Is this agreement the CWU suicide note.

[pop it in pete]

United we stand divided we fall.
Well many branches are becomming smaller with the closure of mail centers up and down the country.
Part timers are being unfairly treated on payments for d2d (pro rarta) where are the new delivery members comming from in the future? well should be from new part-timers but not with this deal.
Weird and wonderful dutys with a dispersed workforce working to various duty plans no hope in hell of having union meetings at work. How the hell is the unit rep going to get to meet up with the work force.
Many full timers now out of pocket with regards to d2d and limited chance of docket.
The C.W.U. will become more and more like the shop workers union USDAW no real power at all just and insurance policy for the workforce.
Sould we let this happen?

[geoffrey6760]

join the unite union like so many did in our office, so we can get the twoface cwu rep out of office. Down with the dead face CWU

[Big Daz]

You forget one thing we are not just a union covering workers in RML or RMG.

The CWU will continue even if it becomes a smaller union.


http://www.cwu.org/about-us.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

About Us

Structure
The Communication Workers Union (CWU) is the biggest union for the communications industry in the UK with 250,000 members. It was formed in January 1995 when the Union of Communication Workers joined forces with the National Communications Union.

Our members
CWU members work in the Post Office, BT and other telephone companies, cable TV, Accenture HR Services, financial services, and the Alliance & Leicester. Our members' expertise includes engineering, computing, clerical, mechanical, driving, retail, financial and manual skills.

[Body Beyond Repair]

Its all over for RML members and only a fool would believe this is not the case!!!

[POSTMAN]

join the unite union like so many did in our office, so we can get the twoface cwu rep out of office. Down with the dead face CWU

How does that work then?

[fishtank]

You forget one thing we are not just a union covering workers in RML or RMG.

The CWU will continue even if it becomes a smaller union.

This Conference recognises that the survival of the CWU as a stand alone Union is under real threat through a long term declining membership. Since the merger
of the UCW/NCU there has been no real open review of the structure at CWU Headquarters, which has left the Union with a top heavy structure.To enable the CWU to remain an Industrial force in every workplace where we have members a review of CWU Headquarters and the structure at National level must take place immediately.
Conference therefore instructs the NEC to commission a full independent review and for the contents and recommendations of that review to be the subject of a
report to Annual Conference 2011 for ratification and or amendment. The review must have the main objective of sustaining a strong and independent
CWU presence in the workplace and ensure we are able to represent our members interests for future years. The Review must also consider a long term view of how to reduce the number of National Officers and Assistant Secretaries across the Telecom and Postal Sections and it must also consider how to reduce the National Executive Council This list is not exhaustive. Kent Invicta

This conference instructs the NEC to produce a report published no later than December 2010 with regards the future vision of the union in the next five to ten years.
The Report to contain the various options:
1. To remain a stand alone union
2. To merge with another union in the Communications Sector
3. To merge with another union in the Financial Sector
4. To merge with another union in the Transport / Warehousing Sector
5. To merge with a big organising union
This List is not exhaustive and any other views or ideas to be included in the report. The report must also include the view of branches and regions.
Merseyside Amal

Conference notes recent presentations from the NEC highlighting that yet again the CWU is in financial difficulty and faces the prospect of bankruptcy by 2011 if spending and membership decline go unchecked. Conference instructs the NEC to change national elections from taking place annually to biennially. This will take effect immediately with the next elections taking place in the spring of 2012.
North West Regional Committee
Oldham and Rochdale Amal

The upcoming conference is littered with these warnings Daz.
Membership levels are declining across the board.
Did you know the CWU has it's very own pension deficit crisis that threatens to bankrupt the union?

[Big Daz]

Fishtank

The basis of my point was many posters think the CWU will fall purley on the basis of disgruntled RML workers pulling out due to the proposed agreement. If the CWU falls it will will likely be due to a range of problems.

[fishtank]

Fishtank

The basis of my point was many posters think the CWU will fall purley on the basis of disgruntled RML workers pulling out due to the proposed agreement. If the CWU falls it will will likely be due to a range of problems.

I agree Daz financial mismanagement and an overcrowded gravy train will also play a part but the CWUs position is so precarious at the moment that any significant withdrawal of postal members MAY just tip it over the edge.

[martinfromswindon]

Geoffrey 6760 - what's the point of joining UNITE? It doesn't have negotiating rights for your grades. The CWU is your union - campaign for a NO vote as the start of organising to win back control of YOUR union.
Everybody who leaves is one less No vote and would play into the hands of the people who want to sell this proposal.

