CWU TV News | An Update on the situation in Royal Mail

[POSTMAN]

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Dave Ward provides an update on the current situation in Royal Mail including the ongoing business transformation talks, the company's decision to reclassify itself as a parcels business, the drive towards privatisation and the potential issues around the upcoming pay talks.

[toonslayer7]

So essentially, the union and its members have once again be shafted and will be again in the future.

[dvbuk55]

So essentially, the union and its members have once again be shafted and will be again in the future.

The union allowed itself to be shafted and in turn shafted the members by failing to uphold terms and conditions and became another tier of management in producing the result RM wanted at any cost..............well at any cost to the member that is.

[knackeredneedadayoff]

is he for real ,they shafted us and now he's bleeting too late, i for one will not be out on strike for that muppet after the deal of the century.

[Mr Rush]

the company's decision to reclassify itself as a parcels business

I keep hearing this and yet letters must outnumber packets 20:1. And it's packets that tend to be jettisoned first to enable walks to complete.

[dvbuk55]

I've just watched the tv report by DW and I have to say that the thing that worries me is the talk of needing a new settlement - because in 2009 we went on strike for a mere 2 days when the union announced an "interim" agreement that culminated in BT2010 which in no way, shape or form, as fas as I am concerned, addressed the issues on which industrial action took place. I would expect any future industrial action to be clearly ringfenced with the issues that we are currently facing - not some pie in the sky future that was envisaged in 2009 which lets face it has only made matters worse. If the union think they will be supported by the membership whilst sleeping with the enemy then they have a problem.

[worktotime]

IS THIS A JOKE , weve been working by this new agreement for over 2 years now and its still tits up still waiting for money , the b&h has got worse off doms , banking hours , non payment of o/time , walk colapseing for 10 months a year now , duties 5.30 delivery , and now they just realise about the workload and pressure on delivery staff , and then he says about the support of its members , i dont think ill be losing anymore money to be shafted (again) sell the company we cant be treated any worse , but thats my opinon.

[Danelectro]

sell the company we cant be treated any worse , but thats my opinon.

Your points about the agreement and the union are valid but your conclusion that we cant be treated any worse are nonsense.

The agreement was always going to end in tears and many in the union predicted that,but the agreement is as much a Royal Mail agreement as a CWU agreement and the fact that the union has turned a blind eye to the issues the agreement has thrown up dosnt take change the fact that its Royal mail management that imposes the impossible workloads in your office and questions your performance, admittedly sometimes seemingly with the unions blessing.Can you imagine what it would be like working in Royal Mail if these mangers were given any more power? With recent changes to employment law making it easier for employers to dismiss then its not a combination that I look forward to.

[Phantom]

There is no confidence in this Union any more... A consecutive line of the most shittiest agreements and the drive towards giving a tonne of working conditions away will just result in a big f**k off to the union!

What we've lost:

2nd delivery and 2.5 hour delivery span
night staff in delivery
3.5 delivery span
job and off
D2D payments
Final salary pensions

All given away without a single fight! f***ing wank in my opinion

[dvbuk55]

There is no confidence in this Union any more... A consecutive line of the most shittiest agreements and the drive towards giving a tonne of working conditions away will just result in a big f**k off to the union!

What we've lost:

2nd delivery and 2.5 hour delivery span
night staff in delivery
3.5 delivery span
job and off
D2D payments
Final salary pensions

All given away without a single fight! f***ing wank in my opinion

Yes it makes you wonder why we bothered striking in 2009 because things have only got worse really.

[Martin Walsh]

At the end of the day those who pay their money into the union will make their decision on whether they support the union moving forward. But in making that decision , there is little point coming on here over the last few years moaning about the agreement , bullying and harrassment and the revisions if you then dont support the union when they do make a stand.

Equally if you really think by not supporting the union that things will get better and Royal Mail will leave you alone and suddenly change their appoach to the workforce then you must be on something.

