Life as a casual in the Royal mail

[merson01]

During 2008 a friend of mine was made redundant twice. Having a great need to keep money coming in he decided to apply for work in the Royal Mail. He saw a job as a temporary postman advertised on the Royal Mail website. When they finally employed him it was as casual.

Although a subtle difference between the two roles there is in reality a world of difference. Life as a casual in the Royal Mail is hell on earth. RM has many types of contracts for casuals, 25 hours, thirty hours, forty hours or what ever hours Royal Mail decides. He is on the last which means you have no scheduled duty or length of time also they can send you to any office they want to. He told me he has been to four in the month since he started. When he was last in the post he spent one month being tested and a further month before being let near a walk of his own.As a casual you have no time to learn a walk and are expected to take one out without knowing anything about it. In reality Royal Mail do not care about customer service.

While some of the regular postmen treat you ok for some they treat you with hostility and contempt. While to certain extent it is understandable but not great and in the end will make things worse. The attacks on postal workers pay and conditions and the introduction of casuals are the direct result of the betrayals of the CWU. If not halted then it is clear that the Labour government will implement the Hooper report and this will mean the loss of upwards of 80000 jobs and the complete casualisation of the Post.

There is a scene in the book Animal Farm by George Orwell when the humans and Pigs are together it is impossible to tell them apart. The same can be said of the CWU. They act as junior branch of management and are in many offices in charge of given duties out and organising overtime. The levels of cronyism are staggering. In the post it is not what you know but who you know.

[Puppetmaster]

You must be talking about my office,and heard some of us moaning about the influence of the CWU ,especialy concerning O/T and allocation of duties.
Dont know wether the Mafia is modled on the CWU or the other way about ,certainly similar.

Soon after I started not to long ago ,was offered o/t wich I accepted ,then CWU suggested I give it up as FRED ,WHO DOES O/T everday had been missed out!

I think MI5 COULD LEARN LESSONS FROM THE CWU in keeping secrects ,like how O/T-- S/A IS allocated,despite working for RM for several years still do not know how o/t is allocated.

In my office according to 1 manager, know one has their own s/a yet the same people do the same ones they have always done for years.Some people have lots of S/A others nil
but we are all equal execept some are more equal than others!

Another fact ,never been able to work out and seen this in other offices ,How come all the best duties seem to be taken by CWU officials or their buddies .

Another example I have seen duties especialy created for certan people,with no one else allowed to apply,another mate from cwu group.

AS FOR RESERVES,hAVING BEEN ONE FOR A LONG TIME,YOU ARE LITTLE MORE THAN DOG SHITE IN THE EYES OF MANY

[TeeferTiger]

You must be talking about my office,and heard some of us moaning about the influence of the CWU ,especialy concerning O/T and allocation of duties.
Dont know wether the Mafia is modled on the CWU or the other way about ,certainly similar.

Soon after I started not to long ago ,was offered o/t wich I accepted ,then CWU suggested I give it up as FRED ,WHO DOES O/T everday had been missed out!

I think MI5 COULD LEARN LESSONS FROM THE CWU in keeping secrects ,like how O/T-- S/A IS allocated,despite working for RM for several years still do not know how o/t is allocated.

In my office according to 1 manager, know one has their own s/a yet the same people do the same ones they have always done for years.Some people have lots of S/A others nil
but we are all equal execept some are more equal than others!

Another fact ,never been able to work out and seen this in other offices ,How come all the best duties seem to be taken by CWU officials or their buddies .

Another example I have seen duties especialy created for certan people,with no one else allowed to apply,another mate from cwu group.

AS FOR RESERVES,hAVING BEEN ONE FOR A LONG TIME,YOU ARE LITTLE MORE THAN DOG SHITE IN THE EYES OF MANY

Do you work in my office?! lol