Answer a few points

[Martin Walsh]

Whilst I cannot answer every post I will try and answer some themes.

Gaslighting- I have posted on this site since before 2007 either as Dingo, The Truth, and my own name. I have not posted in recent months because I think this site has gone down hill , it is missing some balance and missing some of great posters over the years. I posted because I thought there needed to be some balance on this site.

Future of the company. - I have been criticised for wanting Royal Mail to have a future. Royal Mail is facing the same challenges as the Print industry, the Dock yards and the Steel industry. Do you think those union leaders did not stand up and tell their members the problems they were facing from changes to their industry.

I have sat in meetings with Daniel Kretinsky and EP and they are saying if they do not get a level playing field within three years they will adopt the same bogus employment model for Royal Mail for parcel delivery.

You don’t think our members need to be aware of this ? You don’t think this is something we should also campaign for ?

You don’t think making Royal Mail more profitable is in our interests so we can get better pay rises , equalisation quicker , increases in overtime and reductions in SSP.

This is a company which is at best going to break even and yet we have downdialled the amount of savings expected from USO , got a 3 year pay deal worth £980 million and got a first step on equalisation.

Equalisation- The agreement states those over 37 hours will have their pay and pension protected and the review will look at reducing them to 37 hours without loss of pay.

This pay deal bring new entrants to 7.1% away from the same hourly rate away from old contracts. 13.2% away from the full equalisation from equalisation from the delivery supplement.

When I started in Royal Mail you did not get equalisation until you were 21 and not for the first twelve months. The union changed this.

Overtime rate - If we had left the overtime rate as it was then it would have moved to £17.23 under the pay rise compared to a legacy hours overtime rate of £14.38. ( including 3% pay rise and after 10 hours it reduces to £13.91.

However over 50% of new entrants have never worked overtime and the average hours including any overtime worked is 31 hours. We have agreed to increase this average to 35 hours with increases in contracts.

Putting more into basic which benefits everyone including uplifting contract hours is better , especially as overtime under USO will because you have to resource to your full TM1 including a reserve ratio of a minimum of 1 in 6.

The extra 6000 full time jobs are intended to reduce indoor or pre start overtime. Remember under this model when a full timer leaves the next senior part timer in the unit will be offered full time hours.

In any case overtime is less reliable than scheduled attendance and at the moment new entrants are not allowed to do SA. We intend to change this under the change in contract talks.

When I joined this company was a high overtime low pay industry. The union traded double time after 12 hours , double time on Saturdays and higher rates for overtime to get improvements in basic pay and things like pensionable allowances paid 52 weeks per year.

We do want to improve everyone’s overtime by reducing the cost of agency staff.


USO- This a different model for so many reasons.Please read the 9 page main agreement and the 26 page more detailed agreement.

USO change is happening this year ,this agreement gives you protection and is better model than ODM.

This is why many of the pilot site reps have come out and supported the model as being better.

Remember EP cannot take a penny out of Royal Mail until they get the debt ratio down and they improve quality of service.

This is why the mandatory review is so strong.


Workload - Your unit will only recieve first class and parcels for all walks Monday to Saturday and non priority mail for 50% of your routes Monday to Friday.

On Saturday talks are discussing whether to not have a CSS operation on Friday night and to just send the first class letters to be the unit. On Sunday the DTS switches the end of Saturday night and therefore technically can be sequenced any time Sunday as Monday is just one wave, so talks are discussing this.


Pension Surplus- The EP agreement says we will get a share of the pension surplus when the Trustees are satisfied. There are two pension surpluses , the first is from the Care Scheme and the other. Is from the Cash balance which is smaller.

When we get a share it will go into the employee benefit scheme which will also generate 10% of any profit made by the company in future pay rises.

This surplus was at risk of going exclusively to EP. At the appropriate point the union and our democratic process including our conference with decide how we use it. There is a motion at this years conference asking the union to use the pension surplus to reduce from 67 to 65 the age under new pension scheme when you receive your full pension.

[77SAMPOST77]

This self bogus employment model you speak of Martin already exists in Parcelforce under the watchful eye of the CWU ,

Its now on about 30% at my depot , can we assume that as you are against this model the CWU will take Parcelforce to task and get all owner drivers removed .

