Being teated like dirt.

[Stumpy69]

I work for Angard Staffing. Phone up regarding shifts with the reply, "got shifts will ring you back in 5 mins".
After 4 hours of waiting I ring back and to my surprise phone is cut off. This has been going on since the start of the new year.
When I do finally get shifts which are few and far between I'm told by other casuals that they've had phone calls to go in morning noon and night.
I find this totally unprofessional when they assured all staff hours would be given out equally. I work at NWMMC Wolverhampton.

[Happyfeet]

Oh another one who has been lied to at Nwmmc

[maste]

hello. hello me to introduce myself. i work in warrington at the rail terminal and at mill lane and have been employed by Angard now for approx two years. we have been experiencing the same problems. Most of my work has been at the rail terminal and in that time i have watched as: people who have come in after me have been given more work and more preferential treatment, more people being recruited thus diluting our work down in favour of cheaper labour, having to watch faithful - hard working fellow workers with several years of productive service under their being belt forced out to seek new jobs, managers repeating the lie that they do not request individuals by name, Angard endorsing this lie, Angard workers ringing up the agency (when i have been led to believe that this is forbidden by Angard) demanding or asking for work, having to stand shoulder to shoulder with lazy shiftless co-workers who allow you to do most of the work without fear of being reprimanded by weak management. When i finally decided enough was enough i joined the Royal Mail Union: The CWU. The unions webpages openly encourage Angard, Manpower or any other work agency member to join their union. I bet Angard never told you that!! If you are not a union member i strongly advise you to join it. The benefits are tremendous! For £8.50 a month not only do you get full union benefits but free "Legal Aid" for you and your family! Indeed there is a free legal hotline for all union members. Once in the union you can do what i have done: complain to the (your) union rep at your place of work, send the complaint to him in the form of an email (keeping a record of all correspondence), insist he then sends it on to the branch secretary. Indeed this is what i have now done. The result: A liaison officer has been appointed to coordinate between the Royal Mail and Angard to investigate all such complaints as yours and mine. Act now and lets get organised. Several people that i know and who work, as i do, as casual workers for Angard are throwing their weight behind the argument; we cannot do it alone...why not add yours! P.s What i am arguing for is a "Fair and Impartial" system for allocation of shifts that is governed by computer software not the "off the top of my head" system that Angard would appear to use. Plus other things that i would be willing to post if anyone is actually interested in reading them. :)

[Stumpy69]

2 weeks with no work, and all I get of Angard is "there's no shifts, quiet this week".
Shocking to now same workers in all the time though.
Has no one from Angard got the balls to tell the truth or give other staff a chance.
Or has Royal Mail got no say in how the agency staff are treated.

[maste]

At danger of continually repeating myself i will say this one more time: Go to the CWU unions webpage, read, digest and then join the union! It costs the miserly sum of £8.50 a month. In the meantime complain to Angard in the form of emails; Keep these emails as proof of your complaints. If, or when, angard refuse to act send copies of the emails to your union rep at your place of work; he will then send them onto his branch secretary. You are quite correct we are being badly treated so act now before it may be too late...join the union! Remember: the union fought to get you parity as far as your pay is concerned and also lots of other benefits.

[Happyfeet]

ANGARD FULL s**t

[Rombi]

I am being treated like dirt at the moment it's like I am not a human being who deserves to be treated with self respect and dignity.
I don't understand how it's fair that they recruit new staff every week whilst there are Angard staff that can't even get shifts. It's disgusting and morally wrong on every level.

[ennabee]

At danger of continually repeating myself i will say this one more time: Go to the CWU unions webpage, read, digest and then join the union! It costs the miserly sum of £8.50 a month. In the meantime complain to Angard in the form of emails; Keep these emails as proof of your complaints. If, or when, angard refuse to act send copies of the emails to your union rep at your place of work; he will then send them onto his branch secretary. You are quite correct we are being badly treated so act now before it may be too late...join the union! Remember: the union fought to get you parity as far as your pay is concerned and also lots of other benefits.

Correct me if I'm wrong but the Union makes parity worth having, as after 12 weeks Agency workers get the good wages and conditions negotiated by the union ( I'm a casual in the union BTW) but PARITY comes via the AWR regulations. I believe that, for whatever reason, prior to Angard and/or the AWR reguations, Royal mail Casuals were on a much lower wage than the regulars, possibly because they kept having their contract renewed to prevent any argument about "Permanency" but I'm not certain how this occured

[TrueBlueTerrier]

The history of the AWR can be read at http://www.contractorcalculator.co.uk/c ... _news.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

But the highlights are, its the result of an EU Directive (the same EU that UKIP want to withdraw from ), Union pressure on the Labour Government brought in the Warwick agreement, which they in regards to AWR promised to implement it, but actually blocked. Then the TUC (CWU are members) and the CBI then came to a series of concessions during 2007 and after a few years the EU directive and AWR became law in 2010.

Royal Mail casuals IIRC from when I was one back in 2003/4 were not paid the same as Permanent Staff, but were paid even back then more than just above the minimum wage. This is probably why Angard was created.