The union still has to make the case to the members and the members need to be convinced and I believe this will be done as the workforce knows something has to change in deliveries and the only way that is going to change is if the union leads on it on the members behalf.

Phantom . lets look at those issues , the ending the second delivery was because 95% of the mail was being delivered on the first delivery and loads of areas were having more part timers introduced as most second deliveries covered 5 first deliveries. Now we did get something out of that dispute not bad considering the national union got a NO Vote in the industrial action ballot and had the London Membership not have voted yes in a seperate London Weighting dispute and had we not taken strike action which led to the biggest unofficial disupute since the miners then we would not have got an agreement. That agreement included a £26.28 pay increase with only £5 consilidation if you had £5 ics or pbs in place. Plus everyone moved from a 6 day week to a 5 day week which the union had attempted to achieve for over 60 years.

Now lets talk about job and knock , is that really a good thing ? Has that not been reposibile for our members chasing time , the second delivery well how many took rebate and mail sort which was schduled for the second delivery out on the first. Tell me another union which argues that their members must be able to finish before their time and then agrue we want more pay ?

Door to Door has been done to death ! Royal Mail did not have to have agreement with the CWU to put it into workload, afterall they pay people a contract of employment. The Union got a agreement which has upset some members. But what was the alternative ? It was not going to stay the same. The current average for door to door is just over 4 items.

Final Salary pensions I called nationally for a strike at a national briefing and i was not knocked down by the rest of the union in also demanding such a move.

At the end of the day , this issue will be played out by the time the members have to decide and it will not be decided by this board , facebook or twitter it will be decided by debate and meetings with members and if neccessary a ballot.

At this moment I accept the CASE IS NOT MADE but by APRIL that may have changed. Lets wait and see !

[dvbuk55]

At the end of the day those who pay their money into the union will make their decision on whether they support the union moving forward. But in making that decision , there is little point coming on here over the last few years moaning about the agreement , bullying and harrassment and the revisions if you then dont support the union when they do make a stand.

Really that says it all - if there has been complaints over the last few years then why has it taken so long to address the issues - does that look like a union moving forward with purpose or an organisation prepared to sit back and watch the self same issues prior to the 2009 strike emerge again and have to fight the whole process over again - it's like groundhog day at Broadway.

You do make a valid statement in saying that the case is not yet made and a great deal of work needs to be done to persuade the thousands of part timers who have felt let down by the unions stance AND those many thousands who are NOT union members to support that case. The crux of the matter IS what the stand is about and the union had better make sure that membership is represented this time and not some half arsed scheme involving a partnership.

[fishtank]

it will be decided by debate and meetings with members and if neccessary a ballot.

If the same old faces turn up to the same old meetings don't be too surprised if any proposed ballot result doesn't quite reflect the mood of the meetings.

There is a huge "underclass" of members your meetings and debates won't reach.
They are called the majority and don't go in for backslapping and old war stories much,not these days anyway.

Next time you're at one of these debates ask the part-timers for a show of hands,next the fixed term contracts,anyone with less than 10 years service...anyone not a rep.

Any idea how the union plans to reach and engage anyone other than the usual suspects?
Any idea how the union plans to re-activate branches that can't even be arsed to return a ballot paper,fill in expense forms properly or deign to speak to members directly?

[dvbuk55]

What a wonderful chance for the union to actually engage the membership. How about sending each and every member a letter with an sae and a tear off slip with just 5 lines headed "prioritise the 5 most concerns in your working life" have them returned and then choose the most prevalent 5 issues. It would do 2 things, the membership would be setting the agenda and the support would be more likely. That's not going to happen of course and we are going to get the agenda foisted on us by people who have no inkling as to what the real world consists of in 2013 at the coalface. The problem is that the CWU want to be the negotiators and will negotiate anything at all and more than likely an agenda set by Royal Mail.

[knackeredneedadayoff]