Part Timers Being Shafted

[ViperF]

Currently being shafted myself moved on to a duty, where Mail has built up to 11 trays. Have to go in at 1pm not one single letter thrown into the frame?!

[deltaforce]

Currently being shafted myself moved on to a duty, where Mail has built up to 11 trays. Have to go in at 1pm not one single letter thrown into the frame?!

You know the answer to that!

[ViperF]

What? Sorry for my ignorance I’m part time and new.

[Numberone63]

The answer is.......
You have a start time
You have a finish time
You have a break time
You have a trolley for bags
DONE

[DGH]

There are 2 types of leader:
Baboons who grab power for the sake of it and feather their own nest and elephants who rule for the benefit of the herd.
There are too many baboons in the CWU.

Just as a matter of interest, baboons don't nest (humans and the other great apes do, as do a couple of other primate species, but monkeys don't). One important reason why elephant society works as it does is that herds are both matriarchical and made up of close relatives.

So it's hard to see there being an elephant in the CWU room.

[Jamesfr3man]

I never understand why Part Timers and I was one myself, come to RM on a PT contract expecting to or hoping to be made up to full time and then moan when they don't? And moan when everyone else gets the OT becuase they need the money. I understand you "need the money" but then you shouldn't have taken the job PT and had any hope of getting FT hours. I'm sure when I left PF FT and came to RM PT nowehere in the job description did it say anything about a glimmer of hope of maybe one day being FT, I just got lucky and our rep is half decent.

A lot of people first get in the door via agency. Most of the agency jobs advertise as full-time or upto full-time, and explicitly express that there may be opportunities for a permanent position.

Only later do they find out those permanent opportunities are a 5 hour contract with Royal Mail.

Upto full time is like saying my broadband is upto 200mb and the key words in the last sentence are "MAY BE". One of the questions I always asked and wanted to know and I presume most others do are what are the hours? Are you suggesting that most people blindly walk in not knowing? If I saw a job being advertised as upto full time and possibly perm first thing I'd want to know is guaranteed min hours and what kind of chance if there of perm position? Most part timers on here like most of the ones I work with presume they're going to get non guaranteed overtime everyweek and then moan when they don't get it because they need the money.

I've gone over this in a earlier post but it looks like some people here aren't getting the big picture. Lets say you want to be a postal worker, you may have already worked for RM as a temp at Christmas or through an agency or not at all. You look online for a position but notice that all the contracts available in your area and indeed the whole country are only part time. This is disappointing as the lower hours means you will be not earning enough to live but can supplement the lower hours with S/A, but you apply anyway as you want to be a postal worker and people have to retire at some point and jobs must be available. You apply and ask about increasing your hours and O/T at the interview and are told that RM are no longer hiring F/T workers from the get go but in time you "maybe" will be able to increase your hours once you have more experience in the office, and there are always O/T "opportunities" for those who want to earn more.

The whole hiring process is made of lies, not only are you not made up to F/T regardless of the amount of time you have worked but there is also no O/T available. It's super simple, we were lied to during our interviews and given false information as to career progression and O/T availability. It is impossible to become a F/T postal worker from the get go so you are forced to be P/T with no way to increase your hours and like I said in my previous post, some of us are trapped in this job with the vain hope that things will get better or we will be treated equally.

Whats disappointing is that I agree with the idea of making new postal workers P/T as it allows us to learn routes and RM procedure and get a feel of the job without making commitments or making RM invest in someone who will then leave. I would then have a career progression system like most jobs and after a year or 2 you will be made up because you've earned it and have shown that you are cost efficient and have the knowledge to do the job well. Instead RM string you along expecting you to do the same job as a F/T but forever without any the benefits all because its cheaper.

All this does is alienate and divide staff.

[JJdoberman]

There are 2 types of leader:
Baboons who grab power for the sake of it and feather their own nest and elephants who rule for the benefit of the herd.
There are too many baboons in the CWU.

Just as a matter of interest, baboons don't nest (humans and the other great apes do, as do a couple of other primate species, but monkeys don't). One important reason why elephant society works as it does is that herds are both matriarchical and made up of close relatives.

So it's hard to see there being an elephant in the CWU room.

Best reply ever

[CHUCKYPIG]

Yes Part Timers are shafted. I agree with a lot of what is said on here. Managers/Union/Full timers trying to bully us into coming in before our start times so they can get out early. Its a two tier workforce man. Agree that if the CEO wants to avert strike dangle a carrot in front of the part timers, divide and rule, its already a two tier system.

I now start at 12.30, the managers/others sometimes try to get me in early but I just stick to my guns and come in when I want. Yes I would like to have my normal hours but I've accepted I've got the mornings to myself and I prefer routine. So 12.30 it is every day. Actually I like having the van to myself, I can prep it my way, park up where I want, do the loops where I want and take my breaks where I want. The job is better now I can do it my way :-)

[HTPostman]

Yes Part Timers are shafted. I agree with a lot of what is said on here. Managers/Union/Full timers trying to bully us into coming in before our start times so they can get out early. Its a two tier workforce man. Agree that if the CEO wants to avert strike dangle a carrot in front of the part timers, divide and rule, its already a two tier system.

