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

[Barnacle]

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.

I suppose the company would say it’s not financially viable to pay Sunday premium to legacy-contract employees. This additional cost is significant, even on a per-DO basis.

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.

I don’t see IA happening anytime soon, and maybe never again. The very existence of the CWU (insofar as its mandate to represent OPGs) is on the line here. The CWU really doesn’t want a public display of just how weak its dominance now is.

Are you a manager?

[postslippete]

I suppose the company would say it’s not financially viable to pay Sunday premium to legacy-contract employees. This additional cost is significant, even on a per-DO basis.

I don’t see IA happening anytime soon, and maybe never again. The very existence of the CWU (insofar as its mandate to represent OPGs) is on the line here. The CWU really doesn’t want a public display of just how weak its dominance now is.

What about the cost of having to continually recruit new staff? RM have been that desperate to retain these new recruits in some areas that they have included bonus packages in many of their contracts. That's not levelling them up to our contracts on a permanent basis is it? Whilst staff costs are significant in any business, if the company are actually making money which I believe that they are, then they need to reward their staff instead of pricing letters out of existence so people don't use it and prioritising the Tracked items. Obviously the company don't want to do this but this is where any decent Union should be holding them to account.

A lot of people are very negative towards the Union (and that includes me) because on the shop floor management have targeted reps to help them with their dirty work in running down deliveries. However, most people actually want a stronger Union not a weaker one. The CWU clearly don't like the direction of the gig economy and like you say it threatens their very existence. Perhaps new posties are content like yourself with the wage that they are getting, but from what I've seen many of them despondent and don't like the fact that their colleagues are earning more than them for doing the same work. Our office has become like Kings Cross station with the number of staff leaving. If posties are that willing to leave I'm certain that they are willing to strike. As for those on the older contracts we want to see achievable duties and people paid fairly for the work that they do.

[scotchy1962]

I suppose the company would say it’s not financially viable to pay Sunday premium to legacy-contract employees. This additional cost is significant, even on a per-DO basis.

I don’t see IA happening anytime soon, and maybe never again. The very existence of the CWU (insofar as its mandate to represent OPGs) is on the line here. The CWU really doesn’t want a public display of just how weak its dominance now is.

What about the cost of having to continually recruit new staff? RM have been that desperate to retain these new recruits in some areas that they have included bonus packages in many of their contracts. That's not levelling them up to our contracts on a permanent basis is it? Whilst staff costs are significant in any business, if the company are actually making money which I believe that they are, then they need to reward their staff instead of pricing letters out of existence so people don't use it and prioritising the Tracked items. Obviously the company don't want to do this but this is where any decent Union should be holding them to account.

A lot of people are very negative towards the Union (and that includes me) because on the shop floor management have targeted reps to help them with their dirty work in running down deliveries. However, most people actually want a stronger Union not a weaker one. The CWU clearly don't like the direction of the gig economy and like you say it threatens their very existence. Perhaps new posties are content like yourself with the wage that they are getting, but from what I've seen many of them despondent and don't like the fact that their colleagues are earning more than them for doing the same work. Our office has become like Kings Cross station with the number of staff leaving. If posties are that willing to leave I'm certain that they are willing to strike. As for those on the older contracts we want to see achievable duties and people paid fairly for the work that they do.

Good post... right up until the last statement, achievable duties and fair pay are a thing of the past. They want maximum productivity for the hours we work, it's hard to argue against given they pay us for those hours, but it's a double edged sword and if we only work those hours the mail and parcels would pile up. Unfortunately our workforce is full of people who need the money to pay for their lives, but if we could just stick to everyone only working 37 hours, and not a minute more, the place would be on its knees in days.
Ahhh wishful thinking on my part, but seriously it would work and very quickly too.

[Mr Rush]

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.

I really wouldn't be surprised if the company legally challeneged a ballot result that was not overwhelming. Given the turnover since the last dispute and the declining membership, a two thirds majority of a two thirds turnout of a two thirds membership is less than half the workforce.

[Smoothbackground]

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.

I suppose the company would say it’s not financially viable to pay Sunday premium to legacy-contract employees. This additional cost is significant, even on a per-DO basis.

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.

I don’t see IA happening anytime soon, and maybe never again. The very existence of the CWU (insofar as its mandate to represent OPGs) is on the line here. The CWU really doesn’t want a public display of just how weak its dominance now is.

Are you a manager?

No. No wish to be either.

