The importance of the first step

[Smoothbackground]

Not after equalisation myself, Norris. I was happy enough with things as they are/were, accepting the disparity as being one of those things. However, a union that I’m not even a member of has given away my 1.25 OT rate!

[Thommo44]

DM 26 will it save more then £300m a year?.

Or DM26 will rob the lowest paid of £300m a year?

[Pfrizzy10]

Not after equalisation myself, Norris. I was happy enough with things as they are/were, accepting the disparity as being one of those things. However, a union that I’m not even a member of has given away my 1.25 OT rate!

Imagine doing OT. More like undertime

[carlosevenos]

there won't be much overtime once these changes come in anyway.

[Pfrizzy10]

there won't be much overtime once these changes come in anyway.

Why would they allow overtime when the majority of the workforce are happy coming in hours each week before their start times, for free!

[Newpoet]

It's barely above minimum wage now for new starters.... And it's very tough on the body. Think there will be lots of people leaving UNLESS this new way of working is ok. Maybe some will enjoy it, more Saturdays off etc who knows.

[Saturn1]

Seems laughable that 6 months ago the talk was about improving overtime rates, now people are expected to vote for a deal that sacrifices their overtime rate in favour of a paltry rise to basic pay.

Where is the consistency and joined up thinking, no wonder RM act with a level of impunity now.

[Sean06]

The below are the only steps you need to follow if you're on a new contract and in the union:

1. Vote 'NO'
2. Cancel union membership.

Should have added (are you prepared to go on strike).

Why? There's no vote for strike action

This is a vote on a proposed change in working methods that's it

So what happens if new starters vote NO im just asking will they be prepared to go on strike hoping for a better deal.

[Sean06]

Seems laughable that 6 months ago the talk was about improving overtime rates, now people are expected to vote for a deal that sacrifices their overtime rate in favour of a paltry rise to basic pay.

Where is the consistency and joined up thinking, no wonder RM act with a level of impunity now.

Pay an ot rates have nothing to do with what we are voting on.pay is separate.

[Saturn1]

Seems laughable that 6 months ago the talk was about improving overtime rates, now people are expected to vote for a deal that sacrifices their overtime rate in favour of a paltry rise to basic pay.

Where is the consistency and joined up thinking, no wonder RM act with a level of impunity now.

Pay an ot rates have nothing to do with what we are voting on.pay is separate.

For somebody who defends the union at every step you'd think you'd know that new entrants are voting on the 1.75% pay increase and removal of the 1.25x OT uplift.

[Agencyoap]

We have now made a full time job at 37 hours harmonised for old and new contracts. We protected the 3000 new entrants which have contracts above the 37 hours and they recieve the full pay rise and their pension is protected and we will bring them down to 37 hours without loss of pay.

Surely you don’t think we’re that fcukin stupid - we can reduce to 37 hours -AND LOSE 3 HOURS PAY PER WEEK - you make it sound like we can reduce to 37 hours on the same pay as 40 hours - but you know that’s not true otherwise our hourly rate would increase leading to a 3 tier workforce .

If you include Christmas then out of 28575 new entrants only 998 new entrants per week ever worked above 40 hours. If you removed the 4 weeks of Christmas this reduced to 566 new entrants working above 40 hours.

I don’t believe you - of the 30-40 new entrants in our office, nearly all have to do overtime/SAs/rest day working to achieve a liveable wage - all 8-10 newbies in my department will be £2-2.5k a year worse off working the same hours

That’s even if we still have opportunities to increase our pay seeing as we currently have 36 Agency staff daily doing 5 days rota every week AND 8-10 Albanian owner drivers daily creaming off the DPR duties



We have used this to fund some the improved pay rise for all new entrants so they have it all year.


We believe that the first step and commitment to equalisation is crucial to it happening at all.
[/quote]

How the fcuk can a union agree to a pay increase that leaves members earning less - there are young fathers, wives, partners etc in my office that will now struggle to live

It’s immoral, it’s toxic, it’s corrupt, it’s just wrong

[A2B]

The below are the only steps you need to follow if you're on a new contract and in the union:

1. Vote 'NO'
2. Cancel union membership.

Should have added (are you prepared to go on strike).

Why? There's no vote for strike action

This is a vote on a proposed change in working methods that's it

So what happens if new starters vote NO im just asking will they be prepared to go on strike hoping for a better deal.

Are you suggesting the CWU are prepared to ballot for strike action when it's a no vote?

The CWU have said it's the best deal they can get so will they go back to RM when it comes back as a vote not to accept RM's proposal?

All CWU members are being given an opportunity to vote, but from what the CWU are saying there is no solution when the vote comes to reject the proposal

[Jonathan Alsatian]

If the ballet result is a NO then RM will walk away from the table and equalisation will never happen. It really is that simple. Its a crap deal but at least there is a commitment to a further step and timetable in January. If I've got a choice between a rubbish 1.75% pay increase together with vague promises about a timetable in January then I'll take that over things remaining the same with no prospects of equalisation. We've got no choice. Its a YES vote or we get nowt. Before anyone shoots me down I agree that the CWU should have fought better and I share your frustration at the way Martin keeps defending RM and putting their case across instead of ours. Sadly it's a bit late now for us to get a whole new union in place who would actually fight for us so we're stuck with no choice but to accept what's offered rather than end up with nothing.

I'm a bit different to the other new entrants who have posted. I do a bit of OT but rarely enough to put my hours over 40 so therefore I'm not bothered by the loss of the 1.25 rate. An increase in my basic hourly rate and progress towards equalisation is far more important to me.

[Joe2783]

Martin, can we please do away with saying it’s a 4.75% pay rise, it’s 1.75% as everyone is already getting 3%.
So please can you tell me how it’s a good deal as the 1.75% equates to about 22p per hour, whereas the LOSS of the 1.25x overtime rate is £3.26 per hour. I’m going to be more than £200 down a month than I’m currently on.

I was genuinely quite hopeful before the agreement came out about at least getting closer to being paid as legacy workers as I’ve been here over 3 years now, I can’t believe I’m now looking at getting a PAY CUT, and the union have the audacity to say vote yes for this.

[world class male]

Hundreds of companies in the UK operate a two tier workforce, virtually none ever commit to equalisation and many are in a much more profitable place than Royal Mail. Royal Mail imposed new entrants during the 2022 dispute.

This was done for a number of reasons the first is when the union rejected making Sunday working for old contracts mandatory and secondly to compete with the self bogus employment model which exists within practically every other parcel player in the UK which are undercutting Royal Mail in the parcels market.

The 9 month delay in introducing USO reform resulted in EP stating they could no longer afford Equalisation.

The CWU would not agree to USO without a first step and recommitment to full equalisation including a timespan for the next step and full plan.

We would have wanted more but the delay in USO and the fact that Royal Mail will at best break even for the last year and has meant this is all we can achieve in a negotiated settlement.

So by your reckoning, you could also negotiate our paid meal relief to be taken away because not many other companies do this now either!

Do you actually know what the word "bogus" means? i know plenty of self employed couriers and they certainly aren't "fake/counterfeit" as you call them, they graft hard for their money, I'd more more inclined to use that phrase on our current DGS-postal!

So by your team and RMG's not talking enough , you've had since the aug ballot btw!
it has taken that long we will suffer even more?

brilliant work