Chelmsford - A different perspective

[mountain breeze]

Having just completed casual work at Chelmsford Mail Centre though Angard Agency, I thought I would add a few notes with a slightly different take on events.
I should mention that I have worked for RM at different times over many years. Not just at Christmas but also delivering during the year and through at least 2 other employment agencies. I have also been a direct RM casual at various times too. The first time was 1979!

I have enjoyed it, indeed if I hadn't I would not have kept coming back!

This years problems concerning pay for casuals from Angard have been well documented. What seems to have gone almost unnoticed is the great lengths that some senior managers in some mail centres have gone to - to try and make sure their casual Christmas staff were paid.

On Friday 16th December payment had not been received by a number of casuals at Chelmsford. Payments were promised but had not appeared in cheque form. The following day payment should have been by 8am. It turned out that cash was given later that morning (from about 11am) to every Angard casual that had not been paid. They were paid £350. Some casuals decided not to work until they did get paid whilst most of us paid or unpaid continued to do the job we had been taken on to do. Lets face it RM had given all of us a chance of work and many would not have found employment had it not been for RM. With this job comes the responsibility to the customer - making sure we all try to help in the process of letter and packet delivery. No doubt those that sat it out still got paid.

One casual even decided to go to the press, recording an interview that was later broadcast the following Monday evening (19th) on local television. I am sure many of you will have seen it. It was recorded on the Saturday afternoon at which time this person had been paid in cash - more than they were entitled to and should have received. £350. No mention was made of this at all. It was just an opportunity to have a negative viewpoint on Angard (justified) and RM (not justified). I suppose this kind of interview makes good television - who knows if she even got paid a bit more for doing it! However, was a follow up planned when the full picture could be revealed including the lengths that senior managers had gone to? No way. The reason is that it would not have made good television. The facts are that these managers could well have said this is an issue between each of us and Angard. We could have been left to sort it out entirely by ourselves. They didn't and did their absolute best to pay everyone as quickly as possible. Did they get any thanks or even a small amount of appreciation? No. I didn't hear one positive note of thanks from any casual. Only the opposite. It could be further said that had they been employed by Angard at one of many other mail centres in the UK they would have had to wait even longer to be paid. They were very lucky to have been at Chelmsford!

Having personally tried to phone Angard and not getting a response and with all e-mails not being able to be replied to we were all in a very deep void. Communication was virtually non existent. Indeed I did manage to meet one representative of the agency when she was on site just by chance. This was after I had received an out of the blue telephone call asking me if I had started work at RM or if I planned to do so! I wasn't pleased so pressed for a meeting.

RM full time staff were supportive and appreciative of the situation. However, another point to be made is that there were one or two who took the opportunity to try and cause further unrest and suggested a walk-out. Our pay issues were absolutely none of their business. They were just out to try and hurt the company at its busiest time and to hurt the customers out there (I am one again now!) who were entitled to receive their post. One in particular sensed an opportunity for action. Instead of doing the decent thing in his position and resigning to find a more suitable and appropriate role he chose to try and knock the company that had given him his one break in life.
Now you may feel that I was fine as I have been paid - at least the first two weeks. Correct payment and even the correct tax code. So they can get it right! I spoke to other casuals and told them they would get paid - there was no way that they wouldn't. However, maybe I am one of the unlucky ones!

Before I left I had a meeting with one of the managers to seek reassurances that even when we were sitting at home in isolation, we would still be able to contact RM if we had pay issues. After the almost total lack of communication from the agency and no way to get through to them it was easy to feel that once we had all finished we would then be very much on our own. I got the answers I was looking for and even a fuller explanation of some of the things that had gone on in the previous few days. It was also expressed that maybe those that had now been paid so much in cash would benefit more in the long run as it was very unlikely that it would all be clawed back. I really don't know if that has been the case or not.

I should also point out that not all my opinions on management are as good as the above. I had very real issues with the break allocation or lack of it with one manager insisting we should keep working and have a break maybe just before we were due to finish our shift. That was pointless and I had to go and have this decision reversed. Common sense prevailed.

So there it is. Another view on things this Christmas.

I am sure many will not agree with my opinions but these are the facts. It is really irrelevant if we agree or not. Just for a few more people to have a broader overview of things and see the bigger picture.

From a pay point of view many casuals were certainly lucky to have been at Chelmsford this year! Forget that awful television interview!

[Verging]

Congratualtions on having a better experience than most on here seem to have had.

Firstly we must always remember that Angard IS Royal Mail. Angard is owned solely and exclusively by Royal Mail. Nobody else has shares in Angard.

Also, if you look into the legal requirements of the relationship between Hirer (RM), Agency (Angard) and Worker (us). RM are responsible to ensure the worker is treated within the legal framework of employment (Employment Law, HSE law, Working Time Regulations, our contracts) by Angard. In my experience they certainly have not done this and still fail to do this.

[AngDrone]

Congratualtions on having a better experience than most on here seem to have had.

Firstly we must always remember that Angard IS Royal Mail. Angard is owned solely and exclusively by Royal Mail. Nobody else has shares in Angard.

Also, if you look into the legal requirements of the relationship between Hirer (RM), Agency (Angard) and Worker (us). RM are responsible to ensure the worker is treated within the legal framework of employment (Employment Law, HSE law, Working Time Regulations, our contracts) by Angard. In my experience they certainly have not done this and still fail to do this.

I fully agree. Mountain Breeze has obviously had a much better experience of working for Royal Angard/Reed Mail than the rest of us.

Yes, I know that local management in SOME RM offices did their best to sort things out. At ours the mantra from the "coaches" was "Oh, it's not Royal Mail. It's Angard. Last year we did all our own recruitment and it was fine... etc. etc." Wonderful. very helpful to us in 2011 who hadn't been paid.

My office got me a £350 voucher and one of the supervisors kindly drove me to the main post office in town to cash it. Then again, I suspect they had me doen as a potential troublemaker and I had involved Moya Greene, the RM CEO.

Anyway, I'm glad that one person at least had a wonderful Angard experience this year. My own "wonderful experience" continues - I've just been paid 0.01p for my last week's work. Go Angard, Go!

Happy New Year!