What I meant by reading the room

[Dorset Plodder]

The reps in our office have both resigned their positions yesterday after the announcement of the deal.

I'm sure they felt that all their efforts have been for nothing

[zz666]

Simon Thompson was on rmtv saying it was a good deal. Tells all you need to know.

[britwrit]

Whatever the result of the vote, this is a company that needs new management. Shaving a few percentage points off the collective wage bill isn't going to cut it. And I really doubt that whatever they do save won't be frittered away.

So, probably yes for me, but an even bigger shrug.

[PJ101]

the problem is Martin is that the company could not implement their plans because previous agreements prevented them. The union opened the door by calling strike action and allowing RM to walk away. This was done to achieve an inflation busting pay rise. This has not been achieved. This deal cannot be seen as anything other than a triumph for the RM hawks and a disaster for the working postman. The union hierarchy received the full support of the members but the poor leadership and failed tactics have left members as the postal light brigade charging aimlessly at RM cannons.

To be a success you need to demonstrate that postal workers are better off than before the first ballot.

If not then you need to accept that the union leadership failed the workforce and consider moving aside and allowing a new negotiating team willing to be as hard line as the membership desire to take over.

[dazzler123]

Simon Thompson was on rmtv saying it was a good deal. Tells all you need to know.

Good for who? I thought he was removed from the equation anyway, now he has crawled out from his rock again

[blacov]

It is interesting times. Looks like a lot of people have given up on cwu, quite rightly so and on the job. So they'd rather go down compulsory redundancy route otherwise many would leave anyway for free.

The way I see it is going. Royal Mail will end up with basically no union representation and the business will resemble the likes of yodel but with USO acting as an anchor.
This is sad way to destroy another company that used to be very good to work for. Union have been weakened by the government and it looks like they become very political. This is as much about their survival as us getting what we deserved. The outcome can be seen in the flesh.

Cwu from obvious reasons didn't want to gamble with our jobs but ultimately they allowed business to make the job worth nothing really. Not many people give a monkey about what happens to royal mail. It is an accelerated race to a minimum wage job and the benefits this deal protects are not good enough given the physicality of the job and constant increase of workload while remaining essentially understaffed. They have cut a lot of hours from our office, RM have raised their prices too, twice! Rounds got bigger too and with reduction of indoor time, likely to be only applied on paper we will be working for longer outdoors, hitting more and more calls.

Call the administrators in and pay people off. If you they think they can get even remotely close to delivering uso and coping with the workload on massively reduced front line workers head count. It baffles me when I see that vacancies advertised, some admin, support, managerial roles often outnumbers operational grades.

[Fannybaws]

Thing is we are all in a no win situation they gave away £567 MILLION in share dividends so no money but if we go on strike that will make the situation worse and may result in administration or flat out collapse and no pay deal but change. In my book take the deal accept the job is f****d and either do another job or quietly quit ie do as little as possible and pick up your wage and be as inflexible as possible given the agreement. The agreement is s**t but it always was going to be so given the £567 Million deficit, And we can lose pay and or our jobs or just carry on and do as little as possible and get paid while looking for better job's!

100% agree. The company wasted hundreds of millions paying dividends and they shouldn't have but that's water under the bridge now. All the rank and file can do is vote yes or no and deal with whatever is the fallout from that. LEAVING THE UNION IS NOT THE ANSWER.... The company would just love that and working standards could plummet further.

Personally I hope this is the final wake up call to every OPG out there that cutting corners, coming in early etc etc etc is/has killed this job and the only way to make it manageable again is to stop doing it. But I won't hold my breath, the mentality seems to be, and always has been, "it'll never happen"...

[dazzler123]

Thing is we are all in a no win situation they gave away £567 MILLION in share dividends so no money but if we go on strike that will make the situation worse and may result in administration or flat out collapse and no pay deal but change. In my book take the deal accept the job is f****d and either do another job or quietly quit ie do as little as possible and pick up your wage and be as inflexible as possible given the agreement. The agreement is s**t but it always was going to be so given the £567 Million deficit, And we can lose pay and or our jobs or just carry on and do as little as possible and get paid while looking for better job's!

