Current Industrial Action

[hairyjack]

Unfortunately, some people will only ever see one side of the story, there own!

[clashcityrocker]

-------------------------------------------------------------------- And modernisation of the service by Royal Mail ---------------------------------------------------------------

Give the Public a service - Yep thats Royal Mails job and guess how they do that.

1. Close 3,500 Post Offices.
2. Reduce the service at 1000s of others.
3. Allow the Government to withdraw some of the services you used to be able to get at POs.
4. Ceased Sunday Collections (now for anyone to get anything on Monday you need to send it before 1230 on Saturday.
5. Cancelled Bank Holiday Collections.
6. Cancelled 2nd Delivery
7. Made the 1st delivery later than the 2nd ever was.
8. Laid off 60,000 workers through various means.
9. Close delivery offices and amalgamate them into Super DOs on industrial estates miles from bus routes.
10. Bring in a complicated and expensive postage system. (Pricing in Proportion).
11. Increase handling fees for Import from £4 to £8.
12. Increase the surcharge of underpaid items to £1.
13. Increase stamp prices above inflation.
14. Agree a price with DSA competitors to use our network which means we subsidise them to the tune of 2p per item.
15. Take 5 years to spend half of the 1.2billion the government loaned them, but we are still yet to see the machines in use on a UK wide basis even though trials are going well according to RM.
16. Removing Mail cycles and replacing them with cars and then claiming they are doing everything to reduce carbon emissions.

Can we not have this printed off to hand out to the public.It tells them all they will ever need to know about "modernisation".

[bitchface]

thankyou maleorder for repeating everything you said at the last strike again.please feel free to seek the use of other couriers without feeling the need to let us know how you feel.
i dont know the reasons why anyone else wants to strike i can only try to relay why my vote was a very big yes.
i dont care about london workers refusing the geo route or my pay freeze whilst managers have just got a 10milion pound bonus pot for savings.
i agreed to work part time for RM for 30 hours a week
i cannot physically do the job they want in 30 hours.for 6 months,every day i went atleast 30 minutes over my time.nobody questioned the overtime(not overtime rate) so what should i do.if i take out the mail and bring back whats left that leaves me into a conduct code issue of wilful delaying the mail(thats the sack)if i refuse to delivery what i cant do in my time,im threatened with testing(if i fail ,the sack)because they say im not fast enough.the computer said it can be done.so it can.they have already tried to trump up one conduct code issue,which wasnt well thought out and they had to drop it.ALL overtime is volantary they tell me otherwise i can legally get an average of my hours in holiday pay.i dont get an overtime rate until ive done full time hours and they will always take the best paid hours as the hours to make up to full time.

i have the largest full time round in our office with our largerst customer on it(inkjet,toners and printers)a very large mail order company.i have to sort it all and deliver in 6 hours.

im striking to get my round to fit my hours or give me a contract for more hoursat christmas i did 67 hour week that included being the only one doing sunday collections.i still got a pro rota bonus of 75 pounds and no sunday rate as they used that as the 10 hours to make up full time,the rest paid at normal time.no extra holiday pay as per the law.this week they stuck a notice up saying they are changing our start times next week.again against employment law of notice...

i could go on but i really think your email address ends @royalmail.com

[hairyjack]

Rumbled?

[Hugh_G_Rection]

A POSTIES VERSION OF YOUR STORY:

I'm currently worried sick for my family and my 2 kids. Its been a tough year which shows no signs of getting easier. So far we have managed to keep our bills down by not turning the heating on and cutting my cloth so much we are eating the table to the bone and have not had any left over salary for ourselves for months (there are two parents). Its generally a little quieter in summer especially with no holiday here but we were looking forward to the Autumn to earn some money to put into our home and in turn generate income to spend with you!!!

Since 1995 I have seen bosses claw back all the perks I once had, mostly obtained by skilful Union negotiations . Since Thatcher peed on Unions from a great height, I have seen my working conditions slide down the toilet whilst bosses have got richer and can look forward to a pension and bonus just like ADAM Crozier. Write to him and plead poverty and ask how can he pay himself shed loads whilst we all starve and work ourselves into either an early grave or hip replacement.

Not one postman I have met, heard or seen write, that he/she wants to brass off the customers, but what else do we do to ensure we get a decent wage for a week of Grade "A" graft and actually get to go home to our families on time without Victorian working conditions coming inot play.

We are ALL for swings and round abouts but we would like a go on the swings just once in a while before WE go bust!

The End (for some of us) :cfo

[giveemenoughrope]

My internet retail business relies 100% on Royal Mail. I work 12-14 hours a day 7 days a week. I have gone through hell the last year to remain profitable and keep the business going but I have made it work. I don't have the luxury of a union or the rights to earn any amount of money. What I get I get from extremely hard work and even though times are tough I appreciate that I have an income.

