Why do we need local agreements? surely national is the way

[shrew1]

Can anyone tell me why the union is still entertaining the idea of Local agreements within a national agreement. It's a reciepie for disaster in my opinion. Surely local agreements will give royalmail the licence to do what they want again. especially in offices that have not got a strong union. We all work for the same company, what we need is a watertight national agreement. With no mention of Local. Why is local ever mentioned anyway? any ideas?

[delboy]

Ye have to agree with you on that..

[shrew1]

If we get an agreement this time that relies on local reps to negotiate change i'll completely lose any hope of having a decent future with royal mail. I'm pinning all my hopes on the union getting an agreed ratio of full time to part time jobs and then a resign. If it's all done local, it's a disaster for me.

[norbert]

If we get an agreement this time that relies on local reps to negotiate change i'll completely lose any hope of having a decent future with royal mail. I'm pinning all my hopes on the union getting an agreed ratio of full time to part time jobs and then a resign. If it's all done local, it's a disaster for me.

we went on strike every week for 2 months for it in another Industry , apparently we were stuck in the 50's but better that then 19th Century Workplace management .

They got round it by splitting everything up , you just had staff reps ( some good , some absolutely awful ) and profit centre reps . At one time the Union Regional Organizer was only for emergencies , say if they'd caught somebody fiddling but he ended up dealing with too much on a far too big patch . So you had to be "rep" yourself , I ended up on a trumped up " Hostilty " to management " charge - technically / reluctantly I was but it was more of a case of who was calling who hostile

I'm afraid I saw this coming in 2007 but the only alternative would have been all out which RM would have loved as it's Thatcher / McGregor V Scargill to them

[DirtyHarry]

The likes of Crozier and Higson must never get away with another crap agreement like the 2007 one. No abandoning local reps to try and get a decent deal for their respective units. That's exactly why we've all suffered two seemingly endless years of bullying, harassment, and intimidation, from management.

WHAT WE WANT, IS A LEGALY-BINDING NATIONAL AGREEMENT THAT PROTECTS EVERY POSTAL WORKER'S RIGHT TO BE TREATED HUMANELY, SHOWN SOME DECENCY AND RESPECT, AND NOT BE TREATED LIKE TWO-LEGGED MULES BY A MANAGEMENT THAT HAVE TAKEN GROSS INCOMPETENCE TO WHOLE NEW LEVELS.
IF, A POSTAL WORKER STARTS AT 6AM, AND FINISHES AT 2AM, DOESN'T MAKE ANY TIME OUT OF THE JOB, AND GIVES MULTI-MILLIONAIRE CROZIER WHAT HE WANTS, THAT LOW-PAID WORKERS WORK EVERY HOUR THEY'RE PAID, THEN THAT'S THAT, NO EXTRA WORKLOAD.

[nelp]

The problem with just a national agreement is that it ties the hands of local reps. As an example in our area half the offices where on a four day week whilst the others were on a five day week, if a national agreement set to meany ratios some offices will lose out significantly and it has to be said thta this will be the offices that are strong and with the better reps. What needs to be done is that area reps should make sure that the stronger offices get there deals sorted out first and then help the weaker ones pick up the lead of the offices that are already in with good deals.

A national deal only would lead to whole sale resignations of talented local reps that do not want there hands tied in negotitions. Rember that Royal Mail would love a national agreement only so they can down grade everyone's tterms and conditions to the lowest possible factor within a national agreement

[mailman71]

this is what i posted weeks ago any agreements have got to be crystal clear so its not about the union thinking one thing and royal mail interpreting it another way.

[stevie247]

nelp wrote:A national deal only would lead to whole sale resignations of talented local reps that do not want there hands tied in negotitions. Rember that Royal Mail would love a national agreement only so they can down grade everyone's tterms and conditions to the lowest possible factor within a national agreement

You and some other larger delivery offices might have talented reps who will make a good deal but what happens to smaller offices with DOMs that interpret any agreement their way we would have to go on strike locally(already done that) who nationally would take any notice of our plight.How can a national agreement downgrade terms and conditions,IMHO LOCAL agreements do.

[damo]

the trouble with local agreements to my way of thinking are,if something goes wrong with that agreement where the workforce in that office feel obliged to take industrial action they will be on their own,then you are back to being picked off one by one.

[spilie]

it boils down to powerful areas wanting to get a better deal for thier area, but that has led to a lot of the problems we have now, we need a National agreement and if as has already been said we leave things to local level then the weaker areas will bear the brunt as they have been for the last 2 years

[lekker]

it boils down to powerful areas wanting to get a better deal for thier area, but that has led to a lot of the problems we have now, we need a National agreement and if as has already been said we leave things to local level then the weaker areas will bear the brunt as they have been for the last 2 years

The main problem is, imho, is that all offices work differently, have different attendance times, different duty types, etc. Therefore however good (or bad) a national agreement is there has to be local agreements in each office to implement that agreement. It is very easy to come on here and criticise local reps as being useless, up the manager's arse or whatever but being a local rep is sometimes a thankless job as you can't please all of the people,etc.

If you rep really is useless then the answer is in your hands. Do the job yourself - moaning about those who do it is really quite easy. sorting the mess out really isn't . your shout

[Lincox]

There has to be national minimum standards and rules or else we end up with thousands of individual workplace agreements with all the bickering and disagreements this poses. So easy for RM Managers to pick off and impose their terms and the end of a National Union. We are strong because we are national. Divided our strength diminishes.

[spilie]

nobody is saying local reps are good or bad, what i am saying is that stronger areas will agree better deals than weaker ones that has been obvious for years, and yes some things minor ones, can be agreed locally but lets not forget we are a national union and should be securing a deal based on the whole of the union

[DirtyHarry]

Local agreements only serve to help RM management in its "divide and conquer" strategy.
No more passing the buck down to local reps, we want a National deal that's fair to every postal worker from Land's End to John O Groats.
No postal worker, no rep, no unit, should feel isolated. Not this time.

[spilie]

harry