Finally had our meeting today

[tiggle]

our meeting was presented by the rep with the aid of a flip chart. he apparently wants a yes vote even though his chart showed we'd be worse off. basically its the usual scare tactics. you're not doing enough to keep full time but thank god royal mail has come up with a solution. you can use d2d to take up the slack and even be paid £6 for doing them. fantastic.he put forward such a good case, i think everyone will be voting no.

[POSTMAN]

London used as an example saying they will be £20better off as they don't do d2d.

[hampshireman]

We had our 'presentation' today in WTLL.

Our DOM is actually quite a decent guy; but he obviously was toeing the line in how and what to present.

No mention of extended outdoor time; no proper explanation of the £20.60 supplement; emphasis on the £400 and £1,000 lump sums; and a few other things that I wont bother with.

Now, I am not in the Union (though i must admit that I am considering joining , just so I can vote)

Why was I the only one that brought up any points? Why had noone read the agreement apart from me? Why had the Union Members not been briefed by the Rep?

I should have been suprised ; but I was not.

This office will almost certainly vote YES; mainly due to apathy.

As an aside. The DOM said that as of Monday no one can come in early. The reaction was astounding. They still want to come in an hour early (for free) , so that they can get out on time and finish early!!!

Also he said that all hours must be worked.

Cue disbelief all round.

I rest my case.

[BIG MICK]

As an aside. The DOM said that as of Monday no one can come in early. The reaction was astounding. They still want to come in an hour early (for free) , so that they can get out on time and finish early!!!

Also he said that all hours must be worked.

Cue disbelief all round.

I rest my case.[/quote]

Bang on Hampshireman.. we were told last year that nobody was allowed to come in early, but nobody took any notice, and management turned a blind eye to it (for obvious reasons) - half of my office still live in the rose-tinted fairytale world of pre 2000.. and cannot comprehend a P.M. finish, let alone 2.30 P.M.. some part-timers are in at 5.30 a.m... out on delivery at 9.10 and done for 11.45 every day... they are in for a real shock now.

[martinfromswindon]

More junk from Royal Mail


A London Postal Worker calls for rejection of the CWU/Royal Mail agreement

Four months since the national postal strikes were called off, the leadership of the CWU and Royal Mail management have finally come up with the long-awaited agreement they were supposed to reach back in December. As if to show how hard at work they have been, the document stretches to 80 pages.

The good news is that maternity pay would increase from 18 to 26 weeks and paternity pay from one to two weeks. And ……. er that’s it. Everything else is tied up in strings linked to cutting jobs and increasing workloads, or at best, attempting to sweeten the pain.

Thus the media has been trumpeting the fact that we would get a 7% pay increase. Yes, but even the document says this would be over 3 years, with the 3rd increase open to renegotiation depending on circumstances (quite what might hold them to that is unclear). But, anyway, this increase is over 4 years if you take into account that we got no increase last year. Currently inflation is running at 3.5% and expected to rise, so 2% this year and 7% over 3 years are pay cuts.

The media also says we are to get £2,400 in lump sums. But hold on. £1,000 of that was due to us anyway under the sham Colleagueshare scheme. We would be paid that over 3 years if we agree to this package of proposals. So what was ours anyway now comes with strings. The other£1,400 is also spread over a couple of years and dependent on the “successful” introduction of new technology (read job losses and greater workloads).

A cut in the working week of 1 hour to 39 hours (union policy is 35 hours). But not for 3 years, and then not for everyone, with some getting (not even pro rata) pay increases instead.

In a new departure, differential (non-pensionable) payments are to be introduced for workers in different sectors of the business (deliveries, processing, distribution etc). For delivery workers this would be a £20.60 per week payment, replacing the “early start” payment and the “per item” payment for unaddressed Door to Door” (aka junk) mail. But hold on, many delivery workers around the country already get more than this between these two payments – another pay cut. And to add insult to injury the current limit of 3 items per household per week of junk mail is to be removed, with no new limit. Oh, and junk mail would also be delivered in the run up to Christmas, unlike at present. So, in exchange for delivering lots more stuff that no-one wants, many workers will take another pay cut.

