Morning Star needs postmen to explain why they're striking

[Run Postie Run]

How many different reasons do you want to know ? As my colleagues seem to be pointing out the factors that have brought us to this point are many and varied. The element of how much work we can do within the time scale we have seems to be the most prominent. The office within which I work has approximately 100 deliveries routes. We have approximately 12 part time workers. Of these ten of them go over their allocated time on a daily basis. They do this without pay because they are too scared to say that they are unable to complete their workload on time. If they do they are told that they facing losing their jobs. Royal Mail is making vast amounts of money getting work done for nothing whilst this continues to happen.

Flexitime is a big issue within my office and offices surrounding it. The business is allowed to ask us if we are willing to flex up to 30 minutes on a given day should an unforseen circumstance cause the late arrival of the letters. Pure volume is not included within the agreement. The lorry having a puncture or getting caught in traffic would be an example. Managers are allowed to request that you work over your contractual hours to help out in this situation. The time you work over in my office is then paid back as overtime if you can not gain back that time later in the week. The problem is that some offices are flexing everyday in order to cope with mail volume. Its only meant to be used when an incident has occurred which has slowed the arrival of the mail.

Postmen work 40 hours per week unless they are part time. This used to be 5 eight hour days. Our office now uses a system of flexitime which gives the business a further benefit. Post is heaviest on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. With this in mind my office operates shorter hours on Monday and Tuesday when the post is light and takes the time saved from these shorter days and adds it to the Wed, Thurs, and Friday. There is no gain by the employee in this method of flexing.

Absorbtion has been explained to you by the site controller and also operates within my office. We recently lost 8 full time postmen, they took voluntary redundancy. Their jobs have been divided up and we now have bigger deliveries to make. Whilst Royal Mail claims that the volume of post is down by ten percent in the last year I have gained 70 more calls on my delivery. This amounts to a 17.5% increase. I also have to take the larger parcels which a driver used to deliver as we no longer have drivers to do this. It is Royal Mail letters which is reporting drops in volume, what fails to be mentioned is all the extra packets that are now being delivered because of companies like Ebay, Amazon etc. These companies are announcing, year on year, massive increases in their profits and the amount of items they are selling. We are delivering it but Royal Mail does not wish to tell you about the good side, just the bad.

Adam Crozier wrote to all of us in April to say that we would not be getting a pay increase this year because the country was in recession and the business was not able to afford it. He advised us that the company had made £356 million in profit. We got a bonus for our work. I was happy with that bonus. What I found fascinating was that in the same letter he informed us that £800 million pounds had been paid into the pension fund to ease the deficit. If the company only made £356 million where did the £800 million come from ? It was profit. Our company actually made £1.156 billion pounds in profit but we were not worthy of a pay rise !

Royal Mail had revenues of 6.7 billion pounds in the last financial year. You only need to ask yourself what on earth is it doing with this vast amount of money in order that it only turns out a profit of £356 million ? Management, I dont think this is an appropriate word !

[k979aaa]

Run Postie Run: Your assessment of royalmail is spot on this is why we all need too take the action for the nation's postal service and for workers rights for soon we all will be slaves if some get thier way!. :mfo

[harrytuttle]

run postie run - great stuff. i'll see if we can get it in this week.

johnny

[opgpat]

Flexitime is a big issue within my office

Absorbtion has been explained to you by the site controller

Hi Run. Geat post but...
The problem with complaining about flexitime and absorbtion is that we actually aggreed, by majority, these changes with the vote for the 'Pay and Modernisation 2007' agreement didn't we?! Arguably having 30mins flexi-option for the buisness (to be taken back next day with a later start) is the type of modernisation change we need to accept. Plenty of jobs with variable daily workloads have this why should we be any different? And remember flexi-time is max 30mins and operates by request, it's not compulsory. The fact it is being used daily is defined a local issue as per the aggreement and you should get your rep to sort it out if staff don't like it.