[Smoothbackground]

I suppose the company would say it’s not financially viable to pay Sunday premium to legacy-contract employees. This additional cost is significant, even on a per-DO basis.

I don’t see IA happening anytime soon, and maybe never again. The very existence of the CWU (insofar as its mandate to represent OPGs) is on the line here. The CWU really doesn’t want a public display of just how weak its dominance now is.

What about the cost of having to continually recruit new staff? RM have been that desperate to retain these new recruits in some areas that they have included bonus packages in many of their contracts. That's not levelling them up to our contracts on a permanent basis is it? Whilst staff costs are significant in any business, if the company are actually making money which I believe that they are, then they need to reward their staff instead of pricing letters out of existence so people don't use it and prioritising the Tracked items. Obviously the company don't want to do this but this is where any decent Union should be holding them to account.

A lot of people are very negative towards the Union (and that includes me) because on the shop floor management have targeted reps to help them with their dirty work in running down deliveries. However, most people actually want a stronger Union not a weaker one. The CWU clearly don't like the direction of the gig economy and like you say it threatens their very existence. Perhaps new posties are content like yourself with the wage that they are getting, but from what I've seen many of them despondent and don't like the fact that their colleagues are earning more than them for doing the same work. Our office has become like Kings Cross station with the number of staff leaving. If posties are that willing to leave I'm certain that they are willing to strike. As for those on the older contracts we want to see achievable duties and people paid fairly for the work that they do.

I don’t think those of us on new contracts would disagree with being “levelled up”, however we willingly signed up to our existing Ts and Cs and so can’t really grumble too much. The real salt in the wound for many of us — not me, I hasten to add — is more the small (but vocal) minority of longstanding staff brainwashing a lot of the new-contract staff into believing they are being mugged off by the company and repeatedly pointing out how they are paid more. There can never be a union of staff (in the literal sense) when the staff themselves are divided.

[postslippete]

Good post... right up until the last statement, achievable duties and fair pay are a thing of the past. They want maximum productivity for the hours we work, it's hard to argue against given they pay us for those hours, but it's a double edged sword and if we only work those hours the mail and parcels would pile up. Unfortunately our workforce is full of people who need the money to pay for their lives, but if we could just stick to everyone only working 37 hours, and not a minute more, the place would be on its knees in days.
Ahhh wishful thinking on my part, but seriously it would work and very quickly too.

It works for me to just work the contractual but everyone's each to their own. For RM to be really on its knees the Union needs to prevent managers continually telling posties to prioritise the Tracked items over the mail. It is not a 'reasonable instruction' imho because we still have a universal service on letters. The Union on a national level only support one day off the USO, not for the company to deliver letters every other day and leave frames full of mail like they are currently doing because all this does is allow managers to fiddle the figures regarding duties that have "failed". The Union makes all these noises about RM running down the delivery service but are doing bugger all about it. Like I said, our Union rep might as well be representing the manager's union because they aren't really doing anything to help us. Before covid managers were pushed to get the deliveries covered but now all they are bothered about is what they are having for lunch instead. Who is tracking the managers and making sure they are getting these deliveries covered?

[postslippete]

I don’t think those of us on new contracts would disagree with being “levelled up”, however we willingly signed up to our existing Ts and Cs and so can’t really grumble too much. The real salt in the wound for many of us — not me, I hasten to add — is more the small (but vocal) minority of longstanding staff brainwashing a lot of the new-contract staff into believing they are being mugged off by the company and repeatedly pointing out how they are paid more. There can never be a union of staff (in the literal sense) when the staff themselves are divided.

Fair point. It was the company that introduced the two-tier workforce and you're probably never going to shut up the small and vocal minority who see new starters as a threat to their existence on the road towards the gig economy. There is a sense of irony at Xmas when RM employ dozens of agency workers and pay them even more than those on legacy contracts. Obviously, they are not as productive as regular staff and often work more hours as well.

[scotchy1962]

Good post... right up until the last statement, achievable duties and fair pay are a thing of the past. They want maximum productivity for the hours we work, it's hard to argue against given they pay us for those hours, but it's a double edged sword and if we only work those hours the mail and parcels would pile up. Unfortunately our workforce is full of people who need the money to pay for their lives, but if we could just stick to everyone only working 37 hours, and not a minute more, the place would be on its knees in days.
Ahhh wishful thinking on my part, but seriously it would work and very quickly too.

