Bridgewater to strike again?

[POSTMAN]

From Aug edition of their monthly branch bulletin.

ROYAL MAIL BULLYING OVER HOSPITAL VISITS.


CWU members at Bridgwater Delivery Office have voted for a strike ballot to prevent
managers forcing them to go
to hospital in their own time.



Until 2011, Royal Mail, like
most public sector employers,
were happy to accept that a
visit to a hospital was a
stressful time, and, because of
this, they were happy to allow
reasonable time off for CWU members to attend.



This could mean that, for example, if a member started work at 6am and had a 10am
appointment in Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton, which is 12 miles away, they would grant
release from 8am, so you could go home, change, and have plenty of time to get to hospital.
Assuming the appointment took place on time and lasted an hour, then the DOM might ask
you to come back into work from 12.30pm till 1.30pm, or, as often as not, give you the whole
day off as paid leave from 8am.



In Bridgwater DO from the summer of last year, all this changed.



There had obviously been a national decision to start a tougher approach on this matter, with
the aim, we believe, of saving £millions a year in Paid Special Leave costs.



What did this mean in Bridgwater Delivery Office?



It meant the DOM took over all cases, and, unless the appointment was right at the end of the
shift, gave the postman/woman three choices:



1. Unpaid Special Leave

2. One day's annual leave, taken away from your year's allocation

3. Swop your day off-i.e. lose it or use it for the hospital visit



When the CWU objected, on the grounds that the national agreement was being broken-it
doesn't mention choices 2 or 3-Royal Mail stopped offering choice 1. This is because the
current agreement with the CWU specifically mentions the stress caused by a loss of pay when
a CWU member has health concerns.



Senior Royal Mail HR officials then got involved in a formal Stage 3 disagreement, but all of
them backed up the new tough stance, in spite of the fact that they accepted they were


15



One postman was forced to give up-swop-two Saturday's off and use them for hospital visits,
even though he had made plans to take his family away for these weekends.



Another, who feared he had bowel cancer, was depending on keeping his day off that week so
he could either celebrate an 'all clear' with his family, or, if the news was bad, spend some
time with them talking things through.



Royal Mail have now adopted this 'Swopping days off' as their favoured option. It is saving
them £millions and causing our members untold stress and worry.


At CWU Conference 2012 a motion from the Bristol Branch, instructing the CWU Postal
Executive Committee to
re-negotiate the whole
Special Leave agreement
so that swopping days off
and taking annual leave
days were SPECIFICALLY
EXCLUDED from any new
agreement, was accepted
by national officer Ray
Ellis.



Ray Ellis has now
received our Bridgwater
strike ballot request from
Dave Wilshire, so we
expect either-and
preferably- a decent new
national agreement
covering all the country,
or the go-ahead for a
local anti-bullying fight.

Sometimes issues happen that might only affect a small number of our members at a
workplace. However, CWU members at Bridgwater believe that:



1. If this happens at Bridgwater it is probably happening elsewhere;

2. If we accept this bullying it will become the norm and effect all of us at one time or another;

3. The CWU is at its strongest, and Royal Mail are most scared of us, when a majority of
members at a workplace is prepared to fight-and lose money- to protect a minority.

4. Isn't 'An injury to one an injury to all?'

[R@YAL F@IL]

Not being flippant here but can one not make a hospital appointment out of work hours? I have in the past done this when receiving an appointment by letter there is an option to re-arrange the appointment if not suitable.

[clashcityrocker]

Not being flippant here but can one not make a hospital appointment out of work hours? I have in the past done this when receiving an appointment by letter there is an option to re-arrange the appointment if not suitable.

Possibly but it depends on the nature of the visit.
Usually the more serious the nature of the visit, the higher up the consultant you need to see and the less flexibility in his schedule.
A senior oncologist is unlikely to make special arrangements because the DOM can't get your duty covered.

[crazyshrew]

Not being flippant here but can one not make a hospital appointment out of work hours? I have in the past done this when receiving an appointment by letter there is an option to re-arrange the appointment if not suitable.

the problem here in the west county is that we are very rural, with very poor transport links. we don't have the luxury of plenty of hospitals and plenty of choice

One needs to remember that the majority of out patient appointments are only available during regular work hours, say 9 - 5

Where I am, Musgrove Park hospital is where we get referred to if necessary.
As a non driver - relying on on public transport, it would take me over two hours from the time I step on my first bus, plus the time needed to get home, showered and changed before heading out.
Like many others I also hate the thought of being late to anything so want to allow some extra time in to the journey to eliminate the risk of missing the appointment.

by the time all of this is taken in to account, a short 15minute appointment could take up about 5 hours of my day, really wouldn't want to have to squeeze in a day of work on top of that!

PS Having my own car really wouldn't be of much benefit as it's still about an hour each way.

[fishtank]

Doesn't really fit with the new relationship/staff engagement bollocks does it?
Anyone needing a day off for a hospital appointment should just book it as a World Class Mail outing.
Hospitals have lots of stupid coloured strips on the floor and many pretty pictures on the walls.
Take the whole week,the budget can handle it.

[dvbuk55]

A few years ago I had some health problems, well actually I still do, but I don't have to go to the hospital as often fortunately. I may have had to go twice in a week to see different specialists so I just used to book holidays - I didn't think twice about it. Mind my shift used to start at 3.30 and I didn't want to be getting up at that time and hanging around all day so thats my easiest option. I still have tests but I just leave early these days and make the time up or try to get an appointment on my day off or later in the day. Having said that it's not so easy getting a change of appointment these days.