Am I really striking for London?

[Sci_Dog]

Hello troops,

hope you are all well?

I am a full-time delivery postie in Northern Ireland. I work in an office of about 120 people in total (including part-timers). About 70% of the office is rural deliveries and the remaining 30% town walks. We had 'job and finish' but this was done away with about 2 years ago. We know have-

(1) Flexibilty
(2) Longs and shorts
(3) Summer lapsing
(4) Absorption
(5) Pegasus
(6) All paid hours to be worked
(7) Telemetry (Not implemented yet but is on the horizon)

Not one or two of the above but all 7. Yes they all intertwine one way or another. However how many other offices are working to these practices?

Flexibilty-Pretty simple. If you finish early 20 mins one day your expected to work it up through the week. It HAS to be worked up though. We do not get paid for 20 mins work we haven't done.

Longs and shorts-These are my hours for the week-Monday 6am-2pm Tuesday 6.30am-2pm Wednesday 6am-2pm Thursday 6am-2.15pm Friday 6am-2.15pm Saturday 5.45am-1.45pm. I have to work to these start and finish times and also be flexible as well.

Summer lapsing-The mail is supposedly lighter in the summer hence we should be finished earlier from delivery and be able to take part of another duty to make up our hours. This is supposed to happen only in the summer.

Absorption-Just another name for 'summer lapsing' so it can be done all year round.

Pegasus-We have had Pegasus duties for almost 2 years now. All duties supposed to be 3.5 hours or thereabouts. So wrong it's not even funny. No time given for the journey back and forth. No time given for redirections, endorsements etc. We have a spreadsheet on each and every frame claiming the times we should be working to. My DOM tells me these spreadsheets include time for redirections, endorsements. Absolute lies. I'm a floater for 5 town walks and they should all be equal according to Pegasus. One is at least 60 mins larger than the other!

All paid hours to be worked-Your 40 hour contract to be fulfilled each week. If you owe 30 mins work and when it comes to the last day of the week, you are expected to work that 30 mins on that day. One way or another. Usually a Saturday it has to be worked up. Nice, eh?

Telemetry-This is one for the rural deliveries. Not overly sure on every part of this. However I do know that all vans can be tracked exactly where it is. What speed your doing. Your fuel consumption. Your braking habits. Scary stuff the future, eh?

These all are in my office RIGHT NOW apart from telemetry which is on the horizon as I have said.

How many other offices are working to these practices? Not working to one or two of them. But all of them.

Is this what I am standing on the picket line for?

For my colleagues over the water who don't want these changes which I already HAVE to work to?

If you haven't these changes in your office yet then count yourself very lucky. Cause I can assure you the future is not very bright at all. If you have experienced these changes already then you have all my sympathy. You really do.

Thanks for reading.

Sci_Dog

[WHITEANT]

I TO R FROM YOUR PARTS dont give location ok ,but my office is same ,w e have pegasus .When the post office introduce it they say its for petrol consumption ,braking etc we asked would it be used to batterpostman against postman TO WHICH THEY REPLIED *WOULD WE DO A THING LIKE THAT* and true to there word THEY DO ,WHY WERE YOU STATIONERY HERE FOR 5 MINS ,its a spy in cab nothing more nothing less :lfo

[slave]

(1) Flexibilty - they bring it up if we say we can't complete but it very rarely gets used and to be honest it wouldn't work well in our office!!
(2) Longs and shorts - had them for ages, had them in a different office when SDD was introduced.
(3) Summer lapsing - yes, see below.
(4) Absorption - yes, see above, what's the difference apart from the name!
(5) Pegasus - had two revisions, last one was meant to do away with absorbing, which it did for about 1month then they brought it back in.. I like lies.
(6) All paid hours to be worked - I wish, whenever I'm absorbing/lapsing/having piss taken out of us, I work over my time pretty much every time.
(7) Telemetry (Not implemented yet but is on the horizon) - pass..Wouldn't put it past them to bring it in though. Surpised they don't come up with one for the postie walking the streets, ooh, you spent too long at that address, why? You stopped for more than a minute, keep it up and it's conduct code for you!