I now start at 12.30, the managers/others sometimes try to get me in early but I just stick to my guns and come in when I want. Yes I would like to have my normal hours but I've accepted I've got the mornings to myself and I prefer routine. So 12.30 it is every day. Actually I like having the van to myself, I can prep it my way, park up where I want, do the loops where I want and take my breaks where I want. The job is better now I can do it my way :-)

That’s a very good way of looking at it. Sometimes I think our biggest gripe (PT hours) is also our greatest weapon, because when we choose to just work our hours there’s nothing management can do and deep down they know it. Here there’s few arguments with management about cutting off, and if you’re on the 12.30/1 start there’s only so much you can do in your 5 hours.

Just to follow my earlier post about some of us PT staff shafting ourselves, a lot of us were the first to put our hand up and agree to use our cars. While it meant those volunteers can still start on a morning instead of 1pm, all indoor work is removed because they are simply told to go straight from home to the start of their delivery. Sure, now and again they might finish early but that’s all the OT wiped out; how do you book OT if you’re never going back to the depot plus do you really want to be doing more than 5 hours outdoor delivery. Also they are now working for free by driving in their own time to the start of the round, some of which are half an hour away from the depot. One guy here lives the other side of the county, so now has a 1 hour / 50 mile trip to the start point. Lastly not sure how successful they are getting paid mileage. It’s like a Venus flytrap, sometimes we all have to look at the bigger picture.

[clashcityrocker]

There are 2 types of leader:
Baboons who grab power for the sake of it and feather their own nest and elephants who rule for the benefit of the herd.
There are too many baboons in the CWU.

Just as a matter of interest, baboons don't nest (humans and the other great apes do, as do a couple of other primate species, but monkeys don't). One important reason why elephant society works as it does is that herds are both matriarchical and made up of close relatives.

So it's hard to see there being an elephant in the CWU room.

Best reply ever

It would be the best answer ever if "to feather one's own nest" was being used in a literal sense. Humans don't literally feather their own nests do they? Or maybe you do. I don't know.

It simply means someone using a situation for their own personal advantage.

So do we want our trade union representatives to act in their own personal interests or do we want people who will act for the common good.
Everything for everyone and nothing for ourselves - as a higher primate once said.

[Cucumber]

Yes Part Timers are shafted. I agree with a lot of what is said on here. Managers/Union/Full timers trying to bully us into coming in before our start times so they can get out early. Its a two tier workforce man. Agree that if the CEO wants to avert strike dangle a carrot in front of the part timers, divide and rule, its already a two tier system.

I now start at 12.30, the managers/others sometimes try to get me in early but I just stick to my guns and come in when I want. Yes I would like to have my normal hours but I've accepted I've got the mornings to myself and I prefer routine. So 12.30 it is every day. Actually I like having the van to myself, I can prep it my way, park up where I want, do the loops where I want and take my breaks where I want. The job is better now I can do it my way :-)

That’s a very good way of looking at it. Sometimes I think our biggest gripe (PT hours) is also our greatest weapon, because when we choose to just work our hours there’s nothing management can do and deep down they know it. Here there’s few arguments with management about cutting off, and if you’re on the 12.30/1 start there’s only so much you can do in your 5 hours.

Just to follow my earlier post about some of us PT staff shafting ourselves, a lot of us were the first to put our hand up and agree to use our cars. While it meant those volunteers can still start on a morning instead of 1pm, all indoor work is removed because they are simply told to go straight from home to the start of their delivery. Sure, now and again they might finish early but that’s all the OT wiped out; how do you book OT if you’re never going back to the depot plus do you really want to be doing more than 5 hours outdoor delivery. Also they are now working for free by driving in their own time to the start of the round, some of which are half an hour away from the depot. One guy here lives the other side of the county, so now has a 1 hour / 50 mile trip to the start point. Lastly not sure how successful they are getting paid mileage. It’s like a Venus flytrap, sometimes we all have to look at the bigger picture.

A chap in our office drove straight from home to start delivery each day - saving himself about 1hr's worth of 'work' per day as there is no indoor work/drive out to duty/return to office (he passes duty on way to office).
He's now complaining he's not getting any overtime - he genuinely thinks he is being screwed over yet he is more than happy to take the 'undertime'.

[Woody Guthrie]

There are 2 types of leader:
Baboons who grab power for the sake of it and feather their own nest and elephants who rule for the benefit of the herd.
There are too many baboons in the CWU.

Just as a matter of interest, baboons don't nest (humans and the other great apes do, as do a couple of other primate species, but monkeys don't). One important reason why elephant society works as it does is that herds are both matriarchical and made up of close relatives.

So it's hard to see there being an elephant in the CWU room.