If there were no Unions I don't think the AWR would be in existence, that in itself is a good enough reason to support the Trade Union movement, I humbly suggest.

[ennabee]

If there were no Unions I don't think the AWR would be in existence, that in itself is a good enough reason to support the Trade Union movement, I humbly suggest.

I agree and think any one who gets work with RM by whatever means. should join the CWU, but the previous poster said "THE" union and inferred ( I thought) that the CWU negotiated AWR conditions for Casuals whereas they have "pressed" for them and supported them as part of the Trades Union movement in general. I know a few Casuals who have been at RM for ages and the "much lower" quote came from them. It's obviously better for all who work for RM, at whatever status, that RM being a business that recognises the CWU puts them ( the workers) at an advantage over those employed at other postal/courier companies.

[nothingatthemoment]

[asap99]

hello. hello me to introduce myself. i work in warrington at the rail terminal and at mill lane and have been employed by Angard now for approx two years. we have been experiencing the same problems. Most of my work has been at the rail terminal and in that time i have watched as: people who have come in after me have been given more work and more preferential treatment, more people being recruited thus diluting our work down in favour of cheaper labour, having to watch faithful - hard working fellow workers with several years of productive service under their being belt forced out to seek new jobs, managers repeating the lie that they do not request individuals by name, Angard endorsing this lie, Angard workers ringing up the agency (when i have been led to believe that this is forbidden by Angard) demanding or asking for work, having to stand shoulder to shoulder with lazy shiftless co-workers who allow you to do most of the work without fear of being reprimanded by weak management. When i finally decided enough was enough i joined the Royal Mail Union: The CWU. The unions webpages openly encourage Angard, Manpower or any other work agency member to join their union. I bet Angard never told you that!! If you are not a union member i strongly advise you to join it. The benefits are tremendous! For £8.50 a month not only do you get full union benefits but free "Legal Aid" for you and your family! Indeed there is a free legal hotline for all union members. Once in the union you can do what i have done: complain to the (your) union rep at your place of work, send the complaint to him in the form of an email (keeping a record of all correspondence), insist he then sends it on to the branch secretary. Indeed this is what i have now done. The result: A liaison officer has been appointed to coordinate between the Royal Mail and Angard to investigate all such complaints as yours and mine. Act now and lets get organised. Several people that i know and who work, as i do, as casual workers for Angard are throwing their weight behind the argument; we cannot do it alone...why not add yours! P.s What i am arguing for is a "Fair and Impartial" system for allocation of shifts that is governed by computer software not the "off the top of my head" system that Angard would appear to use. Plus other things that i would be willing to post if anyone is actually interested in reading them. :)

union are there to serve posties,not angard.any1 who tells you otherwise is a fool .worked for agency for over 10 years well before angard came onboard.union only help when it is helping there posties.been told this by union rep.they dont rock the boat .as for AWRnothing to do with union its a european directive.all are posties do is complain about it ,say we get paid more than them which we all know is false .supposed to get same breaks as them but as we all know we dont,they all take extra time which we are not allowed to do .the finish 5,10 mins before us cassys told going nowhere till end of shift .i union contributions there to prop up theres.theyve heard all the same aguements before (keep long serving regular staff cos there trained ,)what happens nothing.i realy hope your union rep has the ability to make a change but years of working here ,i very much doubt.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Sounds like a problem with the local set up, not the Union as a whole.

[seesred]

The Union is limited to what it can and will do for casuals given that, for perfectly understandable reasons, it doesn't want casuals in the workplace to begin with. The Union is not really sure what it's role is in terms od representing casuals. It has little ability to influence management when RM regulars are not going to support casuals, even when they think we are being treated badly, and no influence at all with Angard. Everybody knows the situation with Angard is a poisonous one, but local management and Angard both claim that regional or national policy is behind their constant recruitment of new staff, and no-one is willing to address the problem. As casual workers we have no access to anyone above shift manager level, and no one has any accountability to us. That includes the management at Angard. If we don't like it, our only option is to leave, and, when no value is placed on the efforts of long term and loyal staff, it seems that's just the way the people in charge want it.

[asap99]

The Union is limited to what it can and will do for casuals given that, for perfectly understandable reasons, it doesn't want casuals in the workplace to begin with. The Union is not really sure what it's role is in terms od representing casuals. It has little ability to influence management when RM regulars are not going to support casuals, even when they think we are being treated badly, and no influence at all with Angard. Everybody knows the situation with Angard is a poisonous one, but local management and Angard both claim that regional or national policy is behind their constant recruitment of new staff, and no-one is willing to address the problem. As casual workers we have no access to anyone above shift manager level, and no one has any accountability to us. That includes the management at Angard. If we don't like it, our only option is to leave, and, when no value is placed on the efforts of long term and loyal staff, it seems that's just the way the people in charge want it.

100%true. new starters all the time what happens when they reach 12 weeks,more of the same.long term staff 1 day a week ,and then they expect us to carry the new ones and show them how togo on ,i now refuse(i,m not training officer).once this next sell off takes place theres no hope for any of us .