New postie (overtime rules)

[Postietjay]

Hi all,

Ive been a postie for just under a month now (30 hour contract) (9am-3pm), Im really enjoying the job however there are a few issues I have however as a newbie I just have to put up and shut up.
Im in the 2nd closest office to my home ( Around 15-20mins drive) Hopefully wanting to transfer to my local asap!

Induction day

Was okay apart from learnt nothing about the job at all, all health and safety which gets thrown out of the window in the office.

1st week

First week I was on a shared van shift, after being with someone for a few days doing the passenger loops I went out on my own. The driver however ran the whole round, which made me look incredibly slow and me having to run half the round to finish within my contracted time. The driver (8 hour full time) Was coming in an hour earlier and by the time I arrived at 9am, the prepping, tying up was all done. I wanted to learn and do the full job and not just half, spoke to the management and was told that 90% of my mail should be prepped for me...

After a few weeks, after 3 or 4 different routes. Sometimes finishing at 5pm without a break. Not knowing the area, lots of p739 cards to fill out. The office was always shut and our manager locks the overtime sheet in his draws

After explaining to the manager that we were going over our time, he will always question why (maybe because Im new and not from around the area)

After speaking to many colleagues, they are very intimidated of our manager and his behaviour is like a bully.
After today where a colleague of mine does 5.5 hours a day, he came in an hour before his shift and finished 1.5 hours after his shift felt "its not worth the hassle of claiming the overtime" Im sorry but hes working 2.5 hours and having no break and not getting paid!!!

This is the general feeling in the whole office but they all just put up and shut up and have to fight for the overtime they can get.When staff threaten to get the union involved they get taken off their routes and put on "crap" routes.

I am new and have already had a little rant to the manager, who said to me " I dont expect people to work for free" " Youve been here 2 weeks and youre shouting and swearing about overtime"

Ive never been to an office where everyone feels threatened by claiming overtime which is rightfully theirs. We cannot help that packets are on the increase which increases our time.

As I am new I feel threatened by Job security and backstabbing by colleagues, Can anyone suggest anything?

Edit:
This is a general feel from the office


Cheers

[ebbzie]

What the fck is your rep doing in this office?

[maisymoo04]

Yes jay welcome to Royal Mail mate

[north london driver]

always claim hourage if you work over your time see your manager the next day as for the rest of the staff what is a matter with them,if your manager told you all to come in an hour early would you ?.if the manager wants a clear office
then he should pay the overtime out, if he dont then cut-off but make sure you tell him before leaving the office always cover your back.
dont let managers bully any staff in not paying overtime as for moving staff if they go to the union then this should be delt by your area union rep and area manager.

[Postietjay]

always claim hourage if you work over your time see your manager the next day as for the rest of the staff what is a matter with them,if your manager told you all to come in an hour early would you ?.if the manager wants a clear office
then he should pay the overtime out, if he dont then cut-off but make sure you tell him before leaving the office always cover your back.
dont let managers bully any staff in not paying overtime as for moving staff if they go to the union then this should be delt by your area union rep and area manager.

I am new, so I just want a permenant contract before kicking up a fuss otherwise they will show me the door after 3 months probatiton, The rest of them have given up.. a few of them still fight it. Ill speak to the union rep tomorrow in regards to this. Thanks

[IloveMYredTROLLEY!]

always claim hourage if you work over your time see your manager the next day as for the rest of the staff what is a matter with them,if your manager told you all to come in an hour early would you ?.if the manager wants a clear office
then he should pay the overtime out, if he dont then cut-off but make sure you tell him before leaving the office always cover your back.
dont let managers bully any staff in not paying overtime as for moving staff if they go to the union then this should be delt by your area union rep and area manager.

I am new, so I just want a permenant contract before kicking up a fuss otherwise they will show me the door after 3 months probatiton, The rest of them have given up.. a few of them still fight it. Ill speak to the union rep tomorrow in regards to this. Thanks

You will not get a permanent contract for at least 2 years, but more likely ~4.

So lets say you are on a 4-day week with 30 hours and you go over on average by 1 hour, having taken your 40 minutes paid meal break and started at your correct time. That is 4 hours a week, 208 hours a year, pretending to be a volunteer in a charity. That is ~£2100 before tax you are donating to your DOM's savings fund each year (and that figure in theory goes up each year with wage increases) and not using yourself to pay the mortgage, have a nice holiday etc.

Every ~9 of your colleagues doing similar is saving the depot the equivalent of a full-time hours job. Food for thought.