So, am I striking for London, nah, that's one of many management ploys trying to get people to not strike so they have less work to do.. I'm striking in the vain hope that some of this nonsense is rectified. They've piled too much on us and expect us to work for free not that I do but they will pull every trick in the book to try and get me to stop booking o/t (our DOM famously claimed we would have an o/t free office, still waiting, lol). I want to be treated with respect, not treated like something stuck to the bottom of their shoes. I want some clarification on the complete f**k up they've made of our pensions. I don't want to be lied to, time and time again. I want to be treated like an average human being not a robot that can be programmed to work at 100% for every hour I work on every day of each week.. Pay, couldn't give a toss, increase would be nice but I'd rather have no increase and all the above sorted out!

[banner18]

We are over the water and have all those you have listed implemented. We don't do the banking system though, that wouldn't be possible because most of the walks are in the suburbs, too difficult to bring everyone back for banking hours. Also, banking hours isn't agreed yet, but it looks as though RM has it in where it suits them. Your office has many rural drives, so it suits RM to have a banking system because you can all naturally return to the office. Where it would cost them more in getting conveyance and drivers, they simply don't bother.
There is also an agreement about absorbing the first day of sick absence, but we don't do that.

[coxie]

dont let the managment trick you into working, we need to strike or the future is bleak. I have most of what you listed in my office already.

[Sci_Dog]

dont let the managment trick you into working, we need to strike or the future is bleak. I have most of what you listed in my office already.

Most????

[POSTMAN]

sci you mention a lot about flexability,and everything you mention about it is not in the agreement!You lot are being taken for mugs.

[Martin Walsh]

No you are not striking for London , you are striking to have a future.

If your in deliveries then all the following will be implemented , later starts , with a later last letter once walk sequencing is deployed in your area with the roll out programme starting from Janauary, 3 O clock last letter for Towns and 4 O clock for rurals. The later starts increases the number of part timers. On top of this is Royal Mail want a longer delivery span ,later Saturdays and D2D into workload with out remuneration. Moreover Royal Mail will make all deliveries more than a mile from the office car derived van duties . The way they have been appoaching this is thus far is to make 4 walks into 2. They have stated they have 140 million to invest into this alone.

In addition everyone from January will get one or more of the following revisons , Walk Optimisation ( business as usual efficiency ) or Delivery Best Pratice Geo Route and Indoor workload tool with a longer span ( currently Royal Mail's position on the span is they dont want one overall span and want local offices to decide whether they want a longer span which protect a number of full time jobs or they want a shorter span which removes full time jobs ) , or a revison based on the new delivery modelwhich includes all of the above. Offices can have all, more than one or all 3 depending where they sit in the process.

At the moment on most of these issues Royal Mail are saying they dont want an agreement just an acceptance that the CWU will be involved and consulted on the roll out and introduction of these changes.

Royal Mail are also estimating that walk sequencing will save 20% of all prep work so that will form part of first bout of savings.

On top of this at the moment Royal Mail are not offer any safeguards be that no complusory redunandices or complusory transfers. Plus they are wanting to introduce all this without a single penny being given for the increases to productivity caused by these changes.

If you work in mail centres or Network then the future is equally bleak as they want to close further mail centres which mean not only less jobs in processing but less jobs in network.

So what we are striking for is a national agreement which ensures that CWU members are protected from any future changes and are rewarded in regards to better terms and conditions. We may not be able to stop or even want to stop all the above but anyone who wants to remain full time should be able to and we should get assurances on complusory redunaicies and ensure that we reach an agreement which provides for a framework which enables members to have a better futrue within the industry then what Royal Mail are currently offering.

So this is not just about London . Its about whether we all have a future in the industry. The CWU and all the workforce know that changes are going to happen, but that change must be agreed with this union and provide safeguards for anyone who wants to remain in Royal Mail be that in a full time job or part time.

Oh and last but not least Royal Mail have announced that if the pension deficit has increased ( which it has ) then they will close the pension scheme for existing members ( thats all of us ) so your pension which you have contributed 6% per year of your wages into your pension would be worthless as your lump sum and penion is dependent on your future years. So we are also fighting both Royal Mail and the Government to protect our pensions. Remember it was Royal Mail who took a 13 year pension hoiliday from paying into our pensions . That 13 year holiday has cost our pension scheme in the region of 5 billion and it shouldt be us who carry the can for Royal Mail`s failure.

