Bullying and harassment in delivery offices

[dvbuk55]

Do you two want to get a room?

Absolutely - it's good to speak to old forum friends especially knowledgeable ones

[Alverton]

Are the union actually going to do something about bullying and harrassment in delivery offices or is this just another tick box exercise

No.

Had our AGM recently. Stopped paying my CWU subs as of the next day. Going to spend what I save this next year on a lap dance or two.

[Budfrog]

Apparently there are 80 B&H cases currently awaiting investigation ... now that is a lot of cases and IMO the real figure is far higher maybe threefold as staff are genuinely fearful of raising a case because many end up in the little black book ... and once you are in there RM can make your life hell.

[music4essex]

I am going through the self same thing and yes I am in my managers little black book and have been for tha last 2yrs
though I am off sick because of it all I am stil fighting my corner I have an Atos telephone interview tomorrow this is my 8 th appointment with Atos,

I have told my CWU area rep until it is sorted then i wont return to work as I am being stitched up for cuting off by my manager even though Atos recommended a 3hr delivery span

Essex Mum

[Lateagainpostie]

Apparently there are 80 B&H cases currently awaiting investigation ... now that is a lot of cases and IMO the real figure is far higher maybe threefold as staff are genuinely fearful of raising a case because many end up in the little black book ... and once you are in there RM can make your life hell.

Rumour has it there are a few being raised in the Hampshire area.

I raised one myself and it's been upheld, but his mates in the office are now making my life hell, because he has been shifted out, he's also filed a B&H complaint about me 10 weeks after the incident !

[dvbuk55]

Well it's quite a difficult subject and I'm not altogether sure it's being handled in the best possible way. IMHO all, and I mean all, even the most mundane case should be handled by an independent third party appointed by ACAS or the TUC to initially judge the merits of the case and lets not be under any illusion that all suggestions of B&H are necessarily true some may well not be. If there is a malicious element intended by either party then there should be serious consequences.

[Budfrog]

Just has a response to the eMail that I sent to the Shadow Business Minister:

Thanks Simon,

Very helpful indeed.

Can you send me any response you get from Jo please.

Best,

Ian Murray
Labour Member of Parliament for Edinburgh South
Shadow Business Minister
Constituency Office: 0131 662 4520
House of Commons: 0207 219 7064
Write: 31 Minto Street, Edinburgh, EH9 2BT
http://www.ianmurraymp.co.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The government post holder is: jo.swinson.mp@parliament.uk who I also sent the same eMail to which did not go into specific cases but gave an overall picture of the current climate of B&H at RM. I was totally honest and explained that in my opinion the problem is now endemic within the managerial structure, it only took 5 minutes of my not so valuable time :)

Just had a reply from Kelvin Hopkins MP ... attached.

[Rabray]

This is how it goes in my office,
Postie - 8 45am “Boss got to much on today won’t be able to finish in time“
DOM - “your not due out till 10 30 it’s a bit early telling me now come back when your about to go out we will access the situation then”
Postie “Ok”
10 15 am Postie - “Boss still won’t be able to finish in time to much on won’t be able to do tracked or packets”
DOM - “it’s a bit late telling me now pal I have nobody and I mean nobody to cover anything on your duty, tell you what leave the packets just take the tracked”
Postie - “I’m not going over boss”
DOM “come and see me in the morning and I will pay you what you went over” Walks away!
DOM comes back "if your telling me you can't finish those two walks and the tracked and the mail traffic is down today well I will be speaking to you tomorrow on a performance issue"
Postie looks for Union rep, Union rep has been in early and long gone.

Apart from the Union rep bit at the end of your thread..Its the exact line as above in my DO ..My question is is this. Have the DOM's been briefed to give the postie the same line every time the postie can't complete their walk. I would say "YES" .Being told he'll speak to you next day and flags up performance issues is intimidation to make you complete our shifts Imho..RM and DOM's are piling on more and more work and expecting us to go over our time for free. They constantly quote the mail volume figures are down so the DO can lapes a duty or you can complete you round even if your at every door ????? beats me how they work it out !!! . As for OT (if you want it !!) in my DO the DOM insists you take 20min meal relief before you go out as he'll not give you the full 40min OT if your 40min over your time at the end. Insisting its the union agreement taking 20min meal relief at the start (Which its not !!!)..Does it really matter if you take 40 min at the start of your shift before going out or the end. If your over your time your over. Its just another way management try to control the money spent in their office and intimidate their staff..