Best reply ever

It would be the best answer ever if "to feather one's own nest" was being used in a literal sense. Humans don't literally feather their own nests do they? Or maybe you do. I don't know.

It simply means someone using a situation for their own personal advantage.

So do we want our trade union representatives to act in their own personal interests or do we want people who will act for the common good.
Everything for everyone and nothing for ourselves - as a higher primate once said.

It's always struck me as a poor idiom anyway.
Do birds feather other birds nests as a rule?

The most well known example of a bird not feathering its own nest is the cuckoo which dumps its offspring on others like the plot from an avian version of Jeremy Kyle.

Hardly a selfless act to inspire trade union members.

[DGH]

It's always struck me as a poor idiom anyway.
Do birds feather other birds nests as a rule?

They don't.

However some species use their own feathers to line their own nests and a few, like snow buntings, use feathers of other bird species (but not of other members of their own species, interestingly). I presume it's this latter that the idiom refers to - though it may just be that the feathering a nest is seem somehow as a kind of self-indulgence. But quite a few animal related idioms are a bit strange, like pig-headed.

[smok3y666]

I never understand why Part Timers and I was one myself, come to RM on a PT contract expecting to or hoping to be made up to full time and then moan when they don't? And moan when everyone else gets the OT becuase they need the money. I understand you "need the money" but then you shouldn't have taken the job PT and had any hope of getting FT hours. I'm sure when I left PF FT and came to RM PT nowehere in the job description did it say anything about a glimmer of hope of maybe one day being FT, I just got lucky and our rep is half decent.

A lot of people first get in the door via agency. Most of the agency jobs advertise as full-time or upto full-time, and explicitly express that there may be opportunities for a permanent position.

Only later do they find out those permanent opportunities are a 5 hour contract with Royal Mail.

Upto full time is like saying my broadband is upto 200mb and the key words in the last sentence are "MAY BE". One of the questions I always asked and wanted to know and I presume most others do are what are the hours? Are you suggesting that most people blindly walk in not knowing? If I saw a job being advertised as upto full time and possibly perm first thing I'd want to know is guaranteed min hours and what kind of chance if there of perm position? Most part timers on here like most of the ones I work with presume they're going to get non guaranteed overtime everyweek and then moan when they don't get it because they need the money.

I've gone over this in a earlier post but it looks like some people here aren't getting the big picture. Lets say you want to be a postal worker, you may have already worked for RM as a temp at Christmas or through an agency or not at all. You look online for a position but notice that all the contracts available in your area and indeed the whole country are only part time. This is disappointing as the lower hours means you will be not earning enough to live but can supplement the lower hours with S/A, but you apply anyway as you want to be a postal worker and people have to retire at some point and jobs must be available. You apply and ask about increasing your hours and O/T at the interview and are told that RM are no longer hiring F/T workers from the get go but in time you "maybe" will be able to increase your hours once you have more experience in the office, and there are always O/T "opportunities" for those who want to earn more.

The whole hiring process is made of lies, not only are you not made up to F/T regardless of the amount of time you have worked but there is also no O/T available. It's super simple, we were lied to during our interviews and given false information as to career progression and O/T availability. It is impossible to become a F/T postal worker from the get go so you are forced to be P/T with no way to increase your hours and like I said in my previous post, some of us are trapped in this job with the vain hope that things will get better or we will be treated equally.

Whats disappointing is that I agree with the idea of making new postal workers P/T as it allows us to learn routes and RM procedure and get a feel of the job without making commitments or making RM invest in someone who will then leave. I would then have a career progression system like most jobs and after a year or 2 you will be made up because you've earned it and have shown that you are cost efficient and have the knowledge to do the job well. Instead RM string you along expecting you to do the same job as a F/T but forever without any the benefits all because its cheaper.

All this does is alienate and divide staff.

So in the first paragraph you say that in the interview the interviewer will tell the person RM are NOT hiring FT people then in the second you say RM are spwewing lies and telling them they will be made up to FT? And I left a FT position at Parcelforce some 3 years ago to go work for RM on a PT contract of 30 hours. I was also told that there would be no more FT positions in RM and that I could make hours up through OT. 5 months ago after 2 people left I was offered a FT contract after being there 11 years under the seniority rule because so they must be still making people up to FT because I was 1 of 2 people in our office that did get made up. I guess it depends on how good your rep is?

As for OT you must be in the wrong office because there's OT a'plenty in our office.

[Woody Guthrie]

So in the first paragraph you say that in the interview the interviewer will tell the person RM are NOT hiring FT people then in the second you say RM are spwewing lies and telling them they will be made up to FT

Well done.
They tell you (or did?) that the business only advertises and takes applicants for part-time positions but don't worry about it because you'll be made up to full time within a couple of months. The reason for that is so that in the intervening couple of months between interview and start date you're not tempted to take another full-time job.

I know you went through the internal process but I'm surprised it's taken you so long to get it.