Summer Resourcing : Resourcing to Workload LTB

[Martin Walsh]

Dvbuk you can look at it the other way people are happy to moan and groan at other people who do the job but neither have the desire , bottle or know how to step up to the plate and prove that they could do the job better and get Royal Mail to do a 360 degree turn on some issues which they don't like.

You see when someone actual has to walk the walk rather then just talk a good fight it is much harder.

You see the majority of reps try and do the best for their members , and most members know that.

Some on here have become keyboard warriers slagging off the CWU without also recognising the challenges we all face whether that's from competition , off comm demanding more effierency from Royal Mail , the demands from shareholders , the business plans , automation , falling letter volumes , the chance to get more in the parcels market.

Unlike some it's not just whether you work till your time with what we are facing its whether some work at all.

[clashcityrocker]

Some on here have become keyboard warriers slagging off the CWU without also recognising the challenges we all face whether that's from competition , off comm demanding more effierency from Royal Mail , the demands from shareholders , the business plans , automation , falling letter volumes , the chance to get more in the parcels market.

But isn't it the job of the trade union to educate its members so they do understand these challenges.
It would be so much easier to be elected as a rep who talks the talk of confrontation with management instead of attempting to work with management to ensure we all still have a job at the end of the day.

[dvbuk55]

You see when someone actual has to walk the walk rather then just talk a good fight it is much harder.

You see the majority of reps try and do the best for their members , and most members know that.

Some on here have become keyboard warriers slagging off the CWU without also recognising the challenges we all face whether that's from competition , off comm demanding more effierency from Royal Mail , the demands from shareholders , the business plans , automation , falling letter volumes , the chance to get more in the parcels market.

Unlike some it's not just whether you work till your time with what we are facing its whether some work at all.

Yes rather interesting example walking the walk and talking the talk when walking the walk you consider the most difficult. Some of us keyboard warriors actually have a job as well and fully recognise the problems we AS THE UNION face and it is the elected representatives above shop floor level that are found wanting and in that respect the second highlight is whether some work at all.

[RTP]

1.Is there a list for these 20 offices?

See dingos post a few above yours

2. So now for the rest of us it will take at least 6 months just to get the new PDA'S and then it's gather information and then it's work out a plan

Thats the nub of it, although someone else has posted that they expected national roll out is due later than Dingo's projection.

3. Can an office volunteer to be added to the initial 20 that are happening now, because by god ours needs sorting out now, not in a year or three and I'm sure there are plenty of other offices that are in the same boat.

Probably not, but Dingo may or may not confirm, but as far as I can tell the trial 20 are already set up and running.

Thanks TBH, that will teach me to speed read and miss a page. Oh and thanks for posting that list up dingo. Incidentally I know for a fact that one of those offices is working at 75 ep

[trythat]

Oh and let's tAlk about the fact that the CWU are very close legally in winning for part times including back pay the times when they are on leave when the their hours drop from what they are working when they are in work. So slag of the union but without it these things would not happen.

Can you please provide more information on this, as we had nearly 2 dozen Temp contracts on 32.5 reduced to 28hr on FTC, but still expected to do the same amount of hours. Of course we will try using the 6 month review to upgrade again, but I fear a up hill battle with a negitive out come.

[trythat]

It's a bit of a shambles in our office. 10 months after the revision we are still usually 30 mins late getting off the sorting. People only use trolleys if it's essential as they couldn't complete in time if they use them. There are a few who do it to finish early,but they are in the minority.
People are not being allowed to book overtime if the DOM thinks the traffic isn't high enough.
It seems that we are as an office are being blamed for not getting through an unrealistic amount of mail in the morning and then blamed again for going over time or wanting to cut off.
I've been in meetings when you just get figures thrown at you and it is right to say that some people don't work as hard as they should do,but most of us are non stop all day and to my mind when I see the amount of mail we are supposed to sort in little over an hour,you know it's not going to happen however hard you try and however many meetings you have.
I know the reality is that the DOM is under pressure to save on everything,but I've never seen so many unhappy people in the 20 years I've been a Postie.

I don't understand why the ADR is not tackling this, I'd like to think mine would be in backing me up and giving the DSM a good kicking.

[fishtank]

Has everyone gone soft in the head today?
What possible gain will there be in having our members tracked by PDA?

Do you think members will suddenly have an epithany and stop finishing early, whether it's facillitated by cutting corners, skipping meal relief, starting early or whatever?

Royal Mail will not use this tool on an individual basis to stop certain members starting early or finishing early and managers will continue to turn a blind eye to individual bad practice because at the end of the day it suits the business to employ headless chickens.

Royal Mail will use this tool to justify cutting resource and increasing workload across the board. They will withold the raw data, cherry pick the results as they have always done to produce the figures they want and present those to the union as a done deal and those working to their time or beyond?...well they obviously aren't working to standard/hard enough.

This union grows dumber by the day.

[Martin Walsh]

Fish are you really saying that Royal Mail who are heavily investing in tracking via PDAs which include the ability of customers to track their parcel or letter on route and even send messages for postmen to collect Mail and collect returns is somehow not also going to use the technology for resourcing methods and outdoor revision purposes ?

