Bum deal for part timers?

[sajimorph]

I have been working for Royal Mail as a postman for about 10 months now. I am contracter for 25 hours (i.e- 9am - 2pm but finishing at 1.30 pm because of meal break). However, since day one I have been going in at 7am to prep the round and I end up working anything upto 90 minutes later than my finish time several days a week (especially wed, thurs, fri). So after all is said and done I end up doing about 35-40 hours every week (ie-full time). I don't mind doing this- I would actually prefer to work full time but when it comes to holidays, guess what- yep- you just get paid your 'contracted' 25 hours! When it comes to bonuses etc, guess what- yep- you are only paid pro-rata- despite the fact that from day one I have worked full time. Does this happen nationwide or is it just in my office? I think it is a complete joke. There are probably about 20-30 members of staff in my office that, like me, are supposed to be 'part-time' but that come in early and work over. What would happen if all these staff decided not to come in and do the extra hours? The whole place would fall apart! Basically Royal Mail are onto a winner. They just employ staff as part timers knowing full well that most of them will need the money and so do the overtime. Royal mail, meanwhile, rubs their hands in glee at all the money they are saving from less holidays, entitlements etc. What a joke.

Maybe it's just my office but the so called 'Part-timers' are treated like s**t. The full timers get out every day before us and seem to finish early most of the time (obviously becuase they start earlier and know their rounds inside out). However, as part timers we are shunted from one round to the next. Almost every day I am on a new round that I have not seen before and often I don't even know where it is! Maybe if I stay with Royal mail for about the next 22 years or something I may eventually get my own round? In the meantime I'll just have to feed off the scraps!

Has anybody else experienced anything similar? As for me; I am strongly thinking about calling it a day.

[johnnyp]

Welcome to RMC sajimorph Its an absoulte disgrace the way part timers are being treated in Royal Mail I myself work in a DO in London where we have just started using Royal Mail casuals who are in an even worse postion then yourselve where there contract is 0 hours and are at managements beck and call on a daily basis.Under the Pay and Mod national agreement it is our unions aim to rid the business of casuals and part timers and have a workforce of full timers so that we all benefit in the long term.This im afraid is what Royal Mail want a part time workforce so they save money on wages,pensions etc.I would say to you join the CWU and stick it out for the moment as fingers crossed things will get better.

[shaunman]

Hey there it is absolutely disgraceful the way royal mail use part time workforce. In our office the 3 lads that are part time are in on full time hours 95% of the time. This is good for them in some way, obviously they need the money, but then like you say holidays, pension and sick pay are all part time. If I was you I would look into employment law. I can't believe in this day in age a company as big is Royal Mail is allowed to use part time staff to obviously fill full time roles.

With regard to you saying about being moved around on a differant walk that is how it is. I have done over 3 and a half years and i am still a reserve, and generally do a differant round every day/week. Its something i have got used to, and now only work my contracted hours, and don't rush around, follow health and safety guidlines and security guidlines and life is so much easier.

Hope things get better for you. What might be a better solution, would be to do your part time hours with royal mail and look for some other casual work to suit your life, if things are getting that bad.

[eldritch1987]

I am in the same position, work full time all the time, but i am on a part time contract. I am the only one in my office who has to do this though. What makes it worse for me is that they brought in a number of new starts and gave them all full time contracts ahead of me (the manager did this and then left so nothing was ever done about it) now i am told i cant go full time as they have enough full timers....

[darth]

unfortunately this is a common practice in retail and i suppose royal mail think it fits under with flexibility .it is atrocious how people are being treated now workers rights are evaporating under our noses.the cwu should in my opinion raise this at the highest level.still when our chairman is p/t on a very good wage and bomus scheme what does he care.

[axeman]

Part timers are being screwed theres no getting away from it they are full of promises of a full time job '''soon'' this though is harder to obtain as the p/t staff are doing full time work for p/t wages they are in no hurry to up the hours to f/t lateone and crazier cheepskates , spivs , barryboys did you expect anything different ?

[Cedar_Room]

In an ideal world it would be great if all part-timers just worked there actual hours (in my case 31.5hrs p/w)-as eventually,im sure RM would cave in & "make us up" to full-time as the work is obviously there (in my office at least)

Sadly,bills have to be paid & i cannot survive off the £200 a week that a flat wage brings,thus i go in early whenever poss.

:cfo -Have us by the short `n` curlies.

[BELIAL]

In an ideal world it would be great if all part-timers just worked there actual hours (in my case 31.5hrs p/w)-as eventually,im sure RM would cave in & "make us up" to full-time as the work is obviously there (in my office at least)

Sadly,bills have to be paid & i cannot survive off the £200 a week that a flat wage brings,thus i go in early whenever poss.

