Big call for the Postal Executive

[clashcityrocker]

After last time, about eighteen months ago, can anyone seriously suggest that there would be significant support for Industrial Action ?

If people understand that it is in their best interest to take strike action, then why not?

[Martin Walsh]

Fishtank I disagree with your thinking that Royal Mail will just introduce the revisions by executive action if we withdraw support for the revisions. Royal Mail senior managers are under immense pressure about the fact that whenever they introduce a major intregrated revision it does not work and you only have to subscribe to melt water news which tracks every Royal Mail story to see this. Post Comm are pushing for a massive fine. Senior management cannot work out that despite the delivery office staff fully co-operating and trying to make it work it simply fails. Now imagine if they try and introduce these revisions without this co-operation or without the agreement of the workforce ?

Lincox we have not got six months , its one of those issues which if you blink now then Royal Mail and indeed the Government will think the union cannot get the support of the membership. At a recent meeting at the EXEL which was attended by every senior Royal Mail manager in the UK , Higson , Greene and Duncan the three now most senior managers in Royal Mail asked all the managers whether their staff would support a strike only a handful said yes.

Why did they ask that ? Well could it be that Royal Mail"s new business plan is far worse than what is presently on the table , the attack on pensions is there with CPI and not RPI and changes to the CARE scheme , in addition some of the operational managers including the regional managers want out of the BTA agreement say that the Delivery revision process takes too long and restricts their ability to make the savings they want.

Now I fully understand this lies the problem we have some of the membership who hate the agreement and will take a lot of convincing to support a fight to protect the agreement. However they are in the same camp as the Royal Mail operational hardliners who want out of the agreement because it restricts their ability to intrdocue quick savings and has too much union inviolvmenent and in many cases dont work.

So the union must now listen to the concerns of the workforce in terms of revisons going forward.

With posbily a new owner within the next 18 months it is important that the union sercure with the the government some safeguards going forward. Believe it or not Ed Davey the Postal Minster is listening far more than the previous Labour minster. This week and the next few including the unions annual conference will decide whether we will have the membership support to fight no complusory redundancies, changes to delivery revisions, ensuring the colleague share issue is resolved, pensions, world class mail"s , the sageguards which we have from any new owners in terms of our conditions and the new buisness plan.

[fishtank]

Fishtank I disagree with your thinking that Royal Mail will just introduce the revisions by executive action if we withdraw support for the revisions. Royal Mail senior managers are under immense pressure about the fact that whenever they introduce a major intregrated revision it does not work and you only have to subscribe to melt water news which tracks every Royal Mail story to see this. Post Comm are pushing for a massive fine. Senior management cannot work out that despite the delivery office staff fully co-operating and trying to make it work it simply fails. Now imagine if they try and introduce these revisions without this co-operation or without the agreement of the workforce ?

Your first point is undermined by your second.

Now I fully understand this lies the problem we have some of the membership who hate the agreement and will take a lot of convincing to support a fight to protect the agreement. However they are in the same camp as the Royal Mail operational hardliners who want out of the agreement because it restricts their ability to intrdocue quick savings and has too much union inviolvmenent and in many cases dont work.

They won't introduce major integrated revisions....they will introduce savings-led revisions without any of the benefits to members,real or imagined that BTA promised.
I am no fan of this agreement but i certainly won't condone standing back and allowing Royal Mail to introduce the worst parts of it without any input from the staff involved.
That would ,in my opinion be cutting your nose off to spite your face.

[kendo1]

1 ,problem the CWU needs to address ,if any hope of IA working is having all staff in DO being treated equaly and fairly.

1,group who are well in with the main UNION guys get treated excceptionaly favourbly,
2,the other group who are well in with the managers also get treated very favourbaly.
3, the largest group,who just come in ,keep their head down and get on with the JOB are sh-t upon from a great hight.

I have never worked anywhere ,that has so much favoritisim, and the CWU officials are as GUILTY as Managers!

The general mood amongst most people,is the Union has stiched us up and the Management are in bed with the CWU,we see on a daily basis people being treated with very favourable duties and o/t and S/A and then expect us to go out on strike loose loads of money
unable to pay the bills ,for what?.

No matter how many strikes nothing changes,NO MATTER HOW MANY NEW RULES ETC ,SOME PEOPLE ARE EXEMPT.

The first Thing the Executive needs todo,is to issue a directive to all reps ensuring every one is treated fairly and equal in every office.
Then if and when that happens CWU may have more suppourt.

Do the CWU have any links to the mafia ?The way Duties are allocated and o/t is allocated one makes you wander ?

[fishtank]

Who really has the power in your office though kendo?...you said yourself...

3, the largest group,who just come in ,keep their head down and get on with the JOB are sh-t upon from a great hight.

Surely the largest group should be able to call the shots....that's how democracy works..
Maybe they need to stop "keeping their head down" and start "sticking their neck out".
I'm not having a go at you but the CWU can't micro-manage every D.O.
You have the means to change things in your own hands,all it needs is a little organisation.

[andy g]

First of all Kendo 1 seems to me you are talking about what you see going off in your local area!
Iv'e been a rep for over 20 yrs and i can tell you straight that none of that takes place in my area so please don't think this is happening everywhere you are insulting reps up and down the country if you believe that mate!!