If you are then you are not thinking rationally.

The CWU will have to ensure we get safeguards but are you really suggesting that the CWU will be able to somehow get Royal Mail to ingnore the data it produces.

[fishtank]

No, I'm saying that the business will use the data to justify savings at national level while at local level managers will continue to encourage bad practice because the last thing a local manager wants is an office full of members doing the job properly so unless the union can change the mindset of 1600 local managers or force senior management to change their mindset for them I would seriously think twice about what kind of endorsement the union gives to PDA tracking of performance.

We might not be able to stop it but we certainly don't want CWU endorsed job cuts, increased bullying and harassment or unachievable workloads.

[dvbuk55]

This union grows dumber by the day.

Is that at all possible? Reading the posts about how well the union are managing the situation, for Royal Mail that is, the bottom of the barrel was scraped years ago and the only ones who can't see it are the sad sacks peddling the unions stance.

I think I'll put myself in an old folks home, these places must be full of people with more common sense than a bus load of CWU negotiators.

[halfull]

Has everyone gone soft in the head today?
What possible gain will there be in having our members tracked by PDA?

Do you think members will suddenly have an epithany and stop finishing early, whether it's facillitated by cutting corners, skipping meal relief, starting early or whatever?

Royal Mail will not use this tool on an individual basis to stop certain members starting early or finishing early and managers will continue to turn a blind eye to individual bad practice because at the end of the day it suits the business to employ headless chickens.

Royal Mail will use this tool to justify cutting resource and increasing workload across the board. They will withold the raw data, cherry pick the results as they have always done to produce the figures they want and present those to the union as a done deal and those working to their time or beyond?...well they obviously aren't working to standard/hard enough.

This union grows dumber by the day.

well put

[Cut Off King]

The fact is, RM are now setting the aganda, and the cwu are playing catch-up

Instead of drawing a line in the sand and telling RM to cross it IF they DARE.. the CWU allow RM to do as they wish...and we'll back you through joint statement.

Its been so long since the CWU took REAL action to protect it's members, it looks to the ordinary members as if RM & CWU are on the same side....

There is now a lot of members who have joind in the last few years have never had to take IA to protect their & others jobs / T&C's......chances are that they never will, now that the CWU is on RM's side

SIMPLE : If it's BAD for a CWU member..then it should be opposed........Unless your on full time release...... then you can bow to your paymaster and agree to anything, as long as RM keep funding your full time release.....

You'll never have to do a delivery / work in a mail centre/ drive for the network .... so what do you care ??

[A2B]

Interested to know how you think the CWU could oppose anything that RM is looking to bring in?

[Martin Walsh]

Fish the primary reasons for the PDA is the facility it provides for information for customers and the business communications with the OPG on route.

The job is going to change , Royal Mail are scoping the amount of collection boxes which can be collect by a OPG on his route rather then a van , they estimate it as over 20 000 , the returns business is growing and very competitive and worth millions , an opg goes to or past every door every day so it's market which is there.

Tracked items increased by 54% last year , this year it's over 24% , customers want tracked items.

Click and collect to enquiry counters and post offices are real opportunites hence why some callers / enquiry officers will be opening on a Sunday.

Mail volumes on letters are down and on 5 years ago and this is despite the fact that d2d is included in today's traffic and not in the figures of 5 years ago. 80% of all traffic is counted by machines and checked.

DSA accounts for over 4 billion items which less then 10 years ago Royal Mail did not have any work lost to DSA.

Royal Mail have 50% of the parcels market but it is not coverd by the USO and is very competitive and changeable. The growth a few years ago were DVDs and CDs , now most of that has changed to downloads and the growth is clothes and bigger parcels.

Amazon are now buying courier companies in areas to deliver their parcels as they want total control but they will also use Royal Mail when capicity demands or circumstances such as bad weather.

D2D has grown but less then predicted due to the fact that Royal Mail are 20% on average more expensive then TNT.

TNT will cover 42.2% addresses in the uk by 2016 but in only 8% of the total UK. The cities are Edinburgh , Glasgow , Leeds , Manchester , London , the Home Counties including Essex , Bristol. They are averaging taking 20% of Mail in the first year.

Now PDA tracking of OPGs is not the most important issue at the moment. The agreement says it cannot be used for conduct code purposes , budgets cannot be used , no one should be forced to work beyond their time and the PDA will show if someone has been which will prove if bullying is occurring.

Now against this backdrop and the fact that off comm is threatening to impose efficiency levels on the business , the CWU has a range of problems to deal with probably the biggest in its history.

Some of you might choose to continue to close your eyes to the problems by saying well we work to time , the issue is this really true and if Royal Mail continue to lose revenue to TNT how long will the USO survive ? There will always be post in cities but in rurals no way.

The CWU could see the bigger picture and that's why it has secured the Agenda for Growth and has shaped and welcome today's announcement. The CWU has argued Royal Mail workforce is hugely efficient due to the changes.

What the CWU do not have is a veto on change. Royal Mail as a footsie 100 company is also under pressure from it shareholders to raise more profit.

[dvbuk55]

I'd like to recommend dingo for a seat on the board. That's all RMs woes sorted.