Royal Mail's obstacles to delivering a package of reforms:

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Royal Mail's obstacles to delivering a package of reforms: the postman's story

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009 ... er-reforms" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The stoppages may have halted for Christmas but grievances over workloads and pay at Royal Mail are unresolved

"I have to deliver loads of Christmas cards that have already been opened," Mick the postman tells me as we turn the corner into another snowy street. "It's embarrassing. I think some casual workers steal the contents of the cards in the sorting room.

"There's also still loads of undelivered Christmas cards that probably won't be delivered in time because the managers make us deliver junk mail and there's just not enough time in the day."

Mick, who has been working for the Royal Mail for nearly seven years, is completing one of his last rounds before Christmas, weighed down by some of the millions of cards and parcels we send to make this the company's busiest time of year.

But his burden feels greater than ever this year after the bitter strikes over modernisation proposals in the autumn that threatened to destroy the company.

The Royal Mail and the Communication Workers Union (CWU), which represents Mick and his fellow postal workers, are now in their second month of talks to resolve the dispute, which caused widespread disruption of deliveries all over Britain and led some large customers to say they would seek alternative providers.

The talks will resume next month, when both sides hope to announce a long-term agreement over Royal Mail's modernisation programme and how it affects workers' hours, job security and workload. However, along with pay, it is this last issue that is at the forefront of postal workers' concerns.

Mick says that thanks to new routes and hours, he has to deliver more post in less time. "The walks are so long. We can't finish them," he said. "It used to be until 3.30pm, but now it's just until 2pm. We can't finish the rounds and the managers are asking why not.

"Christmas is especially difficult because we have lots of big packages to deliver because people are now ordering a lot of their presents off the internet."

In a recent edition of the BBC's Panorama programme, an ex-marine tried to do a postal round walking at a pace of 4mph – the alleged rate required by the Royal Mail. He failed to finish in time.

"All the Panorama guy was delivering was leaflets and he didn't have to go into any tower blocks, which takes about 15 minutes to do. It was an easy round but he still couldn't finish it," says the postman.

The CWU said the system the Royal Mail uses to determine routes has a default mode of 4mph. Managers are supposed to take the difficulty of the route into consideration but are failing to do so.

The company categorically denies that anyone is required to walk at a speed of 4mph and said that the average walking speed is 2mph but in some cases is quicker.

Royal Mail has taken on a lot of casual workers this year, but Mick says this is more a hindrance than a help.

"We used to have a couple of casuals on at Christmas but now we have loads. Some don't speak very good English so it's really hard to explain to them what they should be doing. A lot of them don't know the area where they are meant to be delivering post so there are a lot of misdeliveries. Another big problem is the amount of thefts, which I think is down to the casual workers."

As we continued on the route, the postman chats with customers, many of them elderly, who open their doors to him. But he says he should not be talking to them. "I understand what the Royal Mail is saying about four miles an hour but you have to talk to the customers. It's about manners. There are a lot of old people around here and they haven't spoken to anyone in a week and want to chat.

"I asked my manager what I'm supposed to do if I'm meant to be going at four miles an hour and someone wants to talk to me. He told me to just walk on. For example, I'm not meant to give the elderly man I just spoke to the time of day."

The dispute erupted into a full-scale national strike in October after months of separate stoppages in regional offices. At its heart was "modernisation" – a term much bandied around by both sides, but with crucially different views as to what it should mean.

Neither the CWU nor the Royal Mail deny that the company desperately needs to modernise.

Royal Mail is much less efficient than its private sector competitors such as TNT, and its workers have to spend hours sorting mail by hand before starting their rounds.

Its failings go back years. When Royal Mail was profitable a decade and more ago, the government creamed off the profits and did not reinvest in the business. It halted pension payments for several years and so contributed to the estimated £10bn deficit today. The UK also opened up its postal market to foreign competition more quickly than other countries, when Royal Mail was in no position to compete.

When the talks resume in the new year, the CWU will also press for a pay rise, particularly after the state-owned company announced earlier this month a rise in operating profits for the first half of the year. Royal Mail froze pay in April indefinitely.

Most of the strikes were for one or two days a week and the postal staff worked the other days, but Mick tells me that Royal Mail made life very difficult for them on the days they worked.

"There were stacks upon stacks of first-class mail but they made us deliver leaflets. They knew we would get a hard time for it from the public.

"I saw it as a form of punishment. A lot of the places around here are businesses that are dependent on their post. People were waiting for important letters and then got a pizza delivery leaflet through their doors instead – the amount of flack we got for delivering those leaflets."

Mick told me that he feels sorry for the public because of the service they are getting.

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: "Our postmen and women are our ambassadors and we are more than happy for them to greet and talk to their customers … We don't deliver unaddressed mail during the busiest Christmas period … The amount of agency staff employed this Christmas is around 15,000 – much the same as last year."

[DGP1]

The amount of agency staff employed this Christmas is around 15,000 – much the same as last year."

So what about all those extra that where brought in during the strikes

[axeman]

Mick says that thanks to new routes and hours, he has to deliver more post in less time. "The walks are so long. We can't finish them," he said. "It used to be until 3.30pm, but now it's just until 2pm. We can't finish the rounds and the managers are asking why not.


think it's the wrong way round ????

[OnAFlyer]

"I have to deliver loads of Christmas cards that have already been opened,"

Loads of cards come open and are ripped, it's usually because the flaps don't seal properly like normal envelopes. Someone who's been a postie for 7 years would know that surely.

All the Panorama guy was delivering was leaflets and he didn't have to go into any tower blocks, which takes about 15 minutes to do. It was an easy round but he still couldn't finish it," says the postman.

Since when does the fact a walk has tower blocks mean that it's harder than another? How does he know the walk on Panorama was easy?

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Mick says that thanks to new routes and hours, he has to deliver more post in less time. "The walks are so long. We can't finish them," he said. "It used to be until 3.30pm, but now it's just until 2pm. We can't finish the rounds and the managers are asking why not.


think it's the wrong way round ????

He may have been one of those on 4 day weeks 9 Day fortnights (10 Hour days) and got Exec'd into 5 day weeks (8 Hour days) without the duties being changed,.

[axeman]

forgot about those because we don't have any

[Lounge Lizard]

"There's also still loads of undelivered Christmas cards that probably won't be delivered in time because the managers make us deliver junk mail and there's just not enough time in the day."
So does he expect time to be spent segregating 'junk mail' from Christma cards ?

[TrueBlueTerrier]

"There's also still loads of undelivered Christmas cards that probably won't be delivered in time because the managers make us deliver junk mail and there's just not enough time in the day."
So does he expect time to be spent segregating 'junk mail' from Christmas cards ?

My experience this year was that RM already do that 90% of the DSA and MS came machined, whilst 90% of the cards came manually.

[norbert]

"There's also still loads of undelivered Christmas cards that probably won't be delivered in time because the managers make us deliver junk mail and there's just not enough time in the day."
So does he expect time to be spent segregating 'junk mail' from Christmas cards ?

My experience this year was that RM already do that 90% of the DSA and MS came machined, whilst 90% of the cards came manually.

they would be manual , red envelopes , pink envelopes , people addressing them in white and silver & over sized envelopes all upsetting the machines

[axeman]

they also used many managers ........iv'e heard perhaps the same 'flying squads' used during the strike action the 'gofors'