There’s more – delivery workers would start and finish later, Saturday’s would be of the same length as Monday to Friday, and the current limit of 3½ to 4 hours on delivery would be lifted, with no new limit.

Although the document puts no figures on jobs to be lost or mail centres to close (why?), estimates of between 12,500 and 25,000 jobs to go over the 3 year period and 50% of mail centres to close have not been denied. There is a commitment (of sorts) to no compulsory redundancies, and to keeping a 3-1 ration of full-time to part-time workers. There are frequent references to consultation with the union over closures, but not agreement and several passages imply the national (and local?) union would be expected to help Royal Mail police the agreement.

Given its length, there are massive gaps in the document, so there is no joint appeal to the government to address the £10 billion deficit in the pension fund or the arrangement by which Royal Mail subsidises its competitors by charging them less to deliver their mail than it actually costs.

Benefits for the customer? On top of more junk mail your deliveries will also be later.

The document is not without its touches of humour, constantly referring to Royal Mail’s commitment to the safety of its employees and to good industrial relations. It’s just that none of us had noticed.

What the media hasn’t pointed out is that this is not a done deal until it has been agreed in a ballot of union members. Contrary to the expectations of some (including this reporter), the CWU has not gone for a snap ballot of the membership on the deal, rather they are arguing there are issues to be resolved first, with rumours of them even waiting until after the general election. What is true is that both management and the national union are desperate to get endorsement for this deal, management so they can get back to cutting costs with union consent and without strikes in response, and the union because they know that the alternative to this managed decline is not only industrial action well beyond what they were prepared to contemplate last year, but also a political strategy which challenges the idea that workers should pay and takes up the battle for the full restoration of the postal service to public ownership. And that is the challenge facing those of us arguing for rejection of this deal.

The danger is that many postal workers will be cynical that a leadership that negotiated this will not do any better if it is rejected, feeling they might as well take the money on offer, even if they are aware of the strings. At the time of writing, the good news is that the Branch Committee of Bristol CWU branch, one of the largest in the country, has voted unanimously to recommend rejection of the deal.

Fromhttp://solidaritymagazine.wordpress.com

[Tired Old Git]

We had our meeting in Bilston today, same as everyone else
the dom gave it & didn't know all the answers,
good on our rep he stood the side of him and any questions we wanted answering he tried his best to answer
he did no try to sell the deal at all, but he also did not try to persuade us to vote no,
our rep told us to read the agreement and make our own decision, we all know he is against the agreement

I've read it and its a NO from me & everyone in our office who has read it says the same

[headscrewedon]

We had our 'presentation' today in WTLL.

Our DOM is actually quite a decent guy; but he obviously was toeing the line in how and what to present.

No mention of extended outdoor time; no proper explanation of the £20.60 supplement; emphasis on the £400 and £1,000 lump sums; and a few other things that I wont bother with.

Now, I am not in the Union (though i must admit that I am considering joining , just so I can vote)

Why was I the only one that brought up any points? Why had noone read the agreement apart from me? Why had the Union Members not been briefed by the Rep?

I should have been suprised ; but I was not.

This office will almost certainly vote YES; mainly due to apathy.

I hate to say it Tired Old Git & hampshireman, but those attitudes are what we are up against.

Apathy from those who don't vote at all, and greed from those who hear about the lump sums in these kind of briefings and just don't hear the other bits when they're daydreaming about what to spend the lump sums on. They will just vote yes and think only of the short-term money

[ziggy]

Had our meeting today . Manager chose to have it half an hour before us part timers arrived for work so we had no input no surprise there then

[music4essex]

Ours is tomorrow with Doms and area CWU rep and I am going in on my holiday week off armed with 7 questions and below.

As I am sure my office though a few of us have found out about parts of the agreement most of the office are a bit green.

