RMCtv : Parcelforce : Recent introduction of a 30-minute meal break-from 40

[POSTMAN]

Post from Workplace

Dear Mr Barnes, ( Aaron Barnes - MD Parcelforce ⋅ Royal Mail Group)

I hope this post finds you well,

My name is **** ******, and I am writing this post in the hopes that you will receive it with an open mind and hopefully help in our plight by understanding our situation. I believe that as you are the man with the power, only you can really have the desired impact which I am hoping for.

I am currently the night shift supervisor (hopefully this will still be the case after you finish reading this post) at Preston LD. We have one of the most physically demanding jobs in the depot, I would know, I have covered most of them and I would like to bring to your attention the recent introduction of a 30-minute meal break in our depo. I have worked for Royal Mail and Parcelforce collectively for over 19 years now, covering both indoor and outdoor duties, including both day and night shifts, in that time we have always had a 40-minute break no matter which duty I have been tasked to cover. I am aware that other depot`s are also being affected by this issue one such depo is Manchester.

The introduction of a 30-minute meal break reduced from 40, has stemmed from an agreement which was never implemented nationally dating back to 1984. I must say I am a little surprised by this, being that this agreement was agreed when Royal Mail was still the Post Office, prior to the 1986 company split and Parcelforce didn't exist as a company at that time. Over the last year, the company has been stating that legacy and old agreements are outdated and needed to be updated as they were no longer fit for purpose, I would like to suggest that the implementation of this agreement which pre-dates the company (so I am not sure how that works) is one that is outdated and is no longer takes into consideration the massive increase of weight and parcel volume.

I understand that Parcelforce is losing money and this is a way to try and drive up productivity, however the impact on staff morale is extremely evident at a local level and has done nothing to better company/employee relations. I have found it very difficult to encourage my staff that the company cares about them when the company is reducing their recovery time by 10- minutes a night, which is needed due to the high physical impact of lifting continuously heavy parcels and walking on average about 8 to 10 miles a night. In contrast, I believe the NWPC (Hub) have in their agreement a 40-minute meal relief. I would hope that as we are performing a similar task we would receive the same amount of time to recover each night, but the NWPC has a modern agreement. Parcelforce LD night staff seemed to have been overlooked.

My local Union Representative has lodged a disagreement with the company (which you may well be aware of), he did so on the 8th of June 2023, which has subsequently been passed from local to area and now is at the national level, to see if something can be resolved. I am rather reluctant to leave this issue unresolved any longer than is necessary, as it is having a direct impact on my staff. I am also concerned about the frame of mind, that individuals within the company have, seemly not particularly bothered about the implementation of the agreement or the effects on the staff who are affected. The concern I am referring to was highlighted by a comment, by one of the industrial engineers, to a manager at a meeting which I attended at the Leeds LD on February 10th 2023. The manager said "But they (the staff) have always had 40-minute breaks", to which the engineer responded with, "Yes, all these years, they have had the cream, now they are going to get the milk they should have been having all along", I must say that I found his lack of care regarding the impact a reduced meal allowance would have on both the physical and mental state of my staff concerning at the very least.

Personally, the 30-minute break doesn't affect me as the shift supervisor, this is due to the fact that quite often one of our 12 trailers arrives during our break time. Until the implementation of the 30-minute meal relief 3/4 of my staff would stay until the job was finished, now less than half stay after their finish time as they are often tired due to the heavy workload. From a company point of view this is currently an inconvenience as volumes are low, but as soon as traffic picks up again will become a much bigger issue. A few of the staff have highlighted that they will stay until the job is finished because they don`t want the depot to be unduly impacted They will continue to do so until there is a resolution one way or the other, I have a good working relationship with my staff, but that will only go so far.

I would implore you to please consider my request and ask that you reimplement the 40-minute meal refill at any affected LDs. There are, I believe other depo`s affected, but I do not know which ones.

The part of the agreement that affects us is on page 22, again though I have to stress, I am unsure why it has been implemented when it was agreed 2 years before Royal Mail Parcels or 6 years before Parcelforce was founded.

If you believe that I am not being sincere about the physicality of the job my staff and I complete every day, I would like to offer you, or anyone of your team, an open invitation to visit us and maybe work the shift with us for a night or two. I know you are very busy, but I also believe in your early days in your current position, that you ventured out with a driver to gain a greater understanding of the job and how Rex was affecting his duty, and hope that before making a decision on our recovery time, that you would join us here at Preston LD, to help give you an insight into why I believe that my staff should have the 40-minutes meal relief reinstated. Our full shift runs from 22:54 - 07:30, if, on the off chance you do decide to take me up on the offer of joining us, I would request that it is mostly unannounced then you can get a real feel of the shift.

I have no issue with sharing my question and if anyone has added insight please feel free to comment or respond.

One final point I would like to state, none of my managers are aware that I am posting this on workplace, I just wanted you to know that they are not in any way involved whatsoever. I am sticking my head above the parapet of my own volition. I am hoping the old adage of Fortune favours the Bold will pay off in this instance.

Yours Sincerely
**** ******

[cantonkid1955]

I dont think that any of the Parcelforce board reads this forum,,have you tried to email the MD directly?
Cracking letter,,on point and polite.
My depot has also introduced this ruling,,and as such,,has lost all the goodwill, of the night staff,,if a trailer is unfinished,then they go home,,the drivers refuse to empty the trailer not only is it not their job,,but they have to sort their vans and get out delivering,,so these decisions taken by senior management to save money and increase productivity have all these (un)forseen knock on effects,,so,,someone needs to sit down with these managers and explain to them that theres an old saying,,,YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW.

[Barnacle]

I dont think that any of the Parcelforce board reads this forum,,have you tried to email the MD directly?
Cracking letter,,on point and polite.
My depot has also introduced this ruling,,and as such,,has lost all the goodwill, of the night staff,,if a trailer is unfinished,then they go home,,the drivers refuse to empty the trailer not only is it not their job,,but they have to sort their vans and get out delivering,,so these decisions taken by senior management to save money and increase productivity have all these (un)forseen knock on effects,,so,,someone needs to sit down with these managers and explain to them that theres an old saying,,,YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW.

The post was copied from Workplace - all the managers and higher ups are on that and read it.