CWU London Division

[POSTMAN]

In a personal capacity.

The agreement must be seen in the context that Royal Mail as a company is on a cliff top. Mismanagement , loss of revenue and increased costs have put the very future of Royal Mail moving forward into jeopardy.

Those who claim that the government will bail us out are only partly right. They would have continued with the USO but everything else including parcels , LAT , CSPs etc would have likely ceased causing thousands of immediate job losses with only Statuary redundancy pay available.
No responsible union gambles with its members jobs and wages.

Instead we have an agreement, not perfect but has changed the company position on every aspect. In addition it removes the company position of it is our business to run. Instead this agreement is one of joint working and agreement.

Those who are shouting reject this must answer the question what do you believe will be achieved better if we do reject the agreement.
Do you really think that Royal Mail will suddenly cave in and say we will take the change program off the table and suddenly find a few hundred million to increase the pay and have back pay ?

Royal Mail will not survive unless it reduces costs. That is not a fact anyone likes but it is the truth.

So no agreement will mean Royal Mail will have to impose further change or risk no longer being a going concern.?

On pay and do you really think that pay in a company which lost 800 million in the last year is suddenly going to cough up more even if it survives ?
Now let’s answer some of the points.

1. You deserve more pay but there is no more to be had.The pay options were the same but the 6% this year is a better option as it flows through to pensions , allowances , overtime and SA. The lump sum option would have delayed the 6% to next year and meant you only got 2% in April.

2. Royal Mail are ceasing the use of airplanes to transport mail across England , scotland or Wales. Further strike action will not force Royal Mail to continue to fly Mail for CO2 reasons and that a growing number of companies are refusing to use parcel companies who fly work. Once Royal Mail come off planes you will receive your distant mail later and therefore remaining on your current start and finish times will mean you will not be able to complete your delivery.

3. The CWU have significantly reduced the impact of Royal Mail ceasing the use of planes. We have achieved the commitment that in the vast majority of Delivery units you will only move up to 60 minutes later.

4. Just because the last letter for urban delivery units and rural move to 16:30 last letter It does not mean every unit moves to 16:30. The current urban last letter is 15:30 and not every unit currently finishes at 15:30.

5. The agreement states that the majority of units will finish by 15:30 , the vast majority by 16:00 and there will be working groups to ensure this can be achieved.

6. Seasonal variations is fundamentally different to annualised hours and flexi bank. Every Delivery postie will know a year in advance their start and finish times. There will be 15 weeks in the summer when you will work 24 minutes less per day and the 15 weeks in peak when you will work 24 minutes more per day before your duty.

7. The reason seasonal variations is necessary is that traffic is not the same in all periods of the year. In the Summer it normally drops by circa 20% and yet we have the same number of walks and duties. This normally means Royal Mail increase absorption during the summer. By reducing to 35 hours both parties believe this will reduce the need for absorption and will be jointly working to ensure this.

8. Likewise in the peak period traffic is normally higher and there are enough hours to complete the additional workload and Royal Mail recruit Christmas casual etc. So in this period you will work 39 hours ,24 minutes before your duty time.

9. The 30 minutes flex is not compulsory and is subject to a review.

10. On sick pay , Royal Mail were going to impose by executive action the SSP aspect , the new trigger points with automatic issuing of warnings and an inferior ill health retirement. The choice for the union was did we stand back and see them do this or did we modify and improve on their proposal sick changes.
As a responsible union we changed and modified this to ensure that for the second absence only the first two days of the sick absence would require SSP. In addition we got a commitment if sick reduce to 5.5% in a 6 month period SSP would be removed.
We also ensured that trigger points were not automatically issued and we increased what was on offer in terms of the ill health retirement offer.

Therefore the choice for everyone in the ballot is:

1. Vote Yes and whilst the agreement is not perfect it is an agreement which is night and day different to what Royal Mail wanted and has changed all of Royal Mail’s plans for the better.

2. Or vote no and and then what is next ? Strike action and will it be supported in the numbers previously or will it move Royal Mail ?
Then what would Royal Mail do ? They will have to show to the market it has a business plan which it can implement to keep it a going concern. That means they need to introduce more change by executive action and cut more jobs.

