Area rep and workshop

[Danelectro]

Spoke to the area rep yesterday(who backed the yes vote!) and he had just returned from the workshop and hes complaining that Bob Gibson has totally f****d up the D2D into workload and other workload issues.

At the workshop the six stage revision process was explained but when he asked for the numbers for performance,prep rates etc they said dont worry about the numbers we are all STRIVING to reach 100% efficiency!?It also looks like even after the panorama programme that the walkspeed in geo route will not be changed.

So it looks like the bullying and unachievable workloads are here to stay and we are left hanging with no support from HQ with the inevitable disciplinary line that is gonna come from the DOM's when you say you cant complete delivery in the time given.

There really needs to be some challenge to the leadership of the union as the present situations is serious and we the membership need answers and need them fast,because as many of us thought our own union are treating us with contempt.

[drb]

Your old Geo Route was based on budget.So you would feed in the hours in your office and it would spit out the amount of walks,(obviously less).Now the business have informed the managers it is based on efficiency. BSi? Well ACAS say 75%,the business say 100%.

[Martin Walsh]

I dont know who your area rep is but I have had the session on the workshop and its is part of my roll to then give to area reps and local reps. It is by far the comphensive brief ever for local reps and managers with full involvement of the CWU in every process.

Yes there are some standards which still need testing in live enviorments and that work is still going on.

I have to say we have now so many guidelines it must be confusing for all to interlink these guidelines.

Of course the Hawks at the top of Royal Mail still have a different agenda with regards to the interim postion on Door to Door as they say that traffic is dropping faster than door to door is growing. However you should be soon made aware of the Birmingham traffic audit which shows how much Royal Mail`s traffic is out and how much therefore revenue is out to the tune of 20 million alone in Birmingham as a result of downstream access not being counted properly and only estimated , revenue protection not being done correctly , the mist system being barcoded after the work has gone through and flats in the letter trays etc and work not being recorded properly. This presentation is going to be given to Senior Royal Managers.

Management in the interim are trying to say that they will only address door to door into workload if a delivery cannot complete which is silly considering some people have never done door to door, let alone 4 contracts.

Bob is very angry , but once the order for 4 had been taken it is very differcult to get out , and the pay roll thing was the biggest exercise since the unigrade under the way forward.

But this is going to test the new relationship to the full. Anyone who believed there would not be tensions was living in dreamland , however the agreement was the only show in town and now we have to make sure that it is introduced correctly/

[Danelectro]

Dingo what i would like meantime is some practical advice regarding members being disciplined for not completing deliveries.When a DOM says according to Royal Mail traffic figures and indoor workload figures(our walksorting is calculated on 100 BSI) then what is the union position in this situation??

I understand that it may be confusing to interlink all these guidelines but we need some of the main parameters and performance numbers on the shop floor now!

As mentioned above the BSI issue needs to be explained.If 100 BSI is not achievable then why are workloads and delivery members meantime being judged on them?

Also is it not better to put out regular updates in the ongoing discussions(or chats on the phone)- i mean why is it so complicated and confusing for union reps to not know if in future revisions the main parameters in Geo route are likely to change or not? The speed of 4 mph as outlined in the panorama prog is Dickensian and should have been a piece of piss to negotiate down to something more humane donkeys ago.
Also if the reps knew the walkspeed for future revisions was going to be less then its something we can barter with meantime while we try and sort out this D2D fiasco.

[drb]

The normal answer sometimes is to say "Speak to your rep". I am finding,(via this forum) is :

Offices have no rep
The rep is not clued up,(therefore doesn't communicte)
Members do not understand,(they see the longer Saturdays/D2D/ element only)

If your reps have not been to the workshops then when they do,your answers will happen.If your walks have been done via geo route in the last couple of years then they are flawed.Your prep rates were agreed,however last year the business chose to ignore them.The business will now always beat us with the stick of low mail volumes.On that basis if you cannot complete,when you get interviewed,with your rep of course,ask these questions :

What is the agreed BSi?
What is the correct mail measurment this morning?,(that means seperate flats/letters/packets)
Can we test via the "live enviroment?
Has the planner "facilitated" the rep in planning AFTER the workshops?
Have YOU attended the workshops?(Line manager)
Are you questioning on my walk,is it budget or efficiency?
If your Geo Route system is perfect,why are those listed for IPS NOT on the IPS?
Did you build the vehicle weekly checks into the duties?

Then ask your membership, what time they finished on Monday & Tuesday?
Ask them did they take their mailsort on Saturday?
Did they take their meal relief?

Ask your rep :

You need to diarise this sort of thing
You need to create a newsletter email mailing list
You need to get our area reps email
you need to pass these actions "up" as there are people listening

[Martin Walsh]

Danelectro the union has not given any agreement on 100 BSi , it is true that the indoor workload tool is designed on 100 BSi but can be adjusted down.

The Acas guidelines are clear 75 BSi is the normal standard work rate in British industry providing someone has a full head of work and is fully trained. Once you go above 75BSi then motivation comes into play. Now the indoor workload tool is not an indivdual standard guide , it is an office guide. Any manager who tries to use the IWT as a indivdual performance tool is wrong and needs to be stopped.

The union believes that the IWT is accurate in many ways , but is dependent on the DOM to imput the correct information on the day and this does not happen in every office. plus there are some calculation and assumptions in the IWT which needs testing in a live office.

