First Past the Post?

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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So Royal Mail has finally struck a deal with posties which will end a period of bitter strikes.

Or have they?

On the surface it may look like it. Both Royal Mail management and union leaders are certainly trumpeting the agreement as a triumph.

The CWU claims its 130,000 members will bag almost £5,000 in pay and bonuses from the landmark deal over the next three years.

Management stress the 80-page agreement also paves the way for much-needed modernisation.

The deal will doubtless also be used to justify a £2million golden goodbye bonus for Adam Crozier, who started his new job at ITV the day before the ballot result.

But modernisation will also mean widespread office closures and redundancies as workers are replaced by new machines, particularly in mail centres.

The deal also includes controversial clauses which will require posties to work later on Saturdays and, in some cases, deliver more junk mail for less money.

This may explain why, if you scratch the surface, you can see that the deal hardly has the ringing endorsement of the entire workforce.

In fact only just over half the 117,000 CWU members sent ballot papers bothered returning them.

And, of those that did vote, one in three opposed the deal.

So in reality the agreement has, at best, the support of 40% of Royal Mail's workforce.

That hardly looks like a thumping majority.

Having said that, under the current first-past-the-post voting system, it would still be more than enough to get any of the current Prime Ministerial candidates the keys to No10.

[DGP1]

The CWU claims its 130,000 members will bag almost £5,000 in pay and bonuses from the landmark deal over the next three years.

When do I get my £5k and does that include the loss I'll suffer from the deal.

[PostieWithTheMostie!]

There won't be a 5K over 3 years, plus it'll be Pro Rata too.. Also the 1's who don't mind working later on a Saturday is that just the Pr!©ks that want out of going shopping with their misses.. Cheers i won't be getting home til 5pm-7pm on a Saturday now with public transport running Saturday Services n fu©k knows what finishing time come Christmas time now.