[dvbuk55]

The PEC had a big call in 2009.

Now what makes anyone think they can do better in 2011.

Royal Mail are playing the CWU like a fisherman plays a fish.

What issues have changed to engender the responses? The fact that revisions aren't working? The revisions have been proven to be faulty for months on end without any quibbles.

No! Royal Mail have withdrawn the money for Colleague Share and attacked the MCs in London which has outraged many and now there is a call for IA.
Strange that a few weeks ago up pops an advert for trainee managers, exactly the same happened in 2009 and those muppets promptly crossed the picket line thinking it would enhance their chances.............. . We are in the midst of recession with thousands of part timers and I think that Royal Mail would love it if we went on strike................this isn't Xmas and we are heading into the lightest of months for mail over the holiday period.

Lets face it the only reason RM would come to the table last time was because of the national strike, which lasted all of two day!!!! Are we really going to go for a Ballot at the behest of Royal Mail..............make no bones about it it's not the membership of the CWU who want confrontation but Royal Mail.

IMO if you are going to go for it - you'd better mean it this time, no side deals, no half arsed agreement - it really is s**t or bust. However if you are going to fight it is better if you can pick the ground ....................

[fishtank]

However if you are going to fight it is better if you can pick the ground ....................

I have had the feeling since 2007 that we were being manipulated into a position of weakness,that we had lost control of actually making the decisions,that we were following a linear path that someone else had decided upon.

We now appear to be in a place where we really did not want to be,dragged into Industrial Action at the wrong time of year,under the wrong economic circumstances,with a Tory government and a tired and weary membership being asked to fight for an agreement they don't believe in..

If you were choosing a battle ground..this would be a valley surrounded by hills and guess where our camp is?

[bootleg]

After last time, about eighteen months ago, can anyone seriously suggest that there would be significant support for Industrial Action?,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
yes it will get voted through cos people can now see they have no future anyway with royal mail..we have had park and loop for 2weeks now and can honestly say you will not be able to do the job until retirement,your body would not manage it at the ripe old age of 65+

[pickaname]

Dingo,

CWU wont get a yes vote for IA.

They stiched too many people up last time. No way will my office of 300 vote yes - NO WAY

Once bitten...

[MinisterofCucumber]

This week and the next few including the unions annual conference will decide whether we will have the membership support to fight no complusory redundancies, changes to delivery revisions, ensuring the colleague share issue is resolved, pensions, world class mail"s , the sageguards which we have from any new owners in terms of our conditions and the new buisness plan.

All of the above concern us and are reasonable grounds for IA.

However, these issues can be easily spun to turn the public against us for not taking the traditional British 'musn't grumble/stiff upper lip' approach during this so-called financial crisis.

Lately, I have been highlighting Health and Safety breaches and the Wehrmacht have been really panicking.

IA taken on the grounds of RM ignoring H&S to cut costs is a genuine grievance and will attract public support.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

subscribe to melt water news

Meltwater aren't they a news gathering service that deals with Corporations and Buisiness only so even if I wanted I would not be able to subscribe.

Apart from that it would stil be a - No thanks - they treat their staff very badly. They are a sweat shop telesales organisation I heard of even before I joined RM, I worked in a Call centre before being a postman,

MW's turnover rate is incredibly high, and new hires tend to stay anywhere from 3 to 9 months before quitting or being fired for low sales results

Meltwater has a habit of telling people that you were asked to leave, even if you quit, resignation letter in hand. It is bad for company morale to have people quitting left and right, so they tend to spread the word throughout the office (and other offices) that you "weren't the right fit" or you "weren't motivated." I was told by management that this motivates people to get on the phones, get excited (ie get scared). When I worked at MW, I overheard phone calls for a reference for a former employee, and none of them shed the employee in a good light.

There is no respect for an employee's privacy with the managers regularly calling up on weekends and giving you work to do outside office hours. If you say no or show anything short of bubbling enthusiasm, you are not a team player and not interested in the company's benefits.

My sales manager was extremely competitive, insecure and vindictive. On several occasions she transferred our leads over to her name. When confronted she would always come up with the excuse that we hadn't registered them properly in the system

Sounds worse than RM

[ronpetetrevchris]

Royal Mail are playing the CWU like a fisherman plays a fish.

CWU or membership again catches RM negating on something.
Constantly reminds me of when you catch a child doing something they arent supposed to and they practically beg to just "trust them one more time", "we promise thats it, you can trust us this time because this time we REALLY mean it".

Dingo no offence you have my respect but there always seems to be a reason to trust them one more time, who cares who the next postal minister is and if hes listening, for each persdon that is i bet there is two who arent!

[dvbuk55]

Some of us may think it is folly to go for IA BUT the habits of a lifetime in supporting a union are difficult to break.

[fishtank]

Some of us may think it is folly to go for IA BUT the habits of a lifetime in supporting a union are difficult to break.

And sometimes you are unfortunately left with little choice.... perceived weak position or not.
If Royal Mail have decided to attack then the choice to defend isn't really a choice at all.