You could say well that's your choice. Don't like it don't do it. Well I say the same to you. If you don't like your job or your working conditions change your job. Oh wait. We're in the middle of a recession with rising unemployment. Might be kind of tough to get another job.

The last 6 months has seen the complete and utter erosion of confidence and trust in Royal Mail from myself and many people in my position. People have left and will continue to move away from using Royal Mail where possible and a lot will NEVER come back. This is only going to result in a vicious cycle of less money for Royal Mail and more job cuts in the long term.

Couple this with the current economic climate and rising unemployment if I were working at Royal Mail then the working conditions and worrying about my boss not giving me a back massage every day would be the least of my problems. The fact that I had a job AT ALL would be my primary concern. Royal Mail is making miniscule profits based on turnover. You don't have to be Alan Sugar to understand that without DRASTIC action it will be the end for Royal Mail.

Seriously. Haven't any of you concidered that you are just pouring fuel onto a fire you seem so desperate to out it.

[DGP1]

I work 12-14 hours a day 7 days a week

I'm sorry but you don't, I was once self employed and I would've been AT work for 70 odd hours per week but only worked about half of that, as for now.........I work hard and contantly for 40 hours per week and this is by far the hardest I've ever worked in any of my jobs (and I'm sure nearly everybody who works on delivery will confirm that).

[westlondonpostie]

My internet retail business relies 100% on Royal Mail. I work 12-14 hours a day 7 days a week. I have gone through hell the last year to remain profitable and keep the business going but I have made it work. I don't have the luxury of a union or the rights to earn any amount of money. What I get I get from extremely hard work and even though times are tough I appreciate that I have an income.

You could say well that's your choice. Don't like it don't do it. Well I say the same to you. If you don't like your job or your working conditions change your job. Oh wait. We're in the middle of a recession with rising unemployment. Might be kind of tough to get another job.

The last 6 months has seen the complete and utter erosion of confidence and trust in Royal Mail from myself and many people in my position. People have left and will continue to move away from using Royal Mail where possible and a lot will NEVER come back. This is only going to result in a vicious cycle of less money for Royal Mail and more job cuts in the long term.

Couple this with the current economic climate and rising unemployment if I were working at Royal Mail then the working conditions and worrying about my boss not giving me a back massage every day would be the least of my problems. The fact that I had a job AT ALL would be my primary concern. Royal Mail is making miniscule profits based on turnover. You don't have to be Alan Sugar to understand that without DRASTIC action it will be the end for Royal Mail.

Seriously. Haven't any of you concidered that you are just pouring fuel onto a fire you seem so desperate to out it.

Thats the problem, you don't! do you honestly think we are doing this for fun?
You chose to set up you're business and I sincerely wish you good luck in making you're company grow, but I joined RM as a 19yr old in the 80's all I wanted to do was work, I will not tolerate being bullied or constantly harrassed because of changes Royal Mail pushed through even after we told them it would result in later deliveries, rising customer complaints and being unable to complete deliveries and mail being returned to the Office and then be told it's my fault the Mail is undelivered.
If you or a family member was suffering what we are day in day out would you advise them to do nothing or fight back,

[giveemenoughrope]

I work 12-14 hours a day 7 days a week

I'm sorry but you don't, I was once self employed and I would've been AT work for 70 odd hours per week but only worked about half of that, as for now.........I work hard and contantly for 40 hours per week and this is by far the hardest I've ever worked in any of my jobs (and I'm sure nearly everybody who works on delivery will confirm that).

How amazingly presumptious. I'm actually pretty inuslted. You have no idea what I do or how hard I work. I DO work for that length of time continously and it is hard work. I NEVER switch off. EVER. Bank holidays and weekends mean nothing to me, Christmas is a 1 day holiday. I haven't had a summer holiday for 15 years. If you want me to break my day down my "physical" day consists of around 8 hours work a day and the rest is mental work. Design, organsisation, financials, accounts, spreadsheets, orders, emails, telephone calls, paperwork, stock taking, product testing, the list is endless. It's mentally AND physically exhausting. My days starts at 9am and I actually wind down around 10pm but my mind is constantly racing with thoughts about everything I need to do. It's the first and last thing I think about everyday.

My point is like I said before. It's MY choice. Everyone has a choice. If you don't like your job. Leave. Don't punish me because you don't like YOUR job. Where's MY union. MY rights. MY right to a certain level of pay. MY right to a certain set of working conditions. Rise and fall on your OWN success. Your OWN decisions. Your OWN choices in life. And if I did lose the business and there were jobs going at Royal Mail I would apply and given the current economic climate I would work happily being thankful I had a paycheck coming in when so many don't right now.

I read the letter from the CWU to Higson and it's a complete joke that no business could ever agree to. Just who's running this company exactly? In the words of Peter Mandleson. It's lunacy and suicidal.

