracted hours will be able to remain on their current terms and conditions.

Within these negotiations Royal Mail revealed there was circa 11 thousand part timers on a variation of contract. This is not simply individuals work regular hours week to week this is some who has signed an individual variation of contract.

The length of time an individual has signed into a variation varies but the earliest is 2016 and covering the last 9 years.

I am sure a significant number of these believed that they were ok a permanent change but they never signed a permanent contract.

The USO change in some units going to lead to a surplus , Royal Mail could at time switch the variation of contract off leaving the part timer without the hours/ pay but without a duty. In addition they would not to be entitled to sign for a full time duty when the USO is deployed and if they applied for VR they would only get the terms based on their original contract hours.

This now resolves those problems.

In terms of seniority they would have only got the variation of contract off, it should have been offered in line locally with the national agreement. Up to this announcement no one has complained that some individuals have been working full time on a variation for years.

8552 individuals will now get the opportunity to confirm a permanent full time contract.

However it is important locally in line with our agreement that Branch’s review part timers h hours and where they are working regularly against workload / not absence related that they are offered an up lift in seniority order. We have now ensured any future uplifts will be on their current terms and conditions.

The USO modelling also shows that there will be further opportunities for some part timers to go full time, again in seniority order.

[norris9]

There is a CWU Live with Martin Walsh tomorrow on Youtube. The main concern in this thread is whether posties with more seniority have been disregarded.

The main thing that needs to be explained in the CWU Live tomorrow is whether or not more senior posties have been ignored or not. It would be good for Martin to explain in the Youtube Live how these posties got these variation contracts in the first place, were variation contracts given out on seniority, why those posties didn't get a FT contract instead, what the purpose of a variation contract is, whether someone could just be given a variation contact for the Xmas period and qualify for this uplift in hours or not.

If it's genuinely the case that the posties on these variation contracts were offered them on seniority then it's fair to upgrade them to full time as they should in theory be the most senior posties in the office anyway.

Another thing: If these variation contracts are essentially FT contracts that posties go into and rarely ever come out of, then what is the benefit to those posties getting an official FT contract if it means the same pay and benefits as they have been getting for years?

As for Martin's attitude towards people on this forum saying things along the lines of 'it would be people on this forum complaining about this'....well yeah, this is one of few places posties have a voice as well as Twitter. At least he's come on here and responded. The Twitter questions have been ignored and there's plenty of people on there confused and asking similar questions as to those on here.

Yeah, people on here can get the wrong end of the stick, vent etc...but it's the people on here that care the most and want change. It's the people on here giving an opinion and fighting for what's right. This is the main place posties can communicate their opinions....but he clearly has something against us. He'd rather have an easier life with nobody to answer to.

[Acca Dacca]

However it is important locally in line with our agreement that Branch’s review part timers h hours and where they are working regularly against workload / not absence related that they are offered an up lift in seniority order. We have now ensured any future uplifts will be on their current terms and conditions.

The USO modelling also shows that there will be further opportunities for some part timers to go full time, again in seniority order.

Thanks for your post Martin

In regards to this part - will these future ' uplifts' be permanent contracts or will they be more of these ridiculous ''temporary variation'' contracts?

Are the union questioning the use of these contracts going forward? The idea people have been on these for 9 years in some cases means they are clearly being abused and going against the nature of what they were probably brought in for - that being a temporary increase - not an increase that lasts years. Royal Mail agreeing to make them all permanent seems to be an admittance that their use of them has been wrong - so i'd like to think any future contract increases are permanent.

[cornellius]

Our depot is not even listed on the spreadsheet!

[moonjaguar]

I went from 25 hours to 30 hours and having just checked, it says it's a variation of contract. I never signed anything but reading all this does that mean it was temporary increase? Will I be offered full time now? How confusing all this is, and this is the communications union who seem to have no idea how to communicate properly.

[Acca Dacca]

I went from 25 hours to 30 hours and having just checked, it says it's a variation of contract. I never signed anything but reading all this does that mean it was temporary increase? Will I be offered full time now? How confusing all this is, and this is the communications union who seem to have no idea how to communicate properly.

I believe you will now be offered a 30 hour permanent contract on the same terms.

[clashcityrocker]

You've got some front having a pop at us. 11,000 the CWU said. This isn't a 'good news' story. It's blatant opportunism. What sort of union let's it's members linger on temporary contracts, clinging on for years? What sort of union watches the duty structure get binned to 'keep our members in work during the pandemic' and years later still hasn't fought to get them back? What sort of union never advised it members they had a legal claim to the hours they were working? The CWU is a disgrace.

But surely you have been organising yourselves to do this?
Surely your rank and file committees have put right all the wrongs you have listed?

[Martin Walsh]

Norris given the numbers of variations in some offices and the feedback , yes I believe the majority would have been done on seniority. It is the local and Branch role to ensure it is done in fair basis on seniority order.

In fact I was at all local reps meeting in York today of all the North East Reps and one of the reps is someone who will be uplifted he believed he was already on a permanent contract and he review the other 12 names on the list and agreed they all were the most senior.

Now I cannot guarantee this is the case in every single unit but here is the issue if you suddenly say to someone who has been working a variation for some time and maybe 4 of 5 years we giving it to someone senior and your going back on part time hours when this individual believed they were permanent and may have built their lifestyle/ rent mortgage based on thinking they had a permanent contract so it is not as easy as some would assume.

Acca yes we want to make sure some are permanent, however again this is complex as the USO will reduce jobs and if you make further uplifts in full time which may become surplus than this adds to the VR costs of the company. So we would not rule out variations of contracts which can be converted when a unit goes live on the USO.

[SpacePhoenix]

Acca yes we want to make sure some are permanent, however again this is complex as the USO will reduce jobs and if you make further uplifts in full time which may become surplus than this adds to the VR costs of the company. So we would not rule out variations of contracts which can be converted when a unit goes live on the USO.

They could deal with some of that surplus by moving the surplus staff to other offices

[TopperGas]

This sounds to me thay the existing RM board are simply getting their business in order before the takeover but issuing the correct contracts to staff who've been working FT for years and probably always thought they had a FT contract. I've no idea why the CWU are trying to sell it as some massive deal they've pulled off, when it's really just a paperwork exercise.

I doubt any PT are having an uplift in hours let alone it being the biggest ever uplift.