Meal relief on your round

[keithposty]

AT LAST

A SENSABLE RESPONSE

the words are 20/20 as a possible pattern (POSSIBLE)

QUOTE BY FISHTANK

The important thing though is that changes to meal relief patterns should,like any other changes be agreed preferably as part of a revision after a vote from members.

If they aren't....use the IR framework...use rule 13...go to war.
It's Executive Action even if it is just meal relief patterns

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

THATS THE POINT

executive action imposed without a local agreement

the people on the floor will allways have the final say by local agreement, be it good,or bad

[keithposty]

have always taken meal relief at end of my duty. we now start at 7am at 9.20am managers tell us to take a break for 25 mins. (no canteen, just coffee machine) the rest during or after you finish, a few of us take our breaks the other idiots work through them( gaffers love them) CAN THEY FORCE YOU TO SPLIT IT UP, I'D RATHER TAKE THE WHOLE 40 MINS. what about when on delivery and know toilets or hand washing facilities ?

taking your break at the end of your duty as its contary to the working time regulations (directive)

you cant take your break at the start or end of your duty


The requirements are:

the break must be in one block
it cannot be taken off one end of the working day - it must be somewhere in the middle
you are allowed to spend it away from the place on your employer's premises where you work
your employer can say when the break must be taken, as long as it meets these conditions

[Himaggen]

You may well be able to tag your break onto the end of your duty!

You cannot do so with the break which you are entitled to under the Working Time Regulations, for the majority of us 20 mins, that must follow the directions as stated in those regulations.

Because Royal Mail are a generous and caring Employer, they have given us an entitlement over and above the minimum stated in those regulations. For these extra minutes, you could theoretically leave the office twenty minutes before shift end and book for your full forty minute entitlement.

[daveyeff]

We have been told by our DOM that we must take 20 minutes of our meal relief before we go out and the rest whilst we are out delivering on P+L.

Can somebody confirm that he cannot force you to take a meal relief in your van?

Personally i think we should take all 40 mins before we go out.

why dont you take it at the end of your delivery like everyone does?

i have said this before, and STILL stand by it, it is illegal for them to get you to take part or indeed any of your break on the back end of your shift. it states this in the direct gov worktime directive, and i havent seen any thing to contradict this. yes, they can tell you when to take it, as long as it is not on the end of your shift. you can vote for it by agreement, thats a different kettle of fish. essentially you are giving them time if you leave it till the end of your shift, because nobody will stop back at the office to take a 20 min break, when they could be on their way home. our office voted in favour to have 20 mins on the back of the shift, but its because they blackmailed us into doing it. well i and several others voted against it, but the soft shytes got their way.

[IcanthelpthewayIam]

We have been told by our DOM that we must take 20 minutes of our meal relief before we go out and the rest whilst we are out delivering on P+L.

Can somebody confirm that he cannot force you to take a meal relief in your van?

Personally i think we should take all 40 mins before we go out.

why dont you take it at the end of your delivery like everyone does?

i have said this before, and STILL stand by it, it is illegal for them to get you to take part or indeed any of your break on the back end of your shift. it states this in the direct gov worktime directive, and i havent seen any thing to contradict this. yes, they can tell you when to take it, as long as it is not on the end of your shift. you can vote for it by agreement, thats a different kettle of fish. essentially you are giving them time if you leave it till the end of your shift, because nobody will stop back at the office to take a 20 min break, when they could be on their way home. our office voted in favour to have 20 mins on the back of the shift, but its because they blackmailed us into doing it. well i and several others voted against it, but the soft shytes got their way.

however one little point, if RM say take your break any time you want but make sure its at some point in the middle of your shift, and then you willingly choose to take your break at the end then no law is being broken, RM have told you to take it in the middle therefore covered their legal obligation and you have then choosen to ignore this and take the break at the end no law being broken

[Talell]

What does your P318 say?

Manager can tell you to do what ever the heck they like (as long as it is reasonable), not withstanding start/finish times or meal relief's.

