I am a 6 Month temp

[postman 2011]

I have decided that the job is not worth the fight any more. It is only part time and a short term contract and I am sure I will find something else. What they want from me is much more than I can ever give. They want me to go in early, work through my break, finish my walk no matter if it is over my time or not, do any round that I am required on. Then they want to give me lapsing and overtime (because I am part time and on a lower hourly pay it is cheaper for me to do the overtime than a full timer). I just want to go in on time and finish on time, walk in to a prepped frame every day, and so on. It seems like the difference is too large. In fact the only way it could work for me is to go in and pick up my red bag and specials then do the deliveries. I think only then could I finish on time, especially on a heavy day.

Some of my colleagues are friendly and helpful but then there are some that have halfed prepped my frame when I walk in then walk off when they see me and leave me to do the rest. They say they have not got the time to do it and then I see them walking out with their bags, all mail tied up etc. One day the mail was sorted late so I had to prep a full frame. This was understandable but then I had only been in 20 minutes and managed to sort about a third of the letters and all the full timers started to leave the office and left me to it, no one offered to help. A friend of mine said it is not right that they are leaving but nothing more happened. The list goes on and on. I literally walk in every day and hope that the mail is in my frame.

At the minute I am just keeping my head down and not causing any arguements and confrontations. Whenever a LM asks me to do lapsing I stay stong and say no every time.

It did feel like I was making a massive target of myself when I stood up to my line manager early on and then involved the union about my problems.

I was going to hand my notice in tomorrow but decided to try put it off one more week and do it a week on Monday to give me two more week's pay.

You have all been great on here - thanks - it is a shame I wasn't one of the lucky ones that went to a good office.

[taurus88]

I understand where you're coming from, mate, but I think you should reconsider - and not for any reason to do with money. The job as you describe it is awful and I wouldn't blame you in the slightest for getting the frak out given the stress levels. There are a lot of guys on here who go about it in the same way, get stressed, trammel it all in, and then give up. BUT, if you're going to quit anyway, why don't you just throw your toys out of the pram completely, cut off every day, and see if maybe something doesn't get done about it? Worst comes to the worst, nothing happens and you quit anyway, or you're sacked (not likely if you follow the correct procedure). I used to get a bit peeved about things, then I got sick of it and basically went off on one. Amazingly, things actually improved - this is one of the few jobs where being an arse seems to benefit you. I think it's worth going in and being a complete c*nt for the next week, then seeing if owt happens about it.

[G Bolster]

I have real sympathy for you Postman 2011.
I was in almost exactly the same boat, ie 20 hour contract over three days.
Soon as I started I was told I would have to do five days a week but usually came in to an empty frame at 0900. I would be just starting to throw it out when the rest of the office was leaving. I always felt that this left me demoralised before I even started. After one week I was put on a large walk (I measured it with GPS to be in excess of 10 miles) and was told I was replacing a f/t who 'couldn't cope with it'! So this meant I had a total of four hours to prep the walk from scratch, get dropped out, walk the 10 miles and walk back to the office?
Because I was always late starting I had to phone a manager to bring my drop bags out, this sometime entailed up to a 45 minute wait. I asked to be put on a three day week as per my contract but this never happened. The final straw for me was when they started scheduling me to work every day and I would come in but get told to go home again cos they didn't need me that day! No prizes for guessing this was usually on a Tuesday and other 'lighter days'. Never got paid anything for these wasted hours and traveling.
I was in the fortunate position that I was able to leave, but feel sorry for people who are treated like this but don't have that option.

[Postsack]

Re: your back pain, check your bag weights, ask your DOM what you should be carrying, I think it's 16kg for your first bag and 11kg thereafter, if they are over ask your DOM what to do, not confrontationally but as if you're asking for help, normally we get into conflict because our attitude is wrong, I'm sure most of us would agree on this.

And for both instances make sure you have a witness with you, stay calm and pleasant at all times....that's my best advice :)

The scales are broke i tried um every day and I imformed my LM about the issuse but nothing been solved its a joke

[wayoutman]

Re: your back pain, check your bag weights, ask your DOM what you should be carrying, I think it's 16kg for your first bag and 11kg thereafter, if they are over ask your DOM what to do, not confrontationally but as if you're asking for help, normally we get into conflict because our attitude is wrong, I'm sure most of us would agree on this.

And for both instances make sure you have a witness with you, stay calm and pleasant at all times....that's my best advice :)

The scales are broke i tried um every day and I imformed my LM about the issuse but nothing been solved its a joke

H&S issue? tell your rep, if he doesnt want to know give your area rep a ring.

[Lincox]

Fish, I agree with most things you say, but imo you only get in life what you stand up for yourself. Very seldom will colleagues come and help in this job. You stand up to the bully, yourself and never give an inch to the b..strds whether you are full time, part time, casual, contract or whatever. They have no right to treat you like a dog. Stand up to them and be counted.

