Not in the least the reason its taken so long is that the union is not accepting all of Royal Mail`s agenda. The problem is this with the issues being discussed :
Changes to workplans are not normally negotiatble as they are circulation changes. The introduction of car derived vans remove weight on the shoulder and ban the use of private cars on delivery.
An agreement on Geo route is a long standing policy , an agreement on standards will mean that managers cannot remove indivduals from pay for achieving unagreed standards made up by management and often unachievable. An agreement on Door to Door will protect full time jobs as unaddressed items is still growing and is a long standing policy of the CWU.
The delivery span being flexiable allows staff within an office to choose what spans suit staff and in fact they can have a`la carte of spans depending on how many full time jobs you wanted and this will vary when you eventually have walk sequencing.
The issue of later Saturdays is probably the hardest to tackle and will be very unpopular. However as the workplan and sequencing will run 6 days per week then Royal Mail want later saturdays. This will be the hardest issue to resolve and all the negotatiors are aware of this.
Now in terms of benefits there are a number which are being discussed, committment to maximising full time jobs in an automated enviorment should not be underestimated , A new improved pay package , shorter working week , a Door to Door payment paid 52 weeks per year , protenitally a new rate for working saturdays ( anyone remember saturday premium ) Job security plus a few more.
So the union is not in the market for any sell out. Of course members will come to their own conclusions on whether the deal if their is one , is good enough once they see the agreement. But remember deliveries is only one strand of a number which will make up any agreement.
Without doubt the negotations are tough because Royal Mail as everyone knows has an agenda too.
