Morale Rock Bottom

[Night Tonic]

http://www.harrogateadvertiser.net/harr ... 3922446.jp

"OVERWORKED" postmen have slammed working conditions in Harrogate which they say have led to stress, sick leave and rock-bottom morale.
After complaints about late deliveries and missing mail, postmen contacted the Harrogate Advertiser to describe some of the problems they say they are facing.

Amid claims which the Royal Mail has dismissed as "misleading", one postman, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: "Postmen are expected to walk for three-and-a-half hours at four miles per hour.

"I go walking with a friend of mine in my spare time and we don't walk at that speed for three-and-a-half hours. Can you imagine a bloke of 50 doing that?

"We were told originally, if you haven't got a toilet stop scheduled and you want to go to the toilet, you have to ring a manager."

He also claimed full-time staff leaving their jobs were being replaced by part-time staff, forcing managers to pick up the slack by doing postmen's work.

Post Office officials have rubbished the claims, saying they are working to improve the problems with delivery.

A spokeswoman said: "These claims are disappointing because they are extremely misleading and undermine the hard work and commitment of the vast majority of our employees – managers and delivery staff alike – at Harrogate.

"As we have said, we are making significant changes to the way we work in Harrogate, designed to even out the time each postman or woman spends delivering mail so that we provide the fairest possible service for all our customers.

"We have spent a lot of time working with union representatives and with each postman and woman on the design of their round.

"The introduction of any new way of working inevitably results in teething problems which we are resolving with our staff on a daily basis.

"We continue to monitor the situation closely and, as our customers would expect, managers will always help out on delivery at times of heavy workload to ensure we maintain our universal service obligation."

She added part-time contracts were a company-wide policy and later start times for rounds were caused by mail arriving later in delivery offices under new speed restrictions.

But another anonymous postman claimed those running Royal Mail were behind the problems and suggested the ultimate aim was to leave privatisation as the only viable option.

He said: "If Messrs Leighton and Crozier, chairman and chief executive respectively, were in charge of a football club they would have been sacked long ago. Yet they continue to earn huge bonuses for achieving targets.

"The service is crumbling, yet senior managers continue to impose bigger delivery routes upon staff.

[trythat]

These muppets in upper management do talk a load of shite! This office sounds a lot like nearly every other office that is going through georoute. And saying maanagers do deliverys is a bit of a laugh, as they generally only take out half or a third, no packets and take nearly as long as we take to do the whole delivery.

[sevenandseven]

Beginning to think those that work in 'upper' management not just of Royal Mail but all big businesses and government - UK and European - live in an alternative universe to those on the ground that have to do the job daily. Take for instance the Heathrow baggage fiasco which was on the TV news. Apparently workers were warning the bosses of potential problems but no one wanted to listen. Sounds familiar.

[DGP1]

A spokeswoman said: "These claims are disappointing because they are extremely misleading and undermine the hard work and commitment of the vast majority of our employees – managers and delivery staff alike

How many times has this quote been used recently? It must be the first quote out of the computer whenever anyone fro RM has to talk to the press.

[johno47]

Morale is Rock Bottom, that has surprised me, i thought it was lower than that.

[borders]

"We have spent a lot of time working with union representatives and with each postman and woman on the design of their round."

this bit made me laugh !! hands up everyone who has spent time with their managers discussing this !!

[Sandyman]

Beginning to think those that work in 'upper' management not just of Royal Mail but all big businesses and government - UK and European - live in an alternative universe to those on the ground that have to do the job daily. Take for instance the Heathrow baggage fiasco which was on the TV news. Apparently workers were warning the bosses of potential problems but no one wanted to listen. Sounds familiar.

And that is why, for the first time in 29 years of being eligble to vote, I will NOT be voting Labour.