[pop it in pete]

Well some thought provoking posts. I must say my intention was not to encourage to join another union. Whats the point it would not be recognised by RM. My point is to highlight how this agreement, if passed would make it even more and more difficult to organise and recruite within a fragmented divided workforce within a wide spred network of delivery offices. The comparison with USDAW i feel is valid. They have no real industrial strength and neither will we. To become stronger the unit rep will have to become more of a powerfull force within the structure. Which some could argue could happen with this deal. Do we now look to breaking branches up into smaller units to reflect this or do we struggle with the top heavy system we have now. Suicide note or window of oppotunity?

[MinisterofCucumber]

The unit reps are volunteers and are treated contemptuously by the CWU gravy trainers.

Unit reps are the interface with postal workers and they deserve a decent system to back them up. The CWU fails to do this as the training they offer is largely irrelevant and most of the gravy trainers find it hard to understand what is written down in front of them, let alone defend you. On top of this, most of the gravy trainers' loyalties lie with the increasingly stalinist Labour Party.

Unit reps need to have quick access to expert advice. They can get this on RMC but members need to be aware that this site exists.

My advice is to stay in the union for the moment, vote 'no' to this shitty proposal and use this site to bypass the gravy trainers if you need any help. If any union official tries to tell you that you must vote 'yes', show them what you think of them.

Remember that this so-called 'agreement' is all about meeting the December 31st 2010 deadline of accomplishing full market opening of the postal sector in the EU. Don't believe any other bollocks they tell you.

[BELIAL]

A period of unprecedented change in our workplaces;no let up in the onslaught of attacks on our terms and conditions;levels of bullying and harassment like never before. A reasonable person might look at this set of circumstances and conclude that there have never been better conditions for recruitment to the membership . All we get is the exact opposite ,a mass exodus. At what point will the leadership accept that the direction they are taking this union in has proved to be a monumental failure?

[Big Daz]

Well some thought provoking posts. I must say my intention was not to encourage to join another union. Whats the point it would not be recognised by RM. My point is to highlight how this agreement, if passed would make it even more and more difficult to organise and recruite within a fragmented divided workforce within a wide spred network of delivery offices. The comparison with USDAW i feel is valid. They have no real industrial strength and neither will we. To become stronger the unit rep will have to become more of a powerfull force within the structure. Which some could argue could happen with this deal. Do we now look to breaking branches up into smaller units to reflect this or do we struggle with the top heavy system we have now. Suicide note or window of oppotunity?

Branches were much smaller once, for example my D.O was a branch with a branch sec now that position is known as unit rep and also we had a treasurer and a committee.

Im all in favour of devolution, where do i sign up?

[DirtyHarry]

United we stand divided we fall.
Well many branches are becomming smaller with the closure of mail centers up and down the country.
Part timers are being unfairly treated on payments for d2d (pro rarta) where are the new delivery members comming from in the future? well should be from new part-timers but not with this deal.
Weird and wonderful dutys with a dispersed workforce working to various duty plans no hope in hell of having union meetings at work. How the hell is the unit rep going to get to meet up with the work force.
Many full timers now out of pocket with regards to d2d and limited chance of docket.
The C.W.U. will become more and more like the shop workers union USDAW no real power at all just and insurance policy for the workforce.
Sould we let this happen?

The CWU isn't much use as an insurance policy now, despite the obviously increasing stresses and strains our job is putting on all of us, how many have survived the dreaded third stage of the inhumane attendance procedure over the last 2/3 years?
Not many, in fact, I can't think of any, in West London. Only the other week, I heard that one of our members in a neighbouring office had been in for their stage three interview, their first in over 22 years service, and they were dismissed from service, despite much of their abscence being spent lying in a hospital bed.
Now I can understand if they got rid of people continually absent for "colds, coughs, runny noses," etc, but something that required hospitalisation? And the CWU could do jack about it?
As I've said on few occasions, if this shyte deal gets voted in by the Turkeys, I'll be saving myself £150 a year and take my chances, rather than give the feckless tossers in Wimbledon £150 per year, and yet still be taking my chances.

[dvbuk55]

I too would look at unite as a means to an end. Much is placed on the local negotiation aspect of the agreements we have endured or will endure. Unit reps are the shield at unit level and provided they are on board, they are aware of the scope of the agreement and would not be bowed by loyalty to the CWU, then Unite provides the insurance cover - without financial support and a broad enough membership base it makes you wonder how loyal to the CWU Royal Mail would be. Probably about as loyal as the CWU have been to the rank and file.