It works for me to just work the contractual but everyone's each to their own. For RM to be really on its knees the Union needs to prevent managers continually telling posties to prioritise the Tracked items over the mail. It is not a 'reasonable instruction' imho because we still have a universal service on letters. The Union on a national level only support one day off the USO, not for the company to deliver letters every other day and leave frames full of mail like they are currently doing because all this does is allow managers to fiddle the figures regarding duties that have "failed". The Union makes all these noises about RM running down the delivery service but are doing bugger all about it. Like I said, our Union rep might as well be representing the manager's union because they aren't really doing anything to help us. Before covid managers were pushed to get the deliveries covered but now all they are bothered about is what they are having for lunch instead. Who is tracking the managers and making sure they are getting these deliveries covered?

I am afraid to say that a "reasonable instruction" as in asking you to deliver tracked before letters, would probably be classed as a reasonable request and if you refused it could lead to misconduct, it isn't our job to police RM that would be the very useless and highly politicised Ofcom.
Big business do what they want when they want, trot along to the enquiry, lie, look sad and apologetic and then get down to feckin over some more workers, government don't care and Starmer has shown little sign of being different.

[clashcityrocker]

I really don't understand why people have got their knickers in such a twist over this.

We prioritise Tracked over non-Tracked.
In the same way we have always prioritised Special Deliveries over everything else.
I don't remember anyone ever saying we were breaking the law and people should go to prison.

[Barnacle]

I really don't understand why people have got their knickers in such a twist over this.

We prioritise Tracked over non-Tracked.
In the same way we have always prioritised Special Deliveries over everything else.
I don't remember anyone ever saying we were breaking the law and people should go to prison.

The difference is that you don’t have about 70 one o’clock specials every day, (unless one o’clock specials were REALLY popular back in the day), so prioritising delivering specials doesn’t tend to mean that barely anything but specials gets delivered. Which is the case on many occasions when the instruction is to prioritise tracked.

[GRS]

I really don't understand why people have got their knickers in such a twist over this.

We prioritise Tracked over non-Tracked.
In the same way we have always prioritised Special Deliveries over everything else.
I don't remember anyone ever saying we were breaking the law and people should go to prison.

Ridiculous analogy

[yellowbelly]

I really don't understand why people have got their knickers in such a twist over this.

We prioritise Tracked over non-Tracked.
In the same way we have always prioritised Special Deliveries over everything else.
I don't remember anyone ever saying we were breaking the law and people should go to prison.

Apart from SD everything else has the same 'priority' doesn't it? The 1st/2nd/T24/T48 categorisation is for
the the speed the item gets through the network isn't it? Once it's at your office they're all supposed to be delivered that day.

[nuisance]

I really don't understand why people have got their knickers in such a twist over this.

We prioritise Tracked over non-Tracked.
In the same way we have always prioritised Special Deliveries over everything else.
I don't remember anyone ever saying we were breaking the law and people should go to prison.

The difference is that you don’t have about 70 one o’clock specials every day, (unless one o’clock specials were REALLY popular back in the day), so prioritising delivering specials doesn’t tend to mean that barely anything but specials gets delivered. Which is the case on many occasions when the instruction is to prioritise tracked.

Because:
It's short-sighted. Only giving a reliable service on tracked but not on mail damages RM's overall reputation. Posties not delivering the post is just poor and people are going to avoid an organisation that peddles uselessness. Overall what makes us different, being posties, disappears and we're not able to compete with other couriers in many other ways.

It also exploits workers and penalises us for taking time off. If you aren't there to do your duty's work, when you return your workload vastly exceeds that of your colleagues who were present the previous day to deliver the previous day's work. You shouldn't be worse off for taking your days off and holidays.

It is us, our families and our friends who are receiving this deliberately run down mail service. We are the customers who have first hand knowledge of what RM is doing in trying to force the government into allowing the changes it wants to increase their profits at the expense of the public and workforce. Lowering standards to everyone's detriment but the business' is angering.

[postslippete]

I am afraid to say that a "reasonable instruction" as in asking you to deliver tracked before letters, would probably be classed as a reasonable request and if you refused it could lead to misconduct, it isn't our job to police RM that would be the very useless and highly politicised Ofcom.
Big business do what they want when they want, trot along to the enquiry, lie, look sad and apologetic and then get down to feckin over some more workers, government don't care and Starmer has shown little sign of being different.

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. There's a general sense of apathy in the company where the union reps don't really want to get involved in everything that the CWU mentioned in the last TUC meeting