RMCtv : Message from Ricky McAulay : TALKS WILL RESUME NEXT WEEK

[CRIBMAD]

ROYAL MAIL GROUP REBALLOT STATEMENT- Please share

From when we started out in this dispute, we have seen numerous twists and turns. This has without doubt been the bitterest dispute in Royal Mail’s history. And the leadership within the business have stooped to levels beyond which most of us could have anticipated. From a centralised team dismissing reps and members, knowingly on false charges just days before Christmas. To goading and threatening employees with being replaced by an agency workforce if they did not surrender their terms and conditions. We have seen the reality of a future where faceless board members make decisions based purely on quick shareholder return, over employee’s livelihoods, mental health and futures as well as the future of services we provide to the UK.

However, I believe we are fundamentally in a different place from where we began in this dispute. From standing on the picket lines in shorts in August to woolly hats and fires in December, the business has undoubtedly gone from a policy of non-negotiation to realisation. Last year, Royal Mail external advisors, JP Morgan were promoting the theory that the company can weather industrial action to achieve change which could not be agreed by the CWU. Now city analysts realise that Royal Mail cannot sustain a long term future of strikes. That the business must bring it’s workforce with them. Your action has shifted the businesses plans fundamentally and this must be recognised.

Compulsory redundancy proposals have gone in spite of the fact that the CEO openly tabled these plans to the market. Thanks to your action, the ‘best and final’ offer coined to show a company which was not for moving was dead in the water within weeks. Those advising the board to replace employees with a casualized employment model had never counted for one thing. No data scientist or financial forecaster can measure the strength of ordinary people prepared to fight for their futures.

As talks continued in recent weeks and the company continued to shift, it became clear that they are still testing our members resolve before fully committing to resolving this dispute. For them, it would appear that the prospect of a NO vote in the re-ballot presents too good an opportunity for management utopia where they can revert back to their doomsday plans with no CWU and no rights for employees. This is why the CWU have made clear in our communications… Win the ballot, win the dispute.

We cannot make an agreement with the business which means owner-drivers become the future. Where the protections you have won in the past make you a legacy employee and knowledge of other industries suggests you will then be targeted for all future savings. We must not begin the abandonment of the A.M delivery period as proposals to alter the pipeline would inevitably mean. And we cannot base revisions on a pie in the sky headcount reduction figure rather than what is physically possible to those left to deliver the service. In spite of discussions in national talks, these proposals have not been removed by the business as part of a final agreement.

As part of tough UK trade union laws, we must re-ballot after 6 months. This re-ballot is about finishing the job. This re-ballot is about winning the future. And in the coming days Royal Mail will be asking you to vote NO or even ‘abstain’. Not voting is a NO vote as laws mean we must hit a 50% threshold to continue fighting. Only voting YES will send Simon Thompson and his board the clearest message that you will never stand behind his strategy for your future.

Luke Elgar
Postal executive member

[1617mel]

OK people, just to say ,some of you have said your DOs, are reverting back to taking the oversized back out on delivery. We have been informed that a former senior manager at our DO , and 2 planners are arriving early February, to commence revisions, , and input dedicated OS parcel deliveries, therefore extended walks for us .managers have said this is not EA, but normal revisions
We just have to hope our reps ask us to stand against this change as much as possible, until the outcome of the talks.............
,

[thefox]

This is f***ing miles off, 3 weeks and it’s an update on nothing, this was a ballot on a no strings pay deal!

No strings pay deal long gone ffs. where is cwu update??

Why are you so keen for an update? You wouldn't believe it.

Actually not very keen but would like to know why they are still talking as lots of people on here say ea is continuing in there offices.

Are you suggesting they stop talking? There's been no EA in my office, the proposals have been taken down, the rep is part of the revision now, and one to one's have been suspended. I'm not saying that EA isn't happening, but there are places where it's not. I imagine what's causing the disparity is almost certainly the tactic of using EA to demoralise staff, and push members towards believing all is lost and the game is up. I'm certain it will continue. I doubt very much there will be anything worthy of updating, until the rust of the ballot is release. I can't see any advantage for RM in offering anything remotely acceptable till they know for sure there's a 'Yes' result.

Why is your rep part of the revision, i was under the impression reps were not to get involved with it at all.our rep certainly isn't.

[Halfhappy]

This is f***ing miles off, 3 weeks and it’s an update on nothing, this was a ballot on a no strings pay deal!

No strings pay deal long gone ffs. where is cwu update??

Why are you so keen for an update? You wouldn't believe it.

Actually not very keen but would like to know why they are still talking as lots of people on here say ea is continuing in there offices.

Are you suggesting they stop talking? There's been no EA in my office, the proposals have been taken down, the rep is part of the revision now, and one to one's have been suspended. I'm not saying that EA isn't happening, but there are places where it's not. I imagine what's causing the disparity is almost certainly the tactic of using EA to demoralise staff, and push members towards believing all is lost and the game is up. I'm certain it will continue. I doubt very much there will be anything worthy of updating, until the rust of the ballot is release. I can't see any advantage for RM in offering anything remotely acceptable till they know for sure there's a 'Yes' result.

Why is your rep part of the revision, i was under the impression reps were not to get involved with it at all.our rep certainly isn't.

I believe that was before the concession of a return to the pathway for change, and CWU input at local level, was made. I will say I'm assuming the rep is now involved. I don't know this for certain. All I know is the proposals have been taken away, and all 1 to 1s have been suspended.

[lobsterhands]

OK people, just to say ,some of you have said your DOs, are reverting back to taking the oversized back out on delivery. We have been informed that a former senior manager at our DO , and 2 planners are arriving early February, to commence revisions, , and input dedicated OS parcel deliveries, therefore extended walks for us .managers have said this is not EA, but normal revisions
We just have to hope our reps ask us to stand against this change as much as possible, until the outcome of the talks.............
,

Last year our office revision put 9 OS parcel duties in, last Monday ( 9/1 ) these were terminated with little notice and the duty holders are now floats / spares some of them have 15+ year’s seniority bare in mind ( not happy bunch obviously ) they have called this move “ constructive lapsing “ because we now take the OS parcels out now.

[norris9]

If my job was one that was being nuked then that would give me good motivation to just be like 'screw you' - I am now going to work to rule, work as slow as the slowest person in the office, take every single minute of my break, not start a minute early, not leave a minute late.

[Clappedoutpostie]

If my job was one that was being nuked then that would give me good motivation to just be like 'screw you' - I am now going to work to rule, work as slow as the slowest person in the office, take every single minute of my break, not start a minute early, not leave a minute late.

Most people in my office have become like this in the last 6 months.

[poolcued]

We've never had oversize taken away. Even Xmas-pressure in December is a thing of the past.