Pay and modernisation 07 cover what is commonly known as 'flexibility' (altering your start finish times to reflect workload), they have to ask you and you have the right to say no.

When it comes to meal relief's, they are agreed break times, so you reserve the right to tell the manager (politely) to shove it and take your break as per your P318.

Any proposed change should be approached via IR framework.

[POSTMAN]

I don't get this,if there isn't a revision in sight,and they are trying to force it in,get the rep to sort it...

The important thing though is that changes to meal relief patterns should,like any other changes be agreed preferably as part of a revision after a vote from members.
If they aren't....use the IR framework...use rule 13...go to war.
It's Executive Action even if it is just meal relief patterns

[hampshireman]

I always find the meal relief debates quite interesting. I wish people would take MR ; but most do not.

Personally (I am on a 6 hour day) I take 15 mins out on delivery (watch the world go by) and then 15 mins at the end. I would be quite happy to take my whole allocation at once ; not a problem for me.

But; a couple of weeks ago (and not for the first time) I witnessed some of my fellow workers critiscising someone for taking there break!!! I kid you not.

When I asked on of them why he was making snide comments ... He said 'Well he's just f****ng lazy'

I give up. How can you be lazy for taking a break.

[Straight4ward]

Now personally, I miss the good ol’ WTLL sessions. (We never seem to have now.)

They were great taking a break in. Just close your eyes and drift off and when you eventually came around
you could see all your colleagues were in some sort of glassy-eyed catatonic state.
“Thank f*ck I missed that” you used to tell yourself.

[clashcityrocker]

“Thank f*ck I missed that” you used to tell yourself.

I think in hindsight you wish you had written "thank goodness"
Thank f**k is banter likely to cause a breach of the peace.

[Straight4ward]

Ah yes, peace on all WTLL sessions, as they say.

[coops78]

If Royal Mail are forcing us Posties to take a meal break......which we are being told is our meal break then why do we have to take it as directed. If this meal is break is ours to take, then why cant we take it when we like. Some like to take it before they go out on delivery, some take part in pffice and the rest out on delivery.

Why cant we take it when we want!!

[drb]

If you use 20 minutes outside that is 20 minutes lost inside. There-fore that is 20 minutes more on your delivery span. If you are finishing 20 minutes early then expect more absorptions. Every minute "inside" is golden! If you are using your meal relief to complete your duty then your duty is wrong!

[Glenno]

We have been told by our DOM that we must take 20 minutes of our meal relief before we go out and the rest whilst we are out delivering on P+L.

Can somebody confirm that he cannot force you to take a meal relief in your van?

Personally i think we should take all 40 mins before we go out.

why dont you take it at the end of your delivery like everyone does?

i have said this before, and STILL stand by it, it is illegal for them to get you to take part or indeed any of your break on the back end of your shift. it states this in the direct gov worktime directive, and i havent seen any thing to contradict this. yes, they can tell you when to take it, as long as it is not on the end of your shift. you can vote for it by agreement, thats a different kettle of fish. essentially you are giving them time if you leave it till the end of your shift, because nobody will stop back at the office to take a 20 min break, when they could be on their way home. our office voted in favour to have 20 mins on the back of the shift, but its because they blackmailed us into doing it. well i and several others voted against it, but the soft shytes got their way.

however one little point, if RM say take your break any time you want but make sure its at some point in the middle of your shift, and then you willingly choose to take your break at the end then no law is being broken, RM have told you to take it in the middle therefore covered their legal obligation and you have then choosen to ignore this and take the break at the end no law being broken

You may be correct in your thinking that no Law is broken but you must remember what has already been accepted in National Agreements is predominately what the Law states and I think the "way forward or Pay & mod" states that is is not acceptable to take a a meal relief at the end of a Duty or the beginning

[Glenno]

Extract from the "way forward "

Breaks at the beginning or end of attendance

Where an attendance is provided with more than one break, the second break may be scheduled at the beginning or end, in which case attendance is not required solely for booking on or off. A single break should not be scheduled at the beginning or end of the attendance.???