The union has not agreed the IPT tool ( inward productivity tool and so therefore should not be used in any revison process and any breaches should be flaged up to your area rep. )

Now in terms of geo route 2008 , Royal Mail have resoponded to the 4 MPH walking speed by reducing that speed and they have also increased the number of attendance call times which is an advantage. The time for the so called " streets in the skies " ie apartments and flats with long balconies have also increased delivery allowance time. However Royal Mail have done their normal by redcuing the time you have at each door. The union is currently testing the planning values on geo route to ensure thats it fair and accurate. Theb Geo Route system works its used in over 40 other postal compaines in the world , however the planning values have to be correct and thats what the union is now working on.

Now in terms of the upper decile or world class mail , there has been nothing so far agreed and any appoaches by Royal Mail to set standards around the top ten per cent should be flaged up as there is no agreement on what constitues a top ten per cent office.

[martinapsid]

hi iam my do rep the dom is already talking about taking a round out of my office ive got people finishing dutys 11/2- 2 hours early who say their can not do any more!!!! this is what we are up against our dutys were set up by people who got it past a office vote by given some dutys less then 10 extra drops so he got their votes and give poeple who he knew would oppose the new dutys because there were not fair 70 extra drops with manager who is from out side the area the office covers not having a clue what was going on and looking after his bonus so now have some dutys finishing way to early and others finishing closer to times we are supposed and now we been told we got chance of g route for at least 18 months!!!! how on earth can we sort the dutys out with weak managers and no back up from g rout etc

[drb]

Martin.

Get hold of your area rep.You need to stop this "at the door" so to speak.Ask your DOM for a meeting with you and your area rep WC 7th of June.Do not mess about! Get a letter in to him first thing inviting him in writing!

[Big Daz]

I have the same problem in my D.O with members finishing early and not wishing to have any extra work and holding a belief that they have a god given right to finish early Day in day out whilst using the J and F argument to justify that.

J and F IMHO is being able to go home early if the mail happens to be light and one gets finished early, rather than having duties designed to have less work than needed to fill in their work hours.

However they have a shock coming with increased DTD, revision activty and housing growth. The DOM has never really done much in terms of utilising all paid work hours

On the upside any savings which even with 5 DTD will still be there to be had will have to be redeployed against Housing Growth so very senior managers (dingo's hawks) will be most dissapointed that my D.O will produce very limted or none at all in terms of savings.

[belle smith]

IBob is very angry

So am i, with Bob and others.

but once the order for 4 had been taken it is very differcult to get out

Is this going to be the same with delivery spans.

But this is going to test the new relationship to the full. Anyone who believed there would not be tensions was living in dreamland

Would that be everyone advocating a yes vote.

however the agreement was the only show in town and now we have to make sure that it is introduced correctly/

Yep dreamland. Bob should get used to being angry.

[smartbhoy]

So after being told to trust RM by all senior CWU officials and advocating a yes vote. Now you're telling us that RM are back to their old tricks. D2D's implemented without any revision. Told that the volume of mail keeps declining( which is just an untruth) so it's possible for us to take D2D into our workload because we have more time as the mail's declining. RM now know that the CWU leadership don't have the support of the grass root members. With this agreement signed sealed and delivered with the help of the CWU, Rm are going to walk all over the CWU and take whatever they want from the agreement and make up their own rules and regulations. Walking speed, delivery spans, IPS prep rates. Prepping of frames and D2D's etc. When they CWU object, they'll be told tough. RM know that the union won't get any support for strike action. The CWU are now sitting with a gun with no bullets to fire. And if they did have any bullets, they'd be better using it to put down RM as a great British public service.

[PingPong]

Spot on.

[drb]

I think the revision process,(this is a new 3 year one by the way),is unlike any other.Yes there will be issues.But they are on going ones and being discussed daily at national level.I do expect them to play up,no doubt about that.But whenever they do they are being brought in to line.
Some offices however are very weak and their bolshy DOM is pushing things through.Now HIS boss know what he is doing is wrong.I promise you.He HAS been told.The trouble is I for one did not know how bad these offices where until now due to this forum.We only know how bad it is until someone tells us.Now these offices will get walked over until the members in that office let the area rep know. If the area rep plays up,come onto this forum and tell EVERYONE how s**t their branch is!! Name and shame.

Look,this deal is here,for whatever the vote was/is blah blah. What it does require us to do,(and this really started with the way forward),was for office to locally negotiate.In fact tell a lie,I found 15 year old local agreements in my old union room the other day,handwritten.

I think what any national agreement does in this case is single out weak offices,s**t reps and s**t branches.Plain and simple. It also singles out people who are waiting for someone to do everything for them.Negotiate locally,get them the best deal.Critisize the rep perhaps,critisize the area rep.(I know this because I have asked members what their branch was on this site,(due to them saying that their rep was s**t), and none of them...and I mean none of them PM'd me back with their branches.

I say this time and again...if any deal had sparks coming out of it,was absolutaly brilliant blah blah blah,there would still be local negotiations required because offices work differently from others.Some like 9 day fortnights,some like 5 day week.some like the Overtime on aggregate,some like the overtime on rota basis.Some like lates,(if based within their hub).Some like the rotated duty system.The list is endless.