[RobertT]

Pension Surplus- The EP agreement says we will get a share of the pension surplus when the Trustees are satisfied. There are two pension surpluses , the first is from the Care Scheme and the other. Is from the Cash balance which is smaller.

When we get a share it will go into the employee benefit scheme which will also generate 10% of any profit made by the company in future pay rises.

This surplus was at risk of going exclusively to EP. At the appropriate point the union and our democratic process including our conference with decide how we use it. There is a motion at this years conference asking the union to use the pension surplus to reduce from 67 to 65 the age under new pension scheme when you receive your full pension.

So what are the plans for the RMPP, Martin?
Is the plan to buy in/buy out via an insurance company, with surplus being paid out in one go?
Or is it to run on and create more surplus to potentially extract several times into the future, which I believe the recent legislation will enable?

As for the RMCPP NRA being reduced to 65. That will obviously increase the long term liabilities of the scheme. As the membership increases and everyone's pensions are paid out for longer, isn't there a danger the surplus won't be enough and members benefits will end up being reduced accordingly?

[DGH]

Gaslighting- I have posted on this site since before 2007 either as Dingo, The Truth, and my own name. I have not posted in recent months because I think this site has gone down hill , it is missing some balance and missing some of great posters over the years. I posted because I thought there needed to be some balance on this site.

And it's great that you have taken the time to do that.

Future of the company. - I have been criticised for wanting Royal Mail to have a future. Royal Mail is facing the same challenges as the Print industry, the Dock yards and the Steel industry. Do you think those union leaders did not stand up and tell their members the problems they were facing from changes to their industry.

And how do all those industries look now? Not too chipper. It's fair enough for union leaders to point out the issues. But that doesn't solve things by itself.

I have sat in meetings with Daniel Kretinsky and EP and they are saying if they do not get a level playing field within three years they will adopt the same bogus employment model for Royal Mail for parcel delivery.

Right. So we know their end game. How do we enforce a level playing field? EP can't. We can't. Ofcom could but have consistently failed to do so. The government could compel Ofcom to do so, but they have declined to do anything other than mouth platitudes. The solution here is political but no political party (except maybe the Greens) will challenge the status quo. Labour could do this and have the parliamentary clout to make its so. But they haven't and show no signs of taking real action. We, the union, are powerless here.

You don’t think our members need to be aware of this ? You don’t think this is something we should also campaign for?

Yes, definitely. But the government don't seem to be listening.

You don’t think making Royal Mail more profitable is in our interests so we can get better pay rises , equalisation quicker , increases in overtime and reductions in SSP.

If RM was operating like an old-fashioned company then it would indeed want greater profits. But it's not being run that way. Why has it been saddled with billions in debt post-takeover? Precisely to keep profits low. Low profits justify all sorts of corporate shennanigans - mainly keeping wages low and slashing terms and conditions. Which we've seen over the past decade. RM are not being truthful. Thompson lied to the union. Back lied to the union. Why do you think anything's changed. Time and again a new boss is hailed as 'someone we can really do business with' and time and again they reveal themselves to be snake oil salesmen. Frankly though, I don't think there's much the union can do to mitigate this. But acknowledging it's the case might be a start in winning over the membership.

This is a company which is at best going to break even and yet we have downdialled the amount of savings expected from USO , got a 3 year pay deal worth £980 million and got a first step on equalisation.

All well and good. But were the company not servicing its newly acquired debts, would it 'break even at best'.

Equalisation- The agreement states those over 37 hours will have their pay and pension protected and the review will look at reducing them to 37 hours without loss of pay.

This will be a good thing if the review transpires to be anything other than a fobbing off by the company.

When I started in Royal Mail you did not get equalisation until you were 21 and not for the first twelve months. The union changed this.

Which is good. However the union has also seen our sick pay sold down the river and seen our pensions slashed.

However over 50% of new entrants have never worked overtime and the average hours including any overtime worked is 31 hours. We have agreed to increase this average to 35 hours with increases in contracts.

I find this staggering. In my office almost every new entrant has worked overtime, and the majority of them will have worked 5-10 hours overtime a week in most weeks. Now I grant you as most are on 30 hour contracts, that hardly moves them above the 'standard' 37 hours. But they're none of them working an average of 31 hours.