Are my questions below going to be ok to ask comments please I will not post area or my usual name

Unrestricted delivery spans (i.e. 3pm last letter for 5 day duty to include sat
What does it mean walk back to office with Hct could take 20-30mins then undelivered mail i.e. Packets specials have to be sorted so possibility finish at 4pm or even worse over.

2. Delivery spans are suppose to have an enabler what does it mean? You talk about 75 percent F/T to 25 percent P/T because in this office it has been banded about 6 delivery duties will go so how will a p/t be able to go F/T

3. Delivery methods Mandatory HCT , how many bags does HCT hold for H/S reasons if walks are to increase?( a few of us years ago tried these and was unable to get on with them due to back strain)but the actual agreement states cycles can be used. Which brings into question Zero accidents what do RM think we like to be bitten by dogs or knocked over by cars we cannot help if third parties are involved and not our doing

4. D2D Flexibility what does it mean? Named day could be Saturday so longer delivery on Saturday
We have been doing 3 per week for quite a while.D2D payments/rewards RM advocate D2D will be a payment each week of £20.60 for indoor and out door staff and pro rata for P/T at present most walks are 400 calls so that already is about £20 per week, then £10-12 ESA, then Def Area Supp £10 so that equates to £40 P/W but you want most people to accept £20Pw and pro rata for P/T when they actually get probably £20 PW now why should outdoor get the same as an indoor this is not fair for anyone.

5 Rewards It states After the revision of process then we will get the lump sum payments? With such a complex issue, this is not likely to happen.what is scope for recycling lose Area D Payments plus a possibility of Collegue shares not being paid.

Pay Rise is April 2010 2 percent but we have had a pay freeze so in reality it is about 1 per cent

6. Delivery measurement how is this done and by who because this would also incorparate RM vision for World class mail which they are saying everything is subject to negotiation what happens if we don't agree I.E take for example when we had snow and we decided it was dangerous and Pinky ASM decided we should so Terms and conditions changes, and this will also have an impact on being in the top 10 performance and what happens if we don't achieve this as I am sure it will have an effect on and also will not trigger lump sum payments.

7. Workshops revision process who will be part of this just union rep or staff from various functions
What is Post revision management? What is the basis of RM vision of World Class mail and what impact does this have on Job Security as it seems if at any point the workforce disagree with what is to be implemented? Then Terms and Condition will be changed when RM advocate this will be kept to a minimum

I must be mad to go in but to me it is important enough to

from a delivery office somwhere in Essex area

[jobies]

London used as an example saying they will be £20better off as they don't do d2d.

this is what we have been told for years London this London that blah blah.
They try to make out London do job wearing slippers and smoking a pipe.

[Big Daz]

I would like to see RM return to replacing FT staff with FT and giving PT in the office the chance to go FT as per the Way Forward agreement.

A statement saying we re affirm the PT to FT section of the WF would be a step in the right direction, if it can be done with the 2007 agreement it can be done with the WF

A number of FT at my D.O used to be PT but when FT vacanies came along all had first refusal before external recruitment took place.

Ok it dosent alter the overall balance, but it stops PT/FT ratio increasing in favour of PT.

[norfolk n chance]

We had our meeting in Bilston today, same as everyone else
the dom gave it & didn't know all the answers,
good on our rep he stood the side of him and any questions we wanted answering he tried his best to answer
he did no try to sell the deal at all, but he also did not try to persuade us to vote no,
our rep told us to read the agreement and make our own decision, we all know he is against the agreement

I've read it and its a NO from me & everyone in our office who has read it says the same

hello mate
yes the DOM was not fully aware of what was going on
hope i answered all your questions, as you all know I'm a no voter

i did get a visit later on from the branch,saying that they want to be present at the meeting..so it has to be done again next week
they don't like it that i might be persuading you to vote no

[labbloke]

Pity the same didnt happen in Dingle world, Norfolk.

Our onion rep and branch seem to have lost the capacity to understand what goes on in the real world.

Never mind they always ave a CWU round or F/T release to go back too when they finish selling us down.

Not for too much longer though