I sincercely hope that all this is sorted out and you get to keep your jobs. I would hate that in 12 months time even more of you lose your jobs because Royal Mail has gone down the toilet. I hope I eat my words. But I doubt it. It just seems like you you can't see the woods for the trees.

[k979aaa]

Why is royalmail in this state? who benifits? :cfo and who has lossed 50000 postmen have lossed their jobs the burden on the others is unbarable while top managers earn millions of pounds of our backs and even junior managers get £2000 or more!. One can only carry so much for we cannot carry the 11000 managers while we are loseing postmen everyday!.

[bitchface]

Royal Mail is making miniscule profits based on turnover. You don't have to be Alan Sugar to understand that without DRASTIC action it will be the end for Royal Mail.

Seriously. Haven't any of you concidered that you are just pouring fuel onto a fire you seem so desperate to out it.

i would have to agree with this.royal mail do make miniscule profits compared to turn over.but you dont have to be alan sugar to work out that that isnt our fault.thats managment's.do you know how much they waste on employment tribunerals ,lawyers,settlements because they try to sack people instead of redundancies.most of which it seems to me they lose.they have doubled the amount of lackie bands bought because some bright spark thought we would change to synthtic rubber bands.panniers that now break after a couple of months,cheap bags and pouchescutting cycle repairs so that now they are scrapped instead.and it goes on and on.in the 90's royal mail put billions into the exchequer..now we have the same amount or more of mail to deliver with less and less staff,doing more and more...it aint our fricking fault its making pathetic profits.only and imbocile would suggest such a thing.

mangers make cuts and get bonuses,wheather for better or worse.

its this government's fault for wanting to lead europe by opening up postal markets.then regulating the crap outta royal mail whilst the other companies can hold on to mail as long as they like.then force us to deliver at a loss.and royal mails managments fault for trying to make it look attractive to private companies for the sell off

some things shouldnt be about making more and more profits.this is one of them.
miniscule or not they made a healthy profit in the worst recession for decades and thats after paying millions extra into the pensions(which were fine till taxed to buggery by the government)

if you cant understand this it is probably the reason you need to work 12-14 hour days

[TrueBlueTerrier]

I work 12-14 hours a day 7 days a week

I'm sorry but you don't, I was once self employed and I would've been AT work for 70 odd hours per week but only worked about half of that, as for now.........I work hard and constantly for 40 hours per week and this is by far the hardest I've ever worked in any of my jobs (and I'm sure nearly everybody who works on delivery will confirm that).

How amazingly presumptuous. I'm actually pretty insulted. You have no idea what I do or how hard I work.

Right back at you. You have never worked for Royal Mail or faced the situation we currently find ourselves in for instance:

1. People being sent home without pay when they cant do half hour flexibility although the agreement we signed with RM says that will be taken into account.
2. People being suspended for bringing up H&S concerns (A London H&S Rep)
3. People being sent home without pay when they advise managers they are unable to complete their walk in the time allowed. This without having the walk tested to see if its too large and without the manager checking the amount of work for that duty.
4. People who claimed overtime when they genuinely worked over their contracted hours having it refused.
5. People who willingly work 30 minutes flexibility as requested but when they ask when they will get it back they are refused, not paid the overtime or given the 30 minutes back in 10 minute chunks. (So much for the swings and roundabouts expressly mentioned in the agreement).
6. People being given 10 minutes extra work about 6 to 7 miles from their normal duty and being expected to complete their own duty and the extra work, without transport (except public) and given no extra time to move from the extra duty to their own duty. Then being refused overtime because it was a quiet day (Where is the sense in giving someone 10 minutes extra work when it takes 45 - 60 minutes out of their own duty)


These are not isolated instances they are quite common actually.

1. Also are you aware that the Pay and Mod agreement which RM use to say we agreed to this had 4 phases - 3 of which the workers have implemented Yet Phase 4 which Royal Mail should have completed in 2008 and gave us the chance of benefiting from the changes has not even moved beyond the initial stages.
2. Are you aware that the agreement as mentioned above that all changes are to made with full union involvement as a a way of changing the current adversarial culture. Yet RM continue to impose changes without even consulting the CWU.
3. The agreement allowed local units to have innovative attendance patterns, and these were agreed in some units with full RM involvement. Yet without consulting the CWU (as per the agreement) they unilaterally enforced change on these working arrangements.

But as you say its presumptuous of someone to know how you work, is it not the same when you accuse of us not liking the job when in fact most of us do.

Are you aware that one of the changes we fought and are fighting against is later starts - the business has plans that mean we will not be delivering until at least 12.00 and some duties will be 4.5 to 5 hours long meaning deliveries will ALL be in the afternoon.

