Full Timers Let Go AT My Office

[dvbuk55]

s**t! I've just turned my house upside down looking for my contract,which it would seem I have flung out.I've kept the letter that came with it telling me it was my copy,bright spark that I am.

Been at rm for 3 years now,should I be worried about the next year?

I've been with RM long enough to remember when I was proud, yes, PROUD, to be a postman, and loved the job, yes, LOVED, the job, and I'm worried about next week, let alone, next year.

I too was proud to be a postman and almost without exception people were glad to see you and pass the time of day with you, in the main they got their mail before they went to work - admittedly you got the odd grouch whose dole cheque hadn't arrived -but the world has changed, people have changed and at this time there is little sympathy from joe public, who are having a rough time too.

[stodgy88]

WHAT % OF JOBS PER D.O ARE LIKELY TO GO WHEN THE NEW REVISIONS ARE COMPLETE .

[krussel]

WHAT % OF JOBS PER D.O ARE LIKELY TO GO WHEN THE NEW REVISIONS ARE COMPLETE .

This will depend on your Georoute revision and how good it is, if it works at all.

Its hard to say without knowing how much time your office has for absorbtion etc but if its like mine i would gues at around 15-20% of walks being cut

[sabaithaime]

Temporary contracts – Be aware!

If you or colleagues you work with are on temporary contracts you need to know about this.

Royal Mail is trying to hoodwink those of us who are on temporary contracts into signing away our rights.

I was employed on a 3 month contract in 2007 which has never been re-negotiated.

I spoke with a solicitor who told me that the law was very clear on this matter. If your contract has expired and you have not been issued with a new contract you are by default (in the eyes of the law) entitled to the same rights as full time permanent employees e.g. redundancy payments.

Royal mail could have kept me on a temporary contract basis for up to 4 years providing they issued a new contract at the end of each successive three month period.

The same applies to all temporary contracts. A colleague of mine was employed on a 3 month rolling contract for two years. Royal Mail did not cancel or renew his contract at the end of the 2 year period so in the eyes of the law he is entitled to the same rights as full time permanent staff.

If Royal Mail wants to do away with our services now they will have to pay us redundancy or face an industrial tribunal.

If you are on a temporary contract and have received a letter from Royal Mail recently DO NOT sign and return it.

If you or a colleague are on temporary contracts speak to your branch CWU rep before signing anything. If you are not a member of the CWU you should be, through the CWU you have access to professional legal advisers.

PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD TO ANY COLLEAGUES WHO JOINED ROYAL MAIL IN THE LAST 3 YEARS AND TO ANYONE YOU KNOW WHO IS EMPLOYED ON A TEMPORARY CONTRACT.

[Glenno]

Just to update you on our fixed term contract situation.............Today we had a meeting with our DOM. He explained that of the 900 fixed term contracts in the country, 400 of them are in Kent - where we are. The letter is a warning that once the mail centres close, they will need to find those guys jobs so guess who's leaving the party? Bottom line: After the revision in our office and the closure of a local (ish) mail centre 'some of you will not have jobs with Royal Mail'. This was said to all 16 of us with our Union Rep there too.

SCL would you not be better off aproaching your Branch to see if there was a way of dealing with this
collectively??????

[smelly_cat_lady]

Glenno - have got more info off the posters on this site that the blooming Union. Its nice to know there's back up but I'm firmly of the opinion that RM will do whatever they want. I think they will steam roller job losses and closures till they get to where they want to be and then sort out the carnage (tribunals etc)

With regards the Fixed Contracts, once the first person in our DO comes up to 4 years, RM will get rid of them and pay minimum legal redundancy. Union will roll over and have tummy tickled, I'm under no illusion there. I'm also aware there is an argument that I knew it was temporary when I took the job so what's the problem?

[charlie1]

The problem for Royal Mail is any persons job made compulsory redundant cannot be advertised or given to another individual, for what i believe to be a period of six months. It is different for people that are taking voluntary redundancy because those leaving are doing it willingly. The vast majority of redundancy leavers at Royal Mail will have done so voluntarily, so their jobs could be filled or advertised immediately without fear of industrial tribunal claims at a later date.

[resperin]

I'm also aware there is an argument that I knew it was temporary when I took the job so what's the problem?

almost all jobs have a FTC when you start a new job where they see if your right for the job, that's what you expect - not a bloody rolling contract afterwards

[proper postie]

What about those taken on for an initial 6 month trial period then given 'permanent' contracts?