If they don’t avoid going to the wall then we are in uncharted waters , any administrator will not be interested in pay , sick pay , revisions , flexibility, all it will do is try and keep uso going and that means thousands of job losses and cuts to terms and conditions.
Do you really think if we thought there was anything else we could get we would have not tried.

Lots who are angry about pay would be even more angry if the union gambled with your jobs and Royal Mail went in administration and you stopped getting regular pay etc.

The postal executive generally believes this agreement is the best we can get in the current circumstances and It has protections throughout and allows us move forward from what is the most bitter dispute in our history. Be in no doubt Royal Mail decided to deliberately target the workforce and impose change on it to weaken your resolve.

This agreement stops all of that.

There will be lots of meetings to explain this deal over the next few weeks and then you’ll the members will decide , but go into either option with your eyes wide open.

That is why I supported the agreement and will be campaigning for a yes vote.

[Ak60]

Do you think the members are dumb. That you can sell us a crap deal. You guys are just politicians I am voting no and come what May.

Better to go down fighting

You just trying to scare the member now but previously telling us to fight .

What a joke

[49erman]

Support the agreement? Only to be shat on next year and the year after……….what protection is there? RM just want to bring in what THEY want and if they don’t get it this year they will next year or the year after! Then the job will be unachievable, the stress and and physical nature of the job will be too much for most…….no from me!

[zz666]

Royal mail says it listens to it's customers, perhaps it should listen to it's employees.

[chickenwittle]

To think thousands of posties marched on parliament for the union to serve us up this rubbish, you got all the backing and mandates you asked for and you delivered this.

[Nickvilla20]

It seems many have already made their mind up. Interesting times ahead.

[Neverwasadoor]

On the above
1. Wasn't expecting anymore to be honest after all the bravado at the beginning.
2-5. Sounds very wishy washy and if it turns out they can't get the work to you in time it's gonna get worse.
6-8. Rounds have been made so big by EA that they cant be completed even at quiet times.
9.Flex not being compulsory is good, why the review, is it to make it compulsory?
10. Sick pay agreement is terrible and you can't claim SSP for 3 days. Are RM gonna pay an equivalent?

Answers would be appreciated.

[Rommagic]

Most work places only give one year deals out now the country is a mess.

[enskied]

No using the same tactics as Thompson and Williams. Shame on you.
Vote No

[enskied]

No using the same tactics as Thompson and Williams. Shame on you.
Vote No

[chickenwittle]

On the above
1. Wasn't expecting anymore to be honest after all the bravado at the beginning.
2-5. Sounds very wishy washy and if it turns out they can't get the work to you in time it's gonna get worse.
6-8. Rounds have been made so big by EA that they cant be completed even at quiet times.
9.Flex not being compulsory is good, why the review, is it to make it compulsory?
10. Sick pay agreement is terrible and you can't claim SSP for 3 days. Are RM gonna pay an equivalent?

Answers would be appreciated.

The flex issue is deliberately vague , no way Royal Mail will allow this to stay voluntary like previous agreements the union know this , which would mean another 30 mins in the cold dark winter days along with the 24 mins already added. Sick pay is a complete sell out , agreeing to ssp is bad enough but agreeing to making stage reviews stricter is unbelievable.

[Neverwasadoor]

The agreement is bad, no two ways about it. I do think though its the best the CWU believe they can get.
I will be voting no out of principal as I cant willing give up so much.
What I do want though is the Union to admit its bad and not say its a win. I get really annoyed with the "it could be much worse" stuff.
This is not what you led us to believe all through the dispute. Win the ballot and win the dispute !!
Its a bad agreement please own it and we will have to move on.

[Poppyellie69]

Sorry Martin but there's more chance of selling snow to an eskimo!!

[bigal383]

You can’t vote yes to this crock of s**t lads

[cows777]

A Totally gutless union just looking after themselves at the top Dave Wards famous words we want a 1 off no strings attached 10.1% pay rise during Covid that we have kept the country conetted and now its over 3yrs to get it.wot a load of crap!! a 4pm finish on a sat is no good for many people
and yet Dave ward always said we will not allow RM to do away with am delivery and yet the union has let RM to do it. i for 1 we be voting a massive NO vote and they can stick it up the union arses!!.


Dean