They also want to reduce collection times and where possible bring these forward so they fit their pipeline better. I for-see people having mail collected before that days mail is delivered.

This post is getting too long but at least you have some idea of where at least this one postie comes from.

[maleorder]

i could go on but i really think your email address ends @royalmail.com

Please be assured my email address does not end with royalmail.com. I promise to keep posting when all this is over to give you more of an idea how we are getting on. My day so far has been taken up with interviewing our employees and formally advising them of the potential for lay offs and short time working. Its left me wondering what I or they have done to deserve that.

I'm sorry if I repeated things I said in 2007. I think this time things are different given the state of the economy and the very fragile recovery, not to mention the millions who would be pleased to do what you do. I don't think public opinion is behind you this time either. I didnt say in 2007 that I feel you are letting my small team down given the loyalty we have shown to you helping to drive what must be the only growing part of your business.

After giving the issues much thought I can't now see any other outcome but a failed RM followed by a growing private sector (higher costs but at least no more worries about business continuity). I hope that I am wrong as I know there are some good people working at RM in particular the thousands who have in the past reliably delivered over 200,000 orders for us. I'm not sure it was ever going to be a different outcome but I am certain this action will accelerate the demise.

Oddly enough I worked for BT until 1986 when the telecomms world was privatised. I know its different in many ways but I then had a further 15 years working incredibly hard but earning a very good living.

[Hugh_G_Rection]

My internet retail business relies 100% on Royal Mail. I work 12-14 hours a day 7 days a week. I have gone through hell the last year to remain profitable and keep the business going but I have made it work. I don't have the luxury of a union or the rights to earn any amount of money. What I get I get from extremely hard work and even though times are tough I appreciate that I have an income.


I have my own business as well as being a postie. I work very hard in both jobs. 12 17 hours a day 7 days a week. A union is not a luxury its a neccesity because of bosses who take all the rewards like Crozier whilst we get shafted. He could not do a posties job. As for rights to earn any ammount of money, RM are taking that "right" Away, and thats why we are striking.


You could say well that's your choice. Don't like it don't do it. Well I say the same to you. If you don't like your job or your working conditions change your job. Oh wait. We're in the middle of a recession with rising unemployment. Might be kind of tough to get another job.

But I like my postie job as it is. It is managable, I enjoy it and meeting people plus fresh air and free Gym every day, but not for long before my hips and knees pack up and I give them FREE work under the guise of MUST BE FLEXIBLE

and I quote form Peterborough today:

"Royal Mail have today removed 2 postmen in Peterborough from pay for refusing to work beyond their contracted hours. i.e refusing to give FREE work. Do you give your business products /services away for Free? Can you go into a Post Office (if You can find one) and get Free stamps and postal orders? Thought not so why should we work for free?

This practice is common place in delivery offices and is known as ‘cutting off’.

Royal Mail are now calling this practice ‘unofficial industrial action’ and are stopping the pay of those charged, until they work to standards which are not made clear nor are agreed with the CWU.
"

The last 6 months has seen the complete and utter erosion of confidence and trust in Royal Mail from myself and many people in my position. People have left and will continue to move away from using Royal Mail where possible and a lot will NEVER come back. This is only going to result in a vicious cycle of less money for Royal Mail and more job cuts in the long term.

I had 6 people come up to me today to say we support all you guys and girls and thank you. Last strike I was given sweets and beer by OUR public!
You go to the competition and WE will still delivery it. When did you ever see a postie in anything other than a RM uniform? Most of the post we carry belongs to the competition anyway by orders of PostComm. Check the stamp on your company mail in the morning, thats delivered by a knackered postie, in the cold

Couple this with the current economic climate and rising unemployment if I were working at Royal Mail then the working conditions and worrying about my boss not giving me a back massage every day would be the least of my problems. The fact that I had a job AT ALL would be my primary concern. Royal Mail is making miniscule profits based on turnover. You don't have to be Alan Sugar to understand that without DRASTIC action it will be the end for Royal Mail.

Same old Jackanory, Alna Sugar would not last a day at RM having to do real graft for a living on a pitance so your sarcasm aint welcome me old china.

Royal mail made massive profits for the first time in 20 years and we got none of it. The boss did though.

Seriously. Haven't any of you concidered that you are just pouring fuel onto a fire you seem so desperate to out it.


We are not and at least we got our pride at the end of the day whilst those fat cats have all the cream

We will have to agree to disgaree so Good Luck

[DGP1]

I work 12-14 hours a day 7 days a week

I'm sorry but you don't, I was once self employed and I would've been AT work for 70 odd hours per week but only worked about half of that, as for now.........I work hard and contantly for 40 hours per week and this is by far the hardest I've ever worked in any of my jobs (and I'm sure nearly everybody who works on delivery will confirm that).

How amazingly presumptious. I'm actually pretty inuslted. .

Thankyou