100% agree. The company wasted hundreds of millions paying dividends and they shouldn't have but that's water under the bridge now. All the rank and file can do is vote yes or no and deal with whatever is the fallout from that. LEAVING THE UNION IS NOT THE ANSWER.... The company would just love that and working standards could plummet further.

Personally I hope this is the final wake up call to every OPG out there that cutting corners, coming in early etc etc etc is/has killed this job and the only way to make it manageable again is to stop doing it. But I won't hold my breath, the mentality seems to be, and always has been, "it'll never happen"...

They will be coming back in 2 years for the rest, union have bowed their heads to them

[k979aaa]

Thing is we are all in a no win situation they gave away £567 MILLION in share dividends so no money but if we go on strike that will make the situation worse and may result in administration or flat out collapse and no pay deal but change. In my book take the deal accept the job is f****d and either do another job or quietly quit ie do as little as possible and pick up your wage and be as inflexible as possible given the agreement. The agreement is s**t but it always was going to be so given the £567 Million deficit, And we can lose pay and or our jobs or just carry on and do as little as possible and get paid while looking for better job's!

100% agree. The company wasted hundreds of millions paying dividends and they shouldn't have but that's water under the bridge now. All the rank and file can do is vote yes or no and deal with whatever is the fallout from that. LEAVING THE UNION IS NOT THE ANSWER.... The company would just love that and working standards could plummet further.

Personally I hope this is the final wake up call to every OPG out there that cutting corners, coming in early etc etc etc is/has killed this job and the only way to make it manageable again is to stop doing it. But I won't hold my breath, the mentality seems to be, and always has been, "it'll never happen"...

They will be coming back in 2 years for the rest, union have bowed their heads to them

In two years should be a different government the situation will have changed and we will still be here fighting for better pay and terms and conditions along with the past agreements. If we go all out NOW one thing is certain most of us will not be here to fight the fight in the future!

[thefox]

the problem is Martin is that the company could not implement their plans because previous agreements prevented them. The union opened the door by calling strike action and allowing RM to walk away. This was done to achieve an inflation busting pay rise. This has not been achieved. This deal cannot be seen as anything other than a triumph for the RM hawks and a disaster for the working postman. The union hierarchy received the full support of the members but the poor leadership and failed tactics have left members as the postal light brigade charging aimlessly at RM cannons.

To be a success you need to demonstrate that postal workers are better off than before the first ballot.

If not then you need to accept that the union leadership failed the workforce and consider moving aside and allowing a new negotiating team willing to be as hard line as the membership desire to take over.

[theotherone]

the problem is Martin is that the company could not implement their plans because previous agreements prevented them. The union opened the door by calling strike action and allowing RM to walk away. This was done to achieve an inflation busting pay rise. This has not been achieved. This deal cannot be seen as anything other than a triumph for the RM hawks and a disaster for the working postman. The union hierarchy received the full support of the members but the poor leadership and failed tactics have left members as the postal light brigade charging aimlessly at RM cannons.

To be a success you need to demonstrate that postal workers are better off than before the first ballot.

If not then you need to accept that the union leadership failed the workforce and consider moving aside and allowing a new negotiating team willing to be as hard line as the membership desire to take over.

The company could of got out of the agreement but running the company down anyhow.
But it will still agreed by the CWU none on the less.

[freespeech]

I think a lot of us would take the risk and go on statuary redundancy there would be enough takers as its about the same as the crap vr deal meaning those who want to stay may have a better outlook in the future possibly gov owned as it has an obligation to the public no matter what people say can't be worse than these bunch of rsoles

Have a look at the statutory redundancy calculator on the Gov website and you will probably change your mind. Nowhere near 9 months.

[Fannybaws]

They will be coming back in 2 years for the rest, union have bowed their heads to them

They've been coming back every 2 years for the 2 decades of my career there's nothing new there. The job has changed immeasurably and during that time a lot of us will remember the union telling us that RM were after the "Dutch model" of working all those years ago and to do the job properly to save jobs and working conditions. RM's agenda has never changed, what's changed is the union doing what it can to keep those changes from being a whole lot worse than they could be but they can only do so much.

[neil1969]

Martin has lost the room.

[aiden01]

Martin has lost the room.

So its all martins fault