Putting more into basic which benefits everyone including uplifting contract hours is better , especially as overtime under USO will because you have to resource to your full TM1 including a reserve ratio of a minimum of 1 in 6.

I will believe this 'resourcing to TM1' when I see it. No reform withstands contact with an area manager desperate to reduce hours to please his boss. At our last revision we were meant to be fully staffed. We have never been since.

The extra 6000 full time jobs are intended to reduce indoor or pre start overtime. Remember under this model when a full timer leaves the next senior part timer in the unit will be offered full time hours.

Will they though? Again, bitter experience in my unit suggests that whatever the intention, RM middle management will thwart it.

In any case overtime is less reliable than scheduled attendance and at the moment new entrants are not allowed to do SA. We intend to change this under the change in contract talks.

My unit has not seen any SA for over a decade.

When I joined this company was a high overtime low pay industry. The union traded double time after 12 hours , double time on Saturdays and higher rates for overtime to get improvements in basic pay and things like pensionable allowances paid 52 weeks per year.

Remember EP cannot take a penny out of Royal Mail until they get the debt ratio down and they improve quality of service.

Suppose EP's end goal is simply to make it appear that no reform of USO will go far enough? I mean if DM26 fails, then what happens? Do you think the government will step in to bail us out? Or do you think EP will 'regretfully' convice them that savage changes to RM's model of operation are the only way forward?

[Valentina@1]

CWU HaVE CLEARLY GONE INTO SELF PREsERVATION MODE….time to “wake the f**k up”

Sad times

[SpacePhoenix]

Workload - Your unit will only recieve first class and parcels for all walks Monday to Saturday and non priority mail for 50% of your routes Monday to Friday.

On Saturday talks are discussing whether to not have a CSS operation on Friday night and to just send the first class letters to be the unit. On Sunday the DTS switches the end of Saturday night and therefore technically can be sequenced any time Sunday as Monday is just one wave, so talks are discussing this.

There is always going to be 2C in the mech:

* There's a 1C item for the DP
* The 2C item has hit the time limit for the product used
* Other 2C for the same DP is already being released

They might be going to have the CSS machines release any 2C that would have hit the time limit on a Friday night on the Thursday night instead nbut we don't know yet if that'll actually happen.

1C and 2C will always be run through the CSS machines together, what the DTS releases gets walk sequenced (walk sorted for wave 2).

You'll have to send the trays of 2C manual letters and 2C flats to the IPS frames as what MCs send out to DOs will have only been sorted to office level (1 selection per DO on the manual letter and flat frames in the MC).

[Acca Dacca]

Great

Not even voted on this bloody deal yet and already being prepared for the next dispute and threat of losing our jobs in three years time

[DGH]

For clarity: Martin Walsh wrote the quoted text, not me. I just failed to edit my post properly

Workload - Your unit will only recieve first class and parcels for all walks Monday to Saturday and non priority mail for 50% of your routes Monday to Friday.

On Saturday talks are discussing whether to not have a CSS operation on Friday night and to just send the first class letters to be the unit. On Sunday the DTS switches the end of Saturday night and therefore technically can be sequenced any time Sunday as Monday is just one wave, so talks are discussing this.

There is always going to be 2C in the mech:

* There's a 1C item for the DP
* The 2C item has hit the time limit for the product used
* Other 2C for the same DP is already being released

They might be going to have the CSS machines release any 2C that would have hit the time limit on a Friday night on the Thursday night instead nbut we don't know yet if that'll actually happen.

1C and 2C will always be run through the CSS machines together, what the DTS releases gets walk sequenced (walk sorted for wave 2).

You'll have to send the trays of 2C manual letters and 2C flats to the IPS frames as what MCs send out to DOs will have only been sorted to office level (1 selection per DO on the manual letter and flat frames in the MC).

[DGH]

Great

Not even voted on this bloody deal yet and already being prepared for the next dispute and threat of losing our jobs in three years time

Let's face it. We were well and truly beaten at the end of the last dispute when the union, despite a huge mandate for continuing action, caved in when Royal Mail threatened to take away release time from reps and derecognise the union.
How likely is it that there will be any appetite at all for future action? Especially with a workforce that has very effectively been divided into separate interest groups.
The union (sensibly, as it needs the membership) are determined to preserve jobs. Yet at least 10%, possibly as many as 20% of staff in my unit are feverishly hoping for some sort of EVR package (which they won't get because the union want to preserve jobs rather than argue for phased and managed decline, and RM know they'll get reductions through wastage).
The union are (sensibly as a longer term aim) trying to align wages so that every one is paid the same rate. Yet significant numbers of new staff would actually prefer to have kept the higher overtime rate and lower wage (speaking again, just in my unit), as they will now be worse off. Of course that overtime may well disappear under DM26 - but that's clearly not been communicated well to them.

