Of course we need some radical thinking but most things have been thought off before. Lets not be to critical of strike action or the threat of it we owe everything from the death in service provision in our pensions , our annual leave entitlement , our rate of pay , our paid meal reliefs , paid sick leave up to 6 months , shift payments , harmonisation of part time conditions , the 5 day week from strike action. None of that was given freely.
Lets think this through we have a universal service obligation which protects jobs and we now want to down dial this ? Why Part of our USO licence given by Ofcom requires Royal Mail to ensure that they deliver at least 94 our of 100 first class letters the next day. Royal Mail face fines in some areas where this has dropped below 91.5 from the regulator. Yet some want Royal Mail and the CWU to go back to Ofcom and say can we only deliver 60 or 70 letters out of an 100 so we can continue to finish at a reasonable time. Do you really think this regulator who"s recommendations are due out in April will agree ?
The USO protects jobs but it does require the same service standards throughout the UK and this means that if you post a letter in Corwall the previous day first class and it is for Edinburgh than 94 out of every 100 has to be delivered. You cannot do this if you suddenly say well lets only deliver first class up to 5 in evening or 4 in the afternoon.
Now the comment about parcel force and Royal Mail doing the same thing , this is simply not factual. Royal Mail deliver more parcels in one week than Parcelforce do in a whole year. Parcel Force have 25% owner drivers and significant levels of agency staff.
The only Royal Mail can remain competitive in the parcels market is if they deliver letters / flats at the same time. The simply reason is that if your separated parcels from letters that our terms and conditions mean we will be too expensive. Lets look at this in more detail for a National Rate Full timer on £405.81 plus £23.58 the hourly rate is £11.00 per hour you then add the employers national insurance contributions, sick pay , holiday pay , pension cost , uniform , CDV cost and wear and tear and derv and the rate comes out at around £16 per hour. Most parcel companies pay so much less and E courier who Royal Mail recently brought pay £4 per successful delivered drop, Amazon pay slightly less. These employees in many cases have to supply their own van , derv , insurance and they get no paid holidays , sick leave or pensions.
So if Royal Mail delivered letters separately than they would be too expensive to capture more parcels.
We do need to think radical , could we have duties which did a delivery on one day with an hours break in the middle on a similar basis as a tachograph where they could not move the van they had to report and have the break. Could the following day that individual only do a 3 hour delivery span and then do a collection and returns process with some facing and trying for the mail centre. Could some on another day do a firms delivery which would still be an early morning delivery ?
Could some cities introduce rotates and capture some delivery slots in the evening between 18:00 22:00. This is a growing market as the trail in London has shown. What about annualised hours where you have to have an agreed set of hours but minuimn rest periods. What about increasing annual leave and having less time at work. Now delivery equipment including electric self powered delivery methods. What about better buy down terms for those who want and can afford to take a shorter delivery round. What about paying an allowance for a later delivery especially on a Saturday ? What about asking the staff within the unit how would you design a new delivery blue print and what are the offices requirements not just the mouthpieces. Why would we not rotate the drivers , collections and where you have CSS operators. Why don't we insist for a 35 hour gross working week.we currently if you discount meal reliefs work 35 hours 40 there is no reason why we cannot get to around 30 hours of work time with paid meal reliefs on top and of course we should be looking to increase these if long spans are the only work in 5 years time a delivery post person has other than what i have listed with a 1 hour break in the middle. They cannot be deliveries as they are now which are not planned , new delivery points are not reviews , attendance calls are not reviewed and the level of work is not reviewed. The other factor i think has to be in any deal is no more absorption. Remember if a full timer is working 30 hour week full time divide that by 5 and they work 6 hours per day which means with meal relief , loading the van , collecting the reg , to and from delivery points the chances are they will work a maximum of 5 hours or less on delivery.
Now this are thinking outside the box. Obviously this is plan b and only if they introduce some of the measures in their plan would we ever consider longer spans not under 1 wave, However first and foremost the only way we are going to force Royal Mail to alter their plan or change it will be to be united and strong and ensure we get the best deal if this strategy comes in either fully or part.
