POLL:Will this be the last year for most of us in a Crown?

[PO1]

Will someone be walking up and down outside your office this year with the sandwich board on stating "The end is nigh"?

Have a go at the poll and cast your vote.

POL members only

[Dogs of War]

I think the hole Royal Mail business is fecked.

[PostalOfficer]

Sums it up when there is an advert for Sky phone package at the botttom of this page

[gle001]

No i do not believe it will be the last year for most of us in the Crown Office network.Why? Because a new 5 year plan is being drawn up that will ensure our security for the next few years at least. This year will be harsh as there is limited government funding for the Post Office;what funding that is available will be for the sub offices only. Next year will witness the injection of 1.34 billion pounds of government funding for the entire network.The year ahead is a crunch year.We just have to continue to do our jobs the best we can.
My immediate concern is that i see no pay rise coming.Do we deserve one?Of course we do: at least the 2 or 3 percent increase that some of our colleagues in other parts of the business received.However the coffers are empty. The most we can hope for is some sort of bonus for the year if we can keep on track with the 20 million pound profit that was announced late last year.

[BELIAL]

a new 5 year plan is being drawn up that will ensure our security for the next few years at least.

[cashman]

No i do not believe it will be the last year for most of us in the Crown Office network.Why? Because a new 5 year plan is being drawn up that will ensure our security for the next few years at least. This year will be harsh as there is limited government funding for the Post Office;what funding that is available will be for the sub offices only. Next year will witness the injection of 1.34 billion pounds of government funding for the entire network.The year ahead is a crunch year.We just have to continue to do our jobs the best we can.
My immediate concern is that i see no pay rise coming.Do we deserve one?Of course we do: at least the 2 or 3 percent increase that some of our colleagues in other parts of the business received.However the coffers are empty. The most we can hope for is some sort of bonus for the year if we can keep on track with the 20 million pound profit that was announced late last year.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Because a new 5 year plan is being drawn up that will ensure our security for the next few years at least.

Only if Moya and Donald keep their promise, or should I say allowed to keep their promise when privatised or the Business Agreement could be gone and Tescos/Sainsburys could be the beneficiaries of a new one. Whatever 5 year plan PO have one of its main supports is the business agreement and if that goes .......

Next year will witness the injection of 1.34 billion pounds of government funding for the entire network..

- Over 4 years though.

The year ahead is a crunch year.We just have to continue to do our jobs the best we can.

Once RM is privatised at the PO hived off I can predict with reasonable certainty that "next year is the crunch year" will be a rolling program used by PO to keep rises to a minimum. My honest opinion is that this is probably the last year, under conservative rule, that you have a chance of getting a decent rise and you should take action as quickly as possible.

[PO1]

I think gle001 needs to read this

http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/bu ... ce-network

In it he will find "To reverse the trend of falling customers we will need a more convenient network, one were people can post parcels at the same time as picking up a coffee or newspaper on the way to work, or collect foreign currency for a family holiday in the evening when popping out for a pint of milk" Does this sound like your or any Crown Office?

The whole document is about mutualisation of the post office and turning it into one big sub office network so the thought that a new five/four year plan is going to save us is so wide of the mark, wake up and smell the coffee that's brewing!

"We deserve the 2 or 3 percent increase that some of our colleagues in other parts of the business have received. However the coffers are empty. The most we can hope for is some sort of a bonus for the year." Are you having a laugh. We are the ONLY part of Royal Mail group that HASN'T got a rise and some pay off of the fictitious shares we should have received in 2009. They're determined to drive your wages down to the level of Smiths and Dickie is well documented in saying so. What gets me is why have all the counter managers got a rise when the managers in Smiths are on less than me?

You and the rest of counter staff like you need to wake up and start fighting for your jobs now, before it's too late.

[gle001]

Firstly kind thanks to PO1 for the document you posted. You cite section 14 for particular notice however Section 20.is more important and i quote, " The Crown network is currently loss making, and this is not acceptable. Post Office Ltd is committed to eradicating these losses over the next four years." This is what we should all be concerned about if we want to keep our jobs.
The crown office network will not disappear entirely. Whatever changes come as a consequence of the Postal Bill the crown office network will survive in some form. Maybe fewer branch offices in number,but the network will survive. It is up to us as individuals to work as best as we can to try and safeguard our jobs.

[PO1]

The point is that the Crown network always was and still is a service, not a profit making business.

You seem to be missing the fact that to try and get the business into "profit" they are taking the route of driving the staff costs down. Be it by mutualising into your local supermarket or directly imposing a pay freeze until we reach Smiths level. When was the last time you were offered overtime? If we didn't waste so much money on sales, extra managers, conference calls, flip charts etc maybe we'd get offered some at the busy times.

Yes, the Crown network won't disappear, but be prepared for a network of less than 50 by 2015. You seem to have accepted that it's OK for everyone else to receive a wage rise in RMG (just to remind you Royal Mail letters made a loss in the same six months that we made a profit) but I've been working for POL now for nearly 30 years and in all my time here I've never felt so undervalued.

So you carry on with your prayer mat out, praying that you'll be one of the lucky ones to be earning £6 per hour. I for one will be out on the picket line fighting for what we all deserve.