[ChrisMH]

This pay deal bring new entrants to 7.1% away from the same hourly rate away from old contracts. 13.2% away from the full equalisation from equalisation from the delivery supplement.

1. The FAQs state "over an agreed timeline", what is that timeline?
2. What makes up the almost £2 pay gap? Hourly plus D2D supplement?
3. Why negotiate away in one step the contracted OT increase rate of 1.25 for new starters? Everything from RM is stepped so this should have been also!
4. Why is there no mention of the equalisation being back paid to new starters respective start date.

[scotchy1962]

Whilst I cannot answer every post I will try and answer some themes.

Gaslighting- I have posted on this site since before 2007 either as Dingo, The Truth, and my own name. I have not posted in recent months because I think this site has gone down hill , it is missing some balance and missing some of great posters over the years. I posted because I thought there needed to be some balance on this site.

Future of the company. - I have been criticised for wanting Royal Mail to have a future. Royal Mail is facing the same challenges as the Print industry, the Dock yards and the Steel industry. Do you think those union leaders did not stand up and tell their members the problems they were facing from changes to their industry.

I have sat in meetings with Daniel Kretinsky and EP and they are saying if they do not get a level playing field within three years they will adopt the same bogus employment model for Royal Mail for parcel delivery.

You don’t think our members need to be aware of this ? You don’t think this is something we should also campaign for ?

You don’t think making Royal Mail more profitable is in our interests so we can get better pay rises , equalisation quicker , increases in overtime and reductions in SSP.

This is a company which is at best going to break even and yet we have downdialled the amount of savings expected from USO , got a 3 year pay deal worth £980 million and got a first step on equalisation.

Equalisation- The agreement states those over 37 hours will have their pay and pension protected and the review will look at reducing them to 37 hours without loss of pay.

This pay deal bring new entrants to 7.1% away from the same hourly rate away from old contracts. 13.2% away from the full equalisation from equalisation from the delivery supplement.

When I started in Royal Mail you did not get equalisation until you were 21 and not for the first twelve months. The union changed this.

Overtime rate - If we had left the overtime rate as it was then it would have moved to £17.23 under the pay rise compared to a legacy hours overtime rate of £14.38. ( including 3% pay rise and after 10 hours it reduces to £13.91.

However over 50% of new entrants have never worked overtime and the average hours including any overtime worked is 31 hours. We have agreed to increase this average to 35 hours with increases in contracts.

Putting more into basic which benefits everyone including uplifting contract hours is better , especially as overtime under USO will because you have to resource to your full TM1 including a reserve ratio of a minimum of 1 in 6.

The extra 6000 full time jobs are intended to reduce indoor or pre start overtime. Remember under this model when a full timer leaves the next senior part timer in the unit will be offered full time hours.

In any case overtime is less reliable than scheduled attendance and at the moment new entrants are not allowed to do SA. We intend to change this under the change in contract talks.

When I joined this company was a high overtime low pay industry. The union traded double time after 12 hours , double time on Saturdays and higher rates for overtime to get improvements in basic pay and things like pensionable allowances paid 52 weeks per year.

We do want to improve everyone’s overtime by reducing the cost of agency staff.


USO- This a different model for so many reasons.Please read the 9 page main agreement and the 26 page more detailed agreement.

USO change is happening this year ,this agreement gives you protection and is better model than ODM.

This is why many of the pilot site reps have come out and supported the model as being better.

Remember EP cannot take a penny out of Royal Mail until they get the debt ratio down and they improve quality of service.

This is why the mandatory review is so strong.


Workload - Your unit will only recieve first class and parcels for all walks Monday to Saturday and non priority mail for 50% of your routes Monday to Friday.