With absorbtion again we agreed to this in offices because sorting machines are now supplying mail sequenced and so prepping a delivery frame is now quicker. However on the delivery-side absorbtion was only supposed to have posties cover temporary absences/holidays wasn't it (?) and only if shift-time allowed? Again not an unreasonable request that - 'if shift time allows' - part of the 'working all the hours you are paid for' philosophy.

So both these proposals are/were reasonable. What makes them intolerable is when managers bully, harass and threaten staff to do clearly excessive ammounts of work using these agreements to back up their threats. So the issue really is the threats and intimidation and the ABUSE of the terms of the 2007 agreement. What the union is now worried about is the fact that the 2007 agreement has been twisted and reinterpreted by local RM managers to threaten and co-erce staff into taking on heavier and heavier workloads way beyound what is reasonable or achievable. The problem is not the agreements themselves but Royal Mails nationaly-coordinated and cynical abuse of the terms of the 2007 agreement which was accepted by the workforce in good faith. How can we trust a management that persuades us to abandon the 2007 IA to accept seemingly fair alterations to our terms and conditions which then turn out to be cleverly constructed ploys to enable local managerial abuse and intimidation. Staff have had pay with-held and been sacked for apparently not meeting the absorbtion part of the 2007 agreement which proves it was an agreement created to legitimise threats and sackings and the imposintion of unrealistic workloads - NOT one to futher the efficient working of staff.

Your point about mail vol and packets if totally valid. The 10% mail vol decline (which is a lie based on counting boxes assumed to contain an average 150 letters when they were previously assumed to contain 200 letters) takes no account of the 3-6 fold (est) increase in packets! Mandelson said 'you can't uninvent the internet'! WE WOULDN'T WANT TO! IT MAKES US A FORTUNE IN HOME SHOPPING YOU TWAT.
:mfo :cfo

[coxie]

the trouble is we have such a bunch of incompetant managers, line managers dont have a clue what the agreement really means, if i have it very heavy 1 day on a long walk and inform them im cutting off all they say back is flexability, they think they can demand it and bully us into going over my time and working for free. The reason managers bully and harrass us is because so many people let them do it as they are afraid to stand up for themselves. The change peoples who dont have their own dutys day off at the last minute when they have already made plans and tell them tough.

A rezl managment team would know to get the best out of your workforce you treat them with dignity and respect and make them feel worth while and then they will perform above average if morale is high and they are encouraged.

[Tman]

OK, I'll bite......

The 10% mail vol decline (which is a lie based on counting boxes assumed to contain an average 150 letters when they were previously assumed to contain 200 letters)

You don't really believe this is how the daily traffic figures are arrived at, do you?

takes no account of the 3-6 fold (est) increase in packets!

Why would it? Letters and packets aren't the same, and the reduction is in the mail processed. That DO posties are working much harder than ever they were is a seperate issue entirely.

[opgpat]

Hi Tman,

Yes the box counting for 'daily traffice figures' is how I believe they do it. They used to weigh the mail now the boxes are counted to estimate numbers. If this isn't the case please let me know.

The point I'm making with the packets is that Royal Mail use the letters volume as an indication of REVENUE! They constantly quote letters volume saying it is 10% down each year infering that income is therefore 10% down. But the point is...if packets are up 5fold then overall income may be UP significanty - despite an apparent reduction in letters volume.

One experienced guy in out DO thinks mail volume in terms of letters alone is up possibly 2 or 3 times since 2nd delivery was abolished - that's based on the same round compared from then to today.

[Fred B]

In our office, they work on the idea that six boxes of mail is 1,000 items. Yes, that's how they estimate the figures because in reality no one knows the real numbers.

[opgpat]

In our office, they work on the idea that six boxes of mail is 1,000 items. Yes, that's how they estimate the figures because in reality no one knows the real numbers.

