Seniority under attack at the Basingstoke Delivery Office

[rubberbond]

Postie A and Postie B are both f/t on a shared walk.
Postie A prep their 2 duties while Postie B preps the duties for Posties C and D who are both p/t.
Postie And B are not allowed to leave before the indoor work of posties C and D is complete.

Who is on IPS and Packet sorting whilst Posties A and B are throwing off the 4 walks then ?

The "super sorters ".

[Bahia Feliz]

Maybe seniority might not be such an issue if reserves were treated with a bit more dignity,such as weekends off, every six weeks

The reserves in my office all work to their own rotating day off and 1 in 6 Saturdays no matter what duty they are on each week.Good management/union relations maybe!

[Gazza31]

Maybe seniority might not be such an issue if reserves were treated with a bit more dignity,such as weekends off, every six weeks

The reserves in my office all work to their own rotating day off and 1 in 6 Saturdays no matter what duty they are on each week.Good management/union relations maybe!

A quick question and pardon my ignorance as i am new, but all i have heard since joining is the term Reserve or Spare! is there anywhere in Royal Mail Regs that has the definition of a Reserve! or a Spare!. I joined and applied for a job as Royal mail postman/woman with driving, i didnt join to be a spare nor nowhere in my contract does it say i am a spare yet you get messed about each week under this guise as you are a spare and dont have your own walk......errrrr why the hell did Royal Mail recruit me then if there wasnt a job for me? can anyone answer that question?

Also where does it say that seniority ( what this thread is about ) have preference over anyone else in the office, now i agree that if you have 25 years in etc you do have a claim to have a choice of your own duty but can anyone produce any written regs re this? If not then you are fighting a losng battle.

[Gazza31]

Oh and just to add as anyone in the Royal Mail family heard of equal opportunities? you cannot treat anyone differently due to age, sex married status and many other things and unless anyone can produce anything that excludes the Royal mail from length of service this includes seniority. I have just read my contract again and nowhere in it does it say people with longer service will get treated better than myself.

Seems to me that the company has been run slap dash for many a year and things are coming home to roost.

[Bahia Feliz]

Seems to me that the company has been run slap dash for many a year and things are coming home to roost.

I realise that a 300 year old company can be run 'slap dash' at times!

[IcanthelpthewayIam]

really unless the office rep isn't doing his job by lodging the disagreements

From the first post.

The union are naturally fighting the proposed changes to the seniority system, and the situation has now developed to a stage three disagreement.

The poster asked what are the area and division rep doing about it, I pointed out that apart from their part in the disagreement process there is not much else they should be doing at this point

[TrueBlueTerrier]

A quick question and pardon my ignorance as i am new, but all i have heard since joining is the term Reserve or Spare! is there anywhere in Royal Mail Regs that has the definition of a Reserve! or a Spare!.

No its a colloquial term used in Royal Mail. Everyone has "duties" most of those duties are fixed, some are rotating 4/5/6 fixed duties as Rest Day Cover (sometimes called a floater). Then you have a reserve duties which cover all other absences not including rest days.

I joined and applied for a job as Royal mail postman/woman with driving, i didnt join to be a spare nor nowhere in my contract does it say i am a spare yet you get messed about each week under this guise as you are a spare and dont have your own walk......errrrr why the hell did Royal Mail recruit me then if there wasnt a job for me? can anyone answer that question?

actually it does, it mentions in every contract that you may be expected to work at other offices. Also the job you were recruited for is as a Postman, at no point did it, or does it, specify an exact location.

Also where does it say that seniority ( what this thread is about ) have preference over anyone else in the office, now i agree that if you have 25 years in etc you do have a claim to have a choice of your own duty but can anyone produce any written regs re this? If not then you are fighting a losng battle.

Actually its not illegal to reward loyalty as long as there is a business reason to do so, and it does not directly discriminate based on age, gender, religion, ethnicity or sexual preferences. The Business reason usually given is that as the basic job is exactly the same no matter where you deliver, then seniority is a fair way to select dutes. Although as far as I know this hasn't been tested yet - feel free to do so.

The "Written Regs" also come under your contract, specifically the section mentioning collective agreements. The collective agreements in this case are the various MTSF, Way Forwards, AFG, P&M and Flexibility agreements as and where applicable. All are available on here if you wish to research them.

Just to add to the context of my reply I am the most Junior FT in my section, and most of the PTs are more senior than me. In fact one 35 year old has double my seniority and I am 50.

[Pinky 1]

Seems to me that the company has been run slap dash for many a year and things are coming home to roost.

I realise that a 300 year old company can be run 'slap dash' at times!

And one that is nearly 500 years old has had plenty of practice

[fishtank]

I can't see any need for pairing f/t with p/t on a shared walk.

Motivation leading to better indoor performance leading to improved efficiency.

[Fishless]

TrueBlue wrote:
' Also the job you were recruited for is as a Postman, at no point did it, or does it, specify an exact location.'



Actually my contract does state Postman at ... 'name of office'! Have been a Postman for a long, long time!

[TrueBlueTerrier]

But to be pedantic in the extreme what I actually meant was that though you are employed in a certain office, the exact location of your delivery isn't detailed