On Saturday talks are discussing whether to not have a CSS operation on Friday night and to just send the first class letters to be the unit. On Sunday the DTS switches the end of Saturday night and therefore technically can be sequenced any time Sunday as Monday is just one wave, so talks are discussing this.


Pension Surplus- The EP agreement says we will get a share of the pension surplus when the Trustees are satisfied. There are two pension surpluses , the first is from the Care Scheme and the other. Is from the Cash balance which is smaller.

When we get a share it will go into the employee benefit scheme which will also generate 10% of any profit made by the company in future pay rises.

This surplus was at risk of going exclusively to EP. At the appropriate point the union and our democratic process including our conference with decide how we use it. There is a motion at this years conference asking the union to use the pension surplus to reduce from 67 to 65 the age under new pension scheme when you receive your full pension.

Martin i take it you read this before you submit it out for all and sundry to read.
Gaslighting, a word i only ever associated with lighting something using gas, whilst saying you have posted on here under various names,which worries me, but at least you have tried, but you don't really ever have a full discussion on any topic and post out all this as if its gospel, all these people you are trying to get onside actually work for RM, they know what is going on in the company as they are at the coalface doing the work.
It would do you and Dave good to remember who you represent and where your loyalties should be.
This isn't the "Italian Job" and the "Self preservation society" isn't the song of choice.
Everything you quote on other industries and how the union involved defended them only proved one thing, they were all dead in the water anyway.
Perhaps the future of RM is dead in the water, but while the USO exists Dan the man is constrained by its parameters and you openly backing him to change it is not in the best interests of your members, it aligns you to closely to the company and leaves you open to criticism.
You think this site has went downhill, why exactly?
Is no criticism allowed!
I read everything on here with a open mind, and some of the ones i have had harsh exchanges with sometimes come up with great ideas and i am more than happy to agree with them.
Perhaps you should listen.

[SpacePhoenix]

For clarity: Martin Walsh wrote the quoted text, not me. I just failed to edit my post properly

Workload - Your unit will only recieve first class and parcels for all walks Monday to Saturday and non priority mail for 50% of your routes Monday to Friday.

On Saturday talks are discussing whether to not have a CSS operation on Friday night and to just send the first class letters to be the unit. On Sunday the DTS switches the end of Saturday night and therefore technically can be sequenced any time Sunday as Monday is just one wave, so talks are discussing this.

There is always going to be 2C in the mech:

* There's a 1C item for the DP
* The 2C item has hit the time limit for the product used
* Other 2C for the same DP is already being released

They might be going to have the CSS machines release any 2C that would have hit the time limit on a Friday night on the Thursday night instead nbut we don't know yet if that'll actually happen.

1C and 2C will always be run through the CSS machines together, what the DTS releases gets walk sequenced (walk sorted for wave 2).

You'll have to send the trays of 2C manual letters and 2C flats to the IPS frames as what MCs send out to DOs will have only been sorted to office level (1 selection per DO on the manual letter and flat frames in the MC).

He doesn't have any understanding of how the DTS works. There never has been a wave 2 on a Sunday, they sequence everything in one hit.

[Hyrrokkin]

Pension Surplus- The EP agreement says we will get a share of the pension surplus when the Trustees are satisfied. There are two pension surpluses , the first is from the Care Scheme and the other. Is from the Cash balance which is smaller.

When we get a share it will go into the employee benefit scheme which will also generate 10% of any profit made by the company in future pay rises.
What does that even mean ? Sorry for being thick could someone explain that

This surplus was at risk of going exclusively to EP. At the appropriate point the union and our democratic process including our conference with decide how we use it. There is a motion at this years conference asking the union to use the pension surplus to reduce from 67 to 65 the age under new pension scheme when you receive your full pension.
It would have been doubtful the trustees would have done that-technically yes they could do that...but not very likely unless they were pressured by RM.
I see the CWU have put themselves centre in deciding what happens - what about a vote to members on how they would like their money used.
A choice of options and pension scheme members only vote on how the pension surplus is used.
It is our money
Who exactly asked the CWU to decide what happens to our pension money - members of the scheme certainly did not.

[hero22]

What exactly is the pension deficit ?

[claretandblue]

What exactly is the pension deficit ?

It's a surplus, not a deficit. There's loads of money left over from a closed scheme, it should go to the members of that scheme, the union wants to give it to new starters.