That's 166 per box. Apparently on random counts the figure per box is closer to 220-260. Haven't ever had time to do a count myself but might have a go on a quiet day. Obviously at the mo small letters are put through the sequncing machines and data is printed onto each one but not all small letters are processed in that way yet - other wise we wouldn't get loose mail. So the box counting is the only method which is why the figure per box MUST be accurate. At the mo looks like RM are underestimating quantity per box by anything from 20-40%

[Fred B]

In our office, they work on the idea that six boxes of mail is 1,000 items. Yes, that's how they estimate the figures because in reality no one knows the real numbers.

That's 166 per box. Apparently on random counts the figure per box is closer to 220-260. Haven't ever had time to do a count myself but might have a go on a quiet day. Obviously at the mo small letters are put through the sequncing machines and data is printed onto each one but not all small letters are processed in that way yet - other wise we wouldn't get loose mail. So the box counting is the only method which is why the figure per box MUST be accurate. At the mo looks like RM are underestimating quantity per box by anything from 20-40%

I'm not sure how they 'calculate' flats, but if it's anything like letters, the figure will bear no relation to reality.

[opgpat]

I'm not sure how they 'calculate' flats, but if it's anything like letters, the figure will bear no relation to reality.

As far as we know NONE of their mail figures are independantly checked or verified! And from the lies they tell about their own staff can we believe their mail vol figures? I doubt they have the system or managers with enough numercy skills in place to calculate an accurate figure.
:cfo :mfo

[Tman]

Yes the box counting for 'daily traffice figures' is how I believe they do it. They used to weigh the mail now the boxes are counted to estimate numbers. If this isn't the case please let me know.

If a letter has been processed through a mail centre, then it's been through a machine, and if it's been through a machine, it's been counted. Similarly if it has either the RM orange tag/route code or the black CBC bar-code, it's been through a machine(s) and has been counted.

If someone on a loading bay of an MC estimates that Blogginthorpe DO is going to receive X cassettes of mail,and those X cassettes are stuffed too tightly and so the total items received by Blogginthorpe is more than usual, it has no bearing. Some bean-counter in an ivory tower doesn't calculate how much RM processes day-by-day or weekly by adding up how many little blue boxes have been filled that day or week by MCs.

And your "experienced DO guy" needs to ask himself if mail has gone up two/three times, then how come now MCs can be amalgamated and closed when up to a couple of years ago they were working twenty four hours a day six/seven days a week?

As an example, "Hubba-bubba" has said SOMC are now doing most of Portsmouth MC's work and soon to be most of Dorset's too. As SO hasn't increased in size, how would that be possible if the mail hadn't reduced over time?

[Fred B]

I'm not sure how they 'calculate' flats, but if it's anything like letters, the figure will bear no relation to reality.

As far as we know NONE of their mail figures are independantly checked or verified! And from the lies they tell about their own staff can we believe their mail vol figures? I doubt they have the system or managers with enough numercy skills in place to calculate an accurate figure.
:cfo :mfo

Of course they don't. It's all down to guess work. Even in the dark days of the mining industry, the union had a weight checker to prevent the bosses placemen lying about the figures.

[Moriarty]

I counted my mail for a period of ten days back in July. My trays averaged out to contain 216 letters in them over this 10 day period. I now count my mail 2 or 3 days just so I cannot be fobbed off with "there's only 37,000 items today so you have to do lapsing". If I know how much mail I have, I have a damn good idea if I can lapse or not!

Also after reading Tman's post on the red or black machine codes we see on the envelopes meaning they have been through a machine and therefore counted. In the last year I have honestly noticed an increased number of stamped letters that are not being cancelled out. Does this mean they have not gone through a machine and therefore not counted?

[Tman]

In the last year I have honestly noticed an increased number of stamped letters that are not being cancelled out. Does this mean they have not gone through a machine and therefore not counted?

No, CFCs cancel stamps, and as CFCs aren't AI-connected and not part of the AI system, their daily totals aren't part of the reported throughputs. Not a problem though, as stamped mail then go through an MTT or IMP and NP4000 where they will be counted.

Uncancelled stamps from CFCs were a major headache for Revenue Protection sections, but standards appear to have slipped recently....