:cfo -Have us by the short `n` curlies.

No they don't .Get another part time job to make up your money and they can shove their cheap labour overtime.
More and more PT's doing it in my office now, don't know how long the managers will be able to keep on delivering though ,beginning to look very weary

Hello sajimorph, spot on post

[Phantom]

All part timers should work the hours they are contracted for. You knew the hours when you went for the interview etc. But because RM know you need the money they will abuse you and you get caught up in a catch 22 situation. Some lads at our place have had their hours increased to 36 because they cut off on regular basis for about 2 months as it was costing 2 hours for someone else to finish their delivery off and this is more hassle for managers who seems to be getting an easy ride of late, put the ball back in their court.

[Wild Cat]

We have part timers in our office who are paid 35 hours a week and come in at 5.00 when they are meant to start at 7.00 and use their cars on delivery.
Is it any wonder why the management are taking them for cnuts when they are acting like that?
I hope this is not the case across the rest of the country.

I am encouraged after reading that one office wanted to ballot for industrial action over part-time contracts and that RM caved in and this is what we need to see more of as it is the only language the screws understand.

[pinstripe]

I've been p/t since I started over 8 years ago, through my own choice. I used to be offered f/t up till 3 years ago but I never took up the offer as I needed to finish early due to family commitments. Now I finish later than most of the f/t staff and if RM get their way and impose even later starts I will be starting my delivery later than my old finish time, all in the name of modernisation
To be honest (in my office at least) part timers and full timers are treated the same...like s***

[markis]

I wouldn't hold out for F/T unless you are in London, even then there's no guarantee. Royal Mail are on the biggest change in its 200 years and it will cost jobs, thousands in fact and at the end of the day RM will have a P/T workforce, not straight away maybe 10-20 years down the line.It's no longer "you start as a P/T then you will get F/T after 2 or 3 years" , now it's the CWU fighting to save F/T jobs !

You have to remember that when you applied for the job it was P/T 25 hrs per week, and if you just want to work those hours that's all you need to do. Because eventually that is what you will be doing.

[Pat Ostman]

All part timers should work the hours they are contracted for. You knew the hours when you went for the interview etc. But because RM know you need the money they will abuse you and you get caught up in a catch 22 situation. Some lads at our place have had their hours increased to 36 because they cut off on regular basis for about 2 months as it was costing 2 hours for someone else to finish their delivery off and this is more hassle for managers who seems to be getting an easy ride of late, put the ball back in their court.

You are right but a lot of pressure is placed on people when they 'cut off' due to only wanting to work contracted hours. If you do not play it their way you can find yourself being messed around 'more than usual'.

It's often a lot easier to say than actually do and not always even to do with the money.

When I tell a Manager I want to work contracted hours only I am called anything from 'slow on delivery' to 'slow on prepping'. I am told many other things but I will not bore you with it all. In short cutting off is not always that easy :)

[Jevster]

Spot on post saj and it sounds like you are pretty much in the same situation as me! Although as others have said, when you do go over they whinge about paying the o/t and constantly get it wrong so you are chasing up getting paid weeks later.

I'm too soft and should just cut off all the time, but the pressure they put you under is a disgrace.

I have been looking for another job for the past 7 months but at the moment there is very little about unless you want to work in a call centre so I am considering applying to go into processing so at least I have a guaranteed start and finish time and meal break without extra hassle, has anyone else done this?

[darth]

I wouldn't hold out for F/T unless you are in London, even then there's no guarantee. Royal Mail are on the biggest change in its 200 years and it will cost jobs, thousands in fact and at the end of the day RM will have a P/T workforce, not straight away maybe 10-20 years down the line.It's no longer "you start as a P/T then you will get F/T after 2 or 3 years" , now it's the CWU fighting to save F/T jobs !

You have to remember that when you applied for the job it was P/T 25 hrs per week, and if you just want to work those hours that's all you need to do. Because eventually that is what you will be doing.

i think when the hooper report comes out you will find the future of royal mail as we know it will change dramatically.it has been no secret that royal mails model for delivery has been the dutch.this is p/t workers who pick up a street,coupled with this :mfo has been given the brief to get royal mail into privatisation regardless of warwick agreement.change if royal mail get their wayand more importantly get the green light will occur sooner than you think.royal mails attidute has been more and more bullish towards the union and us the workforce for a while now.personally i would like to see the union do a work to rule to prove that the current workload on some days is too much even with flexing of hours,particulary as the message from this forum is that pressure from above is occuring on a regular basis and is affecting members terms and conditions.