Are these permanent for 4 years or what?

[beastman]

interesting stuff this especially as I'm meant to be on a 6 month contract myself - I say meant to be as I'd previously worked for Royal Mail on a permanent contact, albeit part time. I came back about 10 months after leaving as my previous job didn't work out and so I had to go through the full monte application/interview etc. It was only when I was telephoned when I was verbally offered the job that it would be a 6 month contract. I was seriously cheesed off as I wouldn't have even gone for the job had I known that from the start and I thought it was bang out of order to play that card. I took the job as I had little choice at the time as I jacked my previous job and was unemployed at the time. Anyway the contact I received and signed and returned had no mention of 6 months on it and it read, as far as I could see, exactly the same as the previous contract which was permanent.

[Big Daz]

WHAT % OF JOBS PER D.O ARE LIKELY TO GO WHEN THE NEW REVISIONS ARE COMPLETE .

Jobs or OPG's

My D.O will have seven vancanies for defo by revision implementation and if a transfer goes through it will be eight.

Very unlikley to see any VR or EVR.

[hampshireman]

Just to update you on our fixed term contract situation.............Today we had a meeting with our DOM. He explained that of the 900 fixed term contracts in the country, 400 of them are in Kent - where we are. The letter is a warning that once the mail centres close, they will need to find those guys jobs so guess who's leaving the party? Bottom line: After the revision in our office and the closure of a local (ish) mail centre 'some of you will not have jobs with Royal Mail'. This was said to all 16 of us with our Union Rep there too.

One of our more erudite colleagues directly quoted the RM propaganda we received before voting on '2010 and Beyond' and the 'MTSF agreement' which clearly stated that the company were going to protect jobs and ensure that there would be no more redundancies. When questioned why we were now getting letters saying that we could be out of a job, his reply was 'that only applied to permanent full time staff'. Out - f***ing - rageous. Some of my colleagues have built their whole lives around the promise of 'job security' only to see their hopes dashed. So basically RM lied (nothing new there) and I can't help thinking that if all 900 of us knew that when we were casting our vote..........well, the outcome might have been somewhat different.

Union meeting Tues in which we should finally get an answer to the 2/4 years conundrum. One tiny glimmer of hope (already noted in this thread) is that RM have failed year after year to formally renew the contracts and get new ones signed and kept on file. This sloppy house keeping may yet be their undoing. We live in hope.Finally, a question. Should RM and the union remain in disagreement and call for strike action, how many of you would strike for us?

Point very well made.
I am on fixed term contract. Been working under no contract for some months. Apparently my contract has been put up for renewal for another six months. But I still don't have a current contract.

BTW; have been with RM for over two years.

[Straight4ward]

Charlie1 wrote;
The problem for Royal Mail is any persons job made compulsory redundant cannot be advertised or given to another individual, for what i believe to be a period of six months.

It wouldn't be the same job though. They would alter the hours/ips/delivery work etc. Basically anything, so that they could then claim that they were offering a new job and not replacing the person that they had made redundant.

[fishtank]

WHAT % OF JOBS PER D.O ARE LIKELY TO GO WHEN THE NEW REVISIONS ARE COMPLETE .

Jobs or OPG's

My D.O will have seven vancanies for defo by revision implementation and if a transfer goes through it will be eight.

Very unlikley to see any VR or EVR.

We have 4 new starts for next week who were supposed to start a fortnight ago.
They have been told it will be 12 weeks and no more...at least they are being honest with them.
Our full integrated WSM/Delivery methods revision is due to "go live" on the 4th of October...8 weeks away.
Obviously these 4 are just to help get us over the bumps.
We have a total of 18 now on FTC and none of them have over 2 years service.

[goldy]

This is terrible,and i do think you guys should walk because of this.

This is actually happening several people in our area have been sent letters part time also
it is a loophole but there are still laws to protect workers such as "any pemenant vacancies
that have been posted should be made available or known to the temp workers"if people have been employed since the temp started and they have been given a permanant contract the temp is probably being treated unfairly unless a good reason justifies it.Also after one year the workers are seen in the eyes of the law as permanent and even the failure to renew a contract is dismisal and not just end of contract and there must be a good reason these all come under changes in the law in 2002 to protect abuse it doesnt matter how tight you make the law some people will be able to get round it though .This is a very important issue please dont just let people think they can do nothing .