CWU Booklet recieved today.

[Cedar_Room]

Just have a quick question regarding this statement in the brochure:

We want a 35-hour working week. This is necessary to protect full-time jobs,cope with the physical demands of the job & ensure all our members recieve their share in benefits from new automation. We are willing to explore with the company how this can be done withoiut adding to existing costs.

I know full timers are mentioned in the text,but just wondering if the CWU want the majority of the workforce to work the same amount of hours.

ie-if this comes in,part-timers on 31hr contracts will have their hours increased up to 35,as well as the 40hr staff having theirs reduced?

Hope this makes sense & thanks in advance.

[BELIAL]

Just pro rata it. The CWU are hardly likely to fight tooth and nail for a reduced hourly rate are they. Sometimes people make me wonder

[dvbuk55]

There is a complication in calculating a shorter working week - 40 hrs down to 35 is a reduced week by an eighth but there are so many contracts about, 1 hour, 16 hours, 22, 25, 28, 30, 30 and a half.

Take a 25 hour contract - that would mean a decrease of 3.125 hours leaving roughly 21 and three quarter hours divide that by 5 and you end up with 4 hours 20 minutes or so. Some duties are exactly 5 hours for a reason so what do you do with the 40 minutes a day not covered? Would all contracts need to be re-written and signed? Would that be a back door to RM writing in all sorts of small print? You sometimes have to be careful what you ask for, especially if the ones who are asking on your behalf aren't too bright.

[islfor]

The talk is of not getting our meal break paid as it is now, thus giving us 35hr week. I wouldn't be happy myself with that as it gives the runners who dont take a break now, more of a opportunity to completly destroy deliveries....tossers.

[DGP1]

There is a complication in calculating a shorter working week - 40 hrs down to 35 is a reduced week by an eighth but there are so many contracts about, 1 hour, 16 hours, 22, 25, 28, 30, 30 and a half.

Take a 25 hour contract - that would mean a decrease of 3.125 hours leaving roughly 21 and three quarter hours divide that by 5 and you end up with 4 hours 20 minutes or so. Some duties are exactly 5 hours for a reason so what do you do with the 40 minutes a day not covered? Would all contracts need to be re-written and signed? Would that be a back door to RM writing in all sorts of small print? You sometimes have to be careful what you ask for, especially if the ones who are asking on your behalf aren't too bright.

I don't think it'll affect the outdoor element but what work we do indoors, and those on shortened contracts would instead receive an increase in their hourly rate.

[BELIAL]

Easy ,12.5% more staff or better still offer the PT's who want full time 35 hrs a proper wage

[memo232]

There is a complication in calculating a shorter working week - 40 hrs down to 35 is a reduced week by an eighth but there are so many contracts about, 1 hour, 16 hours, 22, 25, 28, 30, 30 and a half.

Take a 25 hour contract - that would mean a decrease of 3.125 hours leaving roughly 21 and three quarter hours divide that by 5 and you end up with 4 hours 20 minutes or so. Some duties are exactly 5 hours for a reason so what do you do with the 40 minutes a day not covered? Would all contracts need to be re-written and signed? Would that be a back door to RM writing in all sorts of small print? You sometimes have to be careful what you ask for, especially if the ones who are asking on your behalf aren't too bright.

Does this mean part timers will be essentially shafted with a pay cut?

[Cedar_Room]

Just pro rata it. The CWU are hardly likely to fight tooth and nail for a reduced hourly rate are they. Sometimes people make me wonder

[BELIAL]

There is a complication in calculating a shorter working week - 40 hrs down to 35 is a reduced week by an eighth but there are so many contracts about, 1 hour, 16 hours, 22, 25, 28, 30, 30 and a half.

Take a 25 hour contract - that would mean a decrease of 3.125 hours leaving roughly 21 and three quarter hours divide that by 5 and you end up with 4 hours 20 minutes or so. Some duties are exactly 5 hours for a reason so what do you do with the 40 minutes a day not covered? Would all contracts need to be re-written and signed? Would that be a back door to RM writing in all sorts of small print? You sometimes have to be careful what you ask for, especially if the ones who are asking on your behalf aren't too bright.

Does this mean part timers will be essentially shafted with a pay cut?

Yes we are all going out on an incredibly bitter national strike until we secure lower pay and worse conditions for at least some of our members

[Cedar_Room]

Just pro rata it. The CWU are hardly likely to fight tooth and nail for a reduced hourly rate are they. Sometimes people make me wonder

Suppose i should have just asked if the Union are pushing for a wage increase & a set working week of 35hrs across the board.

Your reply doesnt make sense anyway.

[BELIAL]

Okay

[belle smith]

The talk is of not getting our meal break paid as it is now, thus giving us 35hr week. I wouldn't be happy myself with that as it gives the runners who dont take a break now, more of a opportunity to completly destroy deliveries....tossers.

Your meal break for the whole week only adds up to 4hrs 20mins RM don't have to pay all of that but we are still legally entiteld to payed tea breaks.

I don't think it'll affect the outdoor element but what work we do indoors, and those on shortened contracts would instead receive an increase in their hourly rate.

I wouldn't bet on outdoor element not changing. We will at sometime soon (not this year but probaly within the next 2) move to longer delivery spans 4hrs or 4hrs 30mins. And the union will most likely agree to allow P/T to progress to F/T.

at this stage i'll settel for not getting shafted on a face saving deal on pegasus and indoor work tool I'd preffer not to have an agreement on these than, an agreement that gives RM everything they want!! and a geuinuine attempet to get us somthing better on pensions. but i wont hold my breath.

[Carnoustie]

The talk is of not getting our meal break paid as it is now, thus giving us 35hr week. I wouldn't be happy myself with that as it gives the runners who dont take a break now, more of a opportunity to completly destroy deliveries....tossers.

Where the feck is the benefit of a so-called 'shorter working week', if

a) at the moment, my hours are 0600-1400, meal breaks paid for

and then we change to this so-called 'shorter working week' and

b) my hours are still 0600-1400, only now I'm NOT paid for my breaks and I still finish at 2pm

WTF IS THAT ALL ABOUT ????

the Carnoustie vision of a shorter working week goes like this:-
with automation supposedly reducing manual sorting, indoor work allegedly requires slightly less processing time. To me, that ought to mean I get to finish at 1300 (i.e. earlier than now) every day, and still get the same wage as I do now, thus passing-on the 'benefits' (translation: cost reductions) of automation directly to the workforce !!

SAME PAY AS NOW, SHORTER SHIFT = IN EFFECT, A PAY INCREASE !!!!

[Moriarty]

Just on an aside... Why the hell was this booklet not proof read? It is littered with spelling mistakes, repeated sentences and paragraphs. I was going to show this to work colleagues who aren't in the Union in an effort that they won't be indoctrinated by the RM propaganda machine.

I'm having second thoughts now, as I am embarrassed that this was allowed to be printed in it's current condition.

Right now that's off my chest.... As you were!

[DGP1]

I wouldn't bet on outdoor element not changing. We will at sometime soon (not this year but probaly within the next 2) move to longer delivery spans 4hrs or 4hrs 30mins. And the union will most likely agree to allow P/T to progress to F/T.

at this stage i'll settel for not getting shafted on a face saving deal on pegasus and indoor work tool I'd preffer not to have an agreement on these than, an agreement that gives RM everything they want!! and a geuinuine attempet to get us somthing better on pensions. but i wont hold my breath.

belle smith

Sorry, I keep on forgetting that most offices still have town duties of 3½ hours and not like in my office with a vast majority of rural and van share duties that are between 5½ and 6 hours.