[Budfrog]

Reply to my letter to Jo Swinson MP below.

Basically washing their hands of any responsibility whatsoever and after listening to RM management questioning whether a problem actually exists at all ... did I expect anything better, probably not

BIS Case Reference: 327834

Dear *****

Thank you for your email to Jo Swinson MP about your concerns over bullying and harassment at Royal Mail. The Royal Mail falls within the portfolio of Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Minister for Business and Enterprise, Michael Fallon MP. I hope you will appreciate that the Minister receives large amounts of correspondence each day and is not able to respond to each item personally. I have been asked to reply.

I was sorry to learn of your concerns. I should explain that addressing any concerns over employment and internal staffing matters is the direct operational responsibility of Royal Mail’s senior management team. The Government’s relationship with the company is that of an arms-length shareholder and as such we do not play any role in, or are in a position to investigate claims of bullying and harassment. These are matters for the company to resolve.

Royal Mail assures me it does not condone and is committed to dealing with any form of bullying and harassment. The company and the CWU are both committed to upholding standards of fairness, dignity and respect and seek to work together to create a climate across the business that reinforces this. Royal Mail considers it has strong anti bullying policies and clear procedures in place, which have been agreed with the CWU. You will be aware that this includes bullying and harassment grievance procedures, should any member of staff suffer any form and unfair treatment or victimisation, supported by a bullying and harassment helpline which offers confidential and impartial advice. There is also independent investigation of any complaints that have been submitted.

We raised your general concerns with Royal Mail (not revealing your details). The company considers that most of its managers have a good relationship with their team members. Any managers found after investigation to have bullied staff are liable to be disciplined or dismissed, regardless of what level they are within the business. I understand that the recent CWU survey elicited only 600 responses from a total Royal Mail delivery workforce of around 95,000 people. But the company has assured us that it is not complacent. It remains committed to dealing with any claims of bullying and harassment and has confirmed it is talking to the CWU about the concerns raised by their survey and is working with them to address and investigate these. I hope that you will welcome that the company is also in the process of overhauling its training for managers and is rolling out initiatives across the business to improve engagement and involvement during its period of significant change, to get managers and staff working more closely together for the future success of the business.


Best regards,

James Baugh
Shareholder Executive | Department for Business, Innovation & Skills | UG - Orchard 1 | 1 Victoria Street | London SW1H 0ET

[fishtank]

Reply to my letter to Jo Swinson MP below.

Basically washing their hands of any responsibility whatsoever and after listening to RM management questioning whether a problem actually exists at all ... did I expect anything better, probably not

Well Bud,if you google Jo Swinson her own site says A description for this result is not available because of this site's robots
It looks like you received a reply from one of the site's robots.
If you had wanted a Royal Mail press release on Bullying and Harassment i would imagine you would just have gone to the source.

[tomanysteps]

biggest load of bullies i ever saw at west park D.O.....jumped up 24 year old p***k, wet behind the ears is upsetting everybody,because of thier botch up with the revision...need sleeping tablets to get through the night.unbelievable.

[jaybee1618]

yes in our office we have an ex-postie and shop steward who has taken the kings shilling and now all you get is you are the only one who is failing !!!! this is unacceptable behaviour from a man who should know better!!!

[tomanysteps]

biggest load of bullies i ever saw at west park D.O.....jumped up 24 year old p***k, wet behind the ears is upsetting everybody,because of thier botch up with the revision...need sleeping tablets to get through the night.unbelievable.

just to recap on the bullies,the whole office walked out today,had the bosses shiting themselves.after a 2 hour stand off they agreed to our requests...back of the net

[k979aaa]

well done.

[barneyrotts]

in my office our revision started nearly 2 weeks ago and one day we booked nearly 6 hours pro delivery to complete our 2 shared walks then we started to cut off and the following day it became a performance issue with possible wilful delay issues!!!!.we are into our second week of this new system and really up against it as the management would never it seems admit a delivery is too big as there bosses are bullying them or so it seems.so we will continue to cut off until they listen.