[fishtank]

Fish, I agree with most things you say, but imo you only get in life what you stand up for yourself. Very seldom will colleagues come and help in this job. You stand up to the bully, yourself and never give an inch to the b..strds whether you are full time, part time, casual, contract or whatever. They have no right to treat you like a dog. Stand up to them and be counted.

That's a wonderful concept and i will be the first to applaud him...out the door,down the street and into the job centre.
You cannot expect those with most to lose to do the fighting,those of us in a stronger position,reps and senior members have to stand up for them and if there really is no-one in his office who will he has to be very careful

Some of those who give advice on this forum do so because they don't have the courage to follow that advice themselves...it may be therapeutic for them but it's bloody dangerous for the OP.
I'm not saying he shouldn't stand up for himself but he should be careful and try to get some support before he tackles the problem head on.
Never go to war purely on an ideal Lincox...ideals are for students who still live with their parents.

[Lincox]

It,s a sad state of affairs, and a sad endictment of what is a piss poor union, if the corrupt management that is Royal Mail is allowed to carry on with no check, hounding people out of the workplace, who have the strength to stand up to their bully boy tactics.

[POSTMAN]

You can't blame it all on the union,'some' union reps yes,'some' colleagues yes.

[robg]

Re: your back pain, check your bag weights, ask your DOM what you should be carrying, I think it's 16kg for your first bag and 11kg thereafter, if they are over ask your DOM what to do, not confrontationally but as if you're asking for help, normally we get into conflict because our attitude is wrong, I'm sure most of us would agree on this.

Does anyone actually do 16/11Kg . I've never seen anyone weigh a bag, and the 10-15 machines in our office are all out of order with the head unit disconnected; been that way for years apparently.

Was there a time we used to weigh the bags?, they must have got the machines at some point and asked people to use them.

[motherhubbard]

Does anyone actually do 16/11Kg . I've never seen anyone weigh a bag, and the 10-15 machines in our office are all out of order with the head unit disconnected; been that way for years apparently.

Was there a time we used to weigh the bags?, they must have got the machines at some point and asked people to use them.

Invite the HSE into your DO.

In relation to 'compliance' - all parties HSE, CWU and Royal Mail wanted to be sure that we had a structure and matrix which could deliver compliance (this being a view and approach strongly expressed by the HSE) and a key part of the Trials was aimed at developing a system to ensure that the new Pouch Weights are fully complied with once introduced and would meet HSE and LA Inspectors requirements.

The HSE was concerned that sustainable compliance was achieved and the main change is that staff don't have to record 100% of their pouch weights daily on the old record sheets (where they were previously used), except for new starters. This was part of the trial programme and was based on the views of HSE. It was found that 100% self recording of delivery pouch weights wasn't a sustainable solution, and wasn't ensuring consistent compliance to pouch weight limits as staff in many Delivery Offices inspected were still taking out overweight pouches. HSE Inspectors found that no checks on pouch weights were being undertaken in some Delivery Offices and in others where pouches were weighed and found to be excessive no action was taken. Where record sheets were kept, Pouch Weights didn't always tally with record sheets or record sheets were incomplete or not used in some locations.

As such a pouch weight sampling strategy and checking system was developed which went away from individuals weighing and recording their own pouch weights on record sheets and instead introduced a random sampling process whereby typically, sampling will be carried out by management on a daily basis with in the range of 5 -15% of all the walks at each Delivery Office. Under the process, as a minimum, the DOM will ensure that a sample of 5 -15% of all Delivery Rounds or a minimum 2 - 4 full delivery walks per day will have all pouches weighed, checked and recorded on the new pro-forma provided by the Delivery Office Manager or the delivery person's immediate supervisor.

[robg]

Does anyone actually do 16/11Kg . I've never seen anyone weigh a bag, and the 10-15 machines in our office are all out of order with the head unit disconnected; been that way for years apparently.

Was there a time we used to weigh the bags?, they must have got the machines at some point and asked people to use them.

Invite the HSE into your DO.

I was a new starter and all my bags on the bicycle round were over 20KG easily, maybe 30KG for some streets. On loop they are around 16KG each.

Not much chance of me asking them to random sample, all the machines are disabled and they could make me do a sorting test, or bully me into unpaid overtime by saying I was too slow.

At the moment I'd prefer to keep my job and get paid each week to cover the bills.

[POSTMAN]

Doesn't matter what the bag weighs,ok it does but my point is you only carry what you feel comfortable with,16kg is the max you can carry,not a must.
I usually break my s**t down to 10ish kg,that is enough for me.If i need 2 hits i do 2 hits,it's my back not RM's.

PS:Have some respect for your driver if you put bags out to pouch off.

[motherhubbard]

http://www.royalmailchat.co.uk/communit ... 9&p=412924" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It might help if someone could do a brief resume of the case.
As I read it RM managers have a lawful duty of care to ensure the safe systems of work are adhered to.
It is a lawful duty to ensure people are properly trained and implementing that training.