For what is worth !

[Martin Walsh]

Obviously I am public enemy number one on this site but sometimes you have to be unpopular and tell people what they don’t want to hear or just don’t want to believe.

I will try and answer some of the points people make.

1. This is better deal in USO than ODM as it uses the 4 in 3 differently.

2. The agreement also took 20% of duties out of the 4 in 3 model. It created an extra 3500 routes ( a lot of these were the routes which the executive action of 2023 took out ) and has 6000 more full time jobs.

3. The whole point of USO reform for Royal Mail and Ofcom was to reduce costs , their initial sums range from 420 million to 300. This has now been reduced to below 250 million. Even then this might come down further if units cannot achieve the quality targets and extra hours need to go back in.

4. Your unit will only recieve each day the work which has to be delivered. This means that 50% of your duties will not recieve DSA, second class etc. This will be kept in the mail centre.

5. On a Saturday only 1st class letters and parcels will be released to your unit.

6. The higher call rate on the heavy walls ( 50% ) of units enable more warm calling on D2D.

7. It works better for non drivers as they can stay on the CDV pairing and rotate the heavy and light model and can can share on a Saturday to enable an earlier finish.

8. There are less than 400 CWU members getting the bonus. They work alongside legal , HR and Finance management and therefore it was agreed that they should be that bonus scheme. The operational grade amounts to over 95 thousand so even a 3% pay rise costs over 250 million when you add pensions costs and national insurance costs.

9. Equalisation it is a first step and it will lead to the next step and full pathway. Equalisation is difficult because of the sheer costs to each of the measures which need equalisation and taking a first step and then after USO being in a better position to get more progress is better than no deal ever on equalisation.

10. The threat to the future of Royal Mail is very real. That is not a sign of weakness it is a fact. Fleet Street , the Dockyards did not see what was coming until it was too late. We cannot afford to make that mistake.

So I realise it is easy to shout things on here , what you would do and what we should do but when a company is not making money where do you think that money is going to come from ?

[A2B]

So I realise it is easy to shout things on here , what you would do and what we should do but when a company is not making money where do you think that money is going to come from ?

When you get fed the same story year after year you tend to stop believing it or caring.

Year in year out we are told we have to change a give more to save RM, but on a daily basis we see massive wastage of time & money throughout the company.

This ballot is not binding to any industrial action so while you should be giving people FACTS I don't think you should be scaremongering to try and get the result the CWU wants.

[Sean06]

Honestly don't know why you even bother trying martin.

[Perseus]

"7. It works better for non drivers as they can stay on the CDV pairing and rotate the heavy and light model and can can share on a Saturday to enable an earlier finish."

Please explain how a Saturday operation works in reference to that. If you need 20 people in on a Saturday, 5 of which are non drivers - surely you'll need 5 MORE staff in to DRIVE the shared van? Surely 2 people in a van aren't going to be given the same amount of work as 1 person in a van to get this earlier finish you speak of? People are well within their rights to not drive and I agree with them, but you can't ignore the practicalities of how a Saturday will work.

otherwise -
"We might not be able to give you extra Saturdays off after all......"

[scotchy1962]

Firstly Martin you mention the new and mighty delivery method, and how its better than any other delivery method.
With all due respect, how the feck would you know?
You have no idea what goes on in delivery except what a spread sheet tells you, doesn't matter what you did before it bears no resemblance to what a postman does now.
The only people who can solve the delivery conundrum is the people on the ground, the same people you represent.
Equalisation is not so easy to sort, but then again RM brought it in and they should sort it out and not you defending them.
I am retired and shouldn't dare to open my mouth as it doesn't involve me, but i am one of the ones who left, not because i wanted too, but because you couldn't or wouldn't tackle this company and start representing your members, so i believe you have something to answer for.

[A2B]

Honestly don't know why you even bother trying martin.

Because the CWU don't want a no vote would be a good place to start

[yellowbelly]

Honestly don't know why you even bother trying martin.

It's what he gets paid for.

Anyone has the right to challenge in a respectful manner what is being presented.

If Martin feels colleagues are not understanding what is being put out then it's up to the CWU to get the message across, through whatever channels are available.