So hopefully you and anyone else who was in doubt of what this dispute is about now knows and will support the strike. Remember if you want a future then you better fight for it because Royal Mail certainly wont provide one willingly

[BoyGeorge]

Hi I'm new to this but have been reading all the posts and have to say that for the past 2 years we;ve been doing the fore mentioned but with job n knock. If we finish early on 1 day we don't have to make it up the next. In our delivery office everything runs pretty smoothly.

[postmanx]

[Sci_Dog]

sci you mention a lot about flexability,and everything you mention about it is not in the agreement!You lot are being taken for mugs.

Surely that's what I pay my Union for? To fight for me and my conditions of work? What can I do or say? Sorry DOM I'm not or I won't. Perhaps I am or we are been taken for mugs. Are you telling me the Union has then let me down? The very same Union that wants me to strike?

[POSTMAN]

sci you mention a lot about flexability,and everything you mention about it is not in the agreement!You lot are being taken for mugs.

Surely that's what I pay my Union for? To fight for me and my conditions of work? What can I do or say? Sorry DOM I'm not or I won't. Perhaps I am or we are been taken for mugs. Are you telling me the Union has then let me down? The very same Union that wants me to strike?

errr part of the reason we are on strike is RM's abuse of existing agreements aka the flex one.

[Sci_Dog]

sci you mention a lot about flexability,and everything you mention about it is not in the agreement!You lot are being taken for mugs.

Surely that's what I pay my Union for? To fight for me and my conditions of work? What can I do or say? Sorry DOM I'm not or I won't. Perhaps I am or we are been taken for mugs. Are you telling me the Union has then let me down? The very same Union that wants me to strike?

errr part of the reason we are on strike is RM's abuse of existing agreements aka the flex one.

After the way the Union sold us short in 2007, I have very little faith this time. Very little faith. Lots of people on here have said they will die but they'll go down fighting. This has never been more true. The Union had their chance in 2007 to show Royal Mail we won't be pushed over. They failed. If they had of succeeded do you think my office would as you put it 'been taken for mugs'?

[banner18]

sci you mention a lot about flexability,and everything you mention about it is not in the agreement!You lot are being taken for mugs.

Surely that's what I pay my Union for? To fight for me and my conditions of work? What can I do or say? Sorry DOM I'm not or I won't. Perhaps I am or we are been taken for mugs. Are you telling me the Union has then let me down? The very same Union that wants me to strike?

errr part of the reason we are on strike is RM's abuse of existing agreements aka the flex one.

After the way the Union sold us short in 2007, I have very little faith this time. Very little faith. Lots of people on here have said they will die but they'll go down fighting. This has never been more true. The Union had their chance in 2007 to show Royal Mail we won't be pushed over. They failed. If they had of succeeded do you think my office would as you put it 'been taken for mugs'?

Roll over then, it sounds like you have already given up

[Sci_Dog]

sci you mention a lot about flexability,and everything you mention about it is not in the agreement!You lot are being taken for mugs.

Surely that's what I pay my Union for? To fight for me and my conditions of work? What can I do or say? Sorry DOM I'm not or I won't. Perhaps I am or we are been taken for mugs. Are you telling me the Union has then let me down? The very same Union that wants me to strike?

errr part of the reason we are on strike is RM's abuse of existing agreements aka the flex one.

After the way the Union sold us short in 2007, I have very little faith this time. Very little faith. Lots of people on here have said they will die but they'll go down fighting. This has never been more true. The Union had their chance in 2007 to show Royal Mail we won't be pushed over. They failed. If they had of succeeded do you think my office would as you put it 'been taken for mugs'?

Roll over then, it sounds like you have already given up

I'll still be on the picket line. Not that I'll have much faith in what it'll achieve though. And seriously, who can blame me? The Union rolled over and give up in 2007! If they had stood strong back then we wouldn't be in the position we are now! Royal Mail saw how easy it was to merely buy the Union and the Union members back in 2007. A few quid in the pocket was all it took to let Royal Mail walk all over us. They found out how easy it was to tear us apart 2 years ago. What has changed? Have we a new Union? Have we new Union members at the top? Not one thing has changed. Same s**t, different year. Too little, too late. 2007 was the year to shine not 2009. I hope I will be proved wrong. As at a betting man though, I wouldn't be putting cash on it. Not one penny would I stake to be proved wrong. So to answer your statement, I haven't give up, the Union give up on me back in 2007.