I find out more on here and through the LTB's that I subscribe to from CWU than I do from our Local Rep who we haven't heard anything from or seen in our office for about three months.

[Rommagic]

50 per cent less staff on saturdays.

[ted_e_bear]

"The agreement also took 20% of duties out of the 4 in 3 model"

And that's part of where it went wrong, myself and I think at least two others on here have suggested that instead of sticking with three people trying to do four individual duties messing about taking parts of each that it would have been much simpler to do a proper revision and build 'artifically oversized' duties with the intention you're only supposed to be able to deliver 50 50 as per the 20% of duties taken out of the model that absolutely won't be utilized to full benefit.

This would mean two people per van share just like now but 25% of the existing duties would be swallowed up creating the savings, obviously this would also apply to the duties that aren't suitable for van share so they would also become bigger to accommodate this same scenario of 50 50 as opposed to the fairy tale idea that they'd help out to fill their time.

[chickenwittle]

The ballot closes in a few days , my office still doesn’t know it’s duty pattern or start and finish times , you have hinted at earlier start times which I have been told is not happening in my office so that’s clearly a carrot to get a yes vote .I voted no because I genuinely do not know what I’m voting for and you have done nowhere near enough to level up new starts as well as nothing on the sick pay issue or this phantom office bonus scheme that will never happen.

[chickenwittle]

Honestly don't know why you even bother trying martin.

It's what he gets paid for.

Anyone has the right to challenge in a respectful manner what is being presented.

If Martin feels colleagues are not understanding what is being put out then it's up to the CWU to get the message across, through whatever channels are available.

I find out more on here and through the LTB's that I subscribe to from CWU than I do from our Local Rep who we haven't heard anything from or seen in our office for about three months.

I agree, it’s good he comes on here to update us and people should really respond respectfully whether they agree or not , I actually use Martins information to keep my rep updated because the communication can be slow in coming sometimes.

[norris9]

10. The threat to the future of Royal Mail is very real. That is not a sign of weakness it is a fact. Fleet Street , the Dockyards did not see what was coming until it was too late. We cannot afford to make that mistake.

So how many £ millions £ is this change expected to make for Royal Mail going forwards?

What are the profit projections for the next few years looking like?

and more importantly is the USO change and other improvements expected to prevent Royal Mail from moving to a gig economy setup for at least another 10 years?

[oypostie]

Martin

I agree that DM26 looks better than ODM. However we are being asked to vote on something that hasn't yet been trialled (yes, i know the first units just gone live) and will no doubt evolve during the trial period. Surely this system (and plan c if it comes to it) needs to be properly trialled for a number of months before a vote and national roll out.
We need this system to be manageable for staff not just a way of making Royal Mail more money

[SpacePhoenix]

The ballot closes in a few days , my office still doesn’t know it’s duty pattern or start and finish times , you have hinted at earlier start times which I have been told is not happening in my office so that’s clearly a carrot to get a yes vote .I voted no because I genuinely do not know what I’m voting for and you have done nowhere near enough to level up new starts as well as nothing on the sick pay issue or this phantom office bonus scheme that will never happen.

How can any DO have earlier start time when the manual letters and flats will still need to be sorted on the IPS frames to walks so that the walks due their 2C that day can get their 2C?

[SpacePhoenix]

4. Your unit will only recieve each day the work which has to be delivered. This means that 50% of your duties will not recieve DSA, second class etc. This will be kept in the mail centre.

Ever since DTS was brought in, apart from 2C being released when there's a 1C item, MCs have only sent work to DOs that is due for delivery. The difference between 1C and 2C is built in to when it's sent from the outward MC to the inward MC and has been for years.

5. On a Saturday only 1st class letters and parcels will be released to your unit.

Wrong! For the mech for Saturday delivery any 2C where a DP has got a 1C item is still released. 2C manual letters and flats WILL NOT be held at the MCs, they will continue to be sent to the DOs in separate trays from the 1C. 1C and 2C packets are sorted together, and 2C packets WILL NOT be held at the MCs.

Have you ever worked at a MC or a DO?

The union are selling deliveries down the river. RM and the union might as well be one and the same.