Feel a bit shafted with my contract hrs and days I work.

[postiewhite]

Im a bit of a newbie,started 4 months ago originally on 23h,24min contract spread over 3 days. After a month I was put upto 25hrs spread over 5 days but have recently been told by the new boss that it is spread over 4 days at 6hrs 15mins a day although iam down on the rota to work 5 with one day off. He said that one day a week that I work I have to put it down as my day out so in theory im working 31.15hrs a week. The lad I worked with today is also on 25hrs spread over 3 days with 4 nice whole days off a week so he works full days when hes in. He told me not to let them screw you over as they were gonna give him a new 28hr contract spread over 5 days (basically working an extra 2 days for just 3 more hrs) and he went mad with them.

My point is I feel as though Im not having any say in my hrs. If my contract is 25hrs spread over 4 days then why am I automatically rota'd down for 5 days each week when really I should be working 4 or at least give me a choice if I want to work one of my days out.
Thing is I dont think it says in my contract how many days the hrs are spread over.!!
I was looking at other part time postie's views on the hrs they work and over how many days and should I challenge it? I wouldnt care if I was full time but im part time and it annoys me one postie can work 3 days and I have to work 5!

[chrisj]

Please send this to the CWU headquarters and to Moya Greene: this is one of the issues we are fighting against in delivery.

More so, this why some people think that there should be a special taskforce within the CWU to look after the interest of part-timers especially the most vulnerable right at the bottom of the pile; on temporary contracts and low hours.

We need the CWU to start policing this sort of abuse because you are basically being employed on inferior terms: and it appears your contract is not even sold enough in that they can ask you to come in for 3, 4 or 5 days at the drop of hat.

They did not even consider that you might have other commitments like a second job to bring your income to an overall living wage and there might also be family commitments.

The thing is they want you to work as a 30+ hour staff but yet continue to give you the benefits of a 25 hours staff.

Wrong!

[dvbuk55]

Please send this to the CWU headquarters and to Moya Greene: this is one of the issues we are fighting against in delivery.

More so, this why some people think that there should be a special taskforce within the CWU to look after the interest of part-timers especially the most vulnerable right at the bottom of the pile; on temporary contracts and low hours.

We need the CWU to start policing this sort of abuse because you are basically being employed on inferior terms: and it appears your contract is not even sold enough in that they can ask you to come in for 3, 4 or 5 days at the drop of hat.

They did not even consider that you might have other commitments like a second job to bring your income to an overall living wage and there might also be family commitments.

The thing is they want you to work as a 30+ hour staff but yet continue to give you the benefits of a 25 hours staff.

Wrong!

Well under BT2010 Agreement, the Deal of the Century, there was winners and losers but there seemed to be more losers than winners. Maybe the Ground Breaking deal of 2013/2014 will reverse the situation.

[AJ1987]

I'm in a similar situation. When i applied the vacancy was for 24hr contract between set hours which I fail to remember now. I always work more hours than contracted and just book it down as overtime as told. Thought it was no problem at first but didn't realise it means I get shafted when pro rata payments are made such as Xmas bonus, delivery supliment etc and when rota week just get basic 24hr pay and holidays etc... Also had to pay a lot of working tax credit back as told them when started I was working 24hours.

Its okay being told by full timers/perm contact workers just work my contract hours but it isn't them who's got to support a family on the basic 24hr pay and with the threat of your temp 3month contract not being renewed looming over you

[Lincox]

A lot of payments are pro rata, but delivery supplement isn,t one of them. Your hourly rate for overtime hours between your contracted hours and fulltime hours (39) are enhanced to cover the delivery supplement.

[dvbuk55]

I'm in a similar situation. When i applied the vacancy was for 24hr contract between set hours which I fail to remember now. I always work more hours than contracted and just book it down as overtime as told. Thought it was no problem at first but didn't realise it means I get shafted when pro rata payments are made such as Xmas bonus, delivery supliment etc and when rota week just get basic 24hr pay and holidays etc... Also had to pay a lot of working tax credit back as told them when started I was working 24hours.

Its okay being told by full timers/perm contact workers just work my contract hours but it isn't them who's got to support a family on the basic 24hr pay and with the threat of your temp 3month contract not being renewed looming over you

You're spot on AJ, there's a misconception by some that people choose to work part time when in fact that is all that's on offer and people have to work as many hours they can to support a family. The union must be more than well aware that the agreed ratio has fallen well below that agreed in the BT2010 and had no intention of ensuring that some vacancies made available would be offered as full time posts - however that opens a can of worms because there are now so many part timers a full time post would go to the longest serving on the part time list creating yet another part time post. The truth of the matter is that more often than not a vacant full time post is filled by a part timer.

[joeyuk]

I'm sort of in the same situation. The job i went for was 20 hours over 4 days 10-3, i can't survive on 20 hours and need 30+ to make a living (have another 10 hour job). Since i started 6 weeks ago i've worked 6 day weeks normally 10-4 which allows me to get 32+ hours in. I would love a 5 day rota with 6 hours a day but some days the work is just not there and I have to finish after 4 hours. 1 or 2 of those 4 hour shifts a week and i'm nowhere near the 30 hours i need.

Tbh the 6 day week does not bother me that much as i'm only in 4-6 hours a day. I get in and my frame is normally mostly prepped so most of my time is out on walks which I enjoy. Might speak to my DOM at some point about a 5 day week working 6 hours a day but only being they 6 weeks feel i should leave it till i've at least put in 3 months.

[Speedmeister]

This is how RM works - it's all about saving hours & inflated bonuses for the managers. I've been with RM for nearly 3 years on a 20 hour contract - initially on a rolling contract but finally made permanent earlier this year - still no increase in hours though. My DOM said to me last year that no-one should be on 20 hour contracts in the office & he'd be reviewing all the contracts the next month - I haven't heard anything since! I've been on a 7 hour duty for most of this year & have been booking 3 hours overtime a day, about a month ago the DOM decided to cut my OT & get someone to prep my frame. Well it took less than a week before none of my mail was prepped & today it's happened again - both occasions I've booked for prepping the frame myself & TBH I'm starting to get a bit hacked off with the way I'm being treated. The first time my mail wasn't prepped I had about 5 Specials but because I was so late out one of them was 10 mins late & the last one about 50 mins (whoops! ).

[lettersbe]

I'm in the same boat, employed as a 40hr full time, after a year reduced to 30hrs (plus 10hrs o/t to keep me on same money). Now new DOM has just arrived and ripped all the o/t away from the part timers. Wouldn't mind so much, but a lot of the full timers are booking overtime to do favors and cover other rounds and are still on their way home within their day. I've asked my rep to propose an overtime ban. The whole situation completely undermines the power of the union to get anything done.

[Lincox]

Lettersbe, was your full time hours on a fixed term contract?

[chrisj]

The answer is most likely a Yes.

The thing is that this person is actually in much better situation than the others above... At least he got made up 'temporarily' and got full benefits - assuming. The issue with temporary contracts is that they are:

TEMPORARY!

[Darren Bent]

It is widely abused by Royal Mail managers for over 8 years. It is not on. Managers like to give people low hours contract and give those people one hour of overtime everyday. It will hit the workers in the pocket with bonus, holiday pay, sick pay, etc to inflate managers saving and bonus scheme. I think Royal Mail need to stop doing those contracts and bonus schemes to benefits managers. I believe there should be one bonus scheme for every workers working together. So if a manager get 1 grand bonus, we should get the same.

[lettersbe]

Yeah it has always been a 3 month rolling contract. I was obviously lucky to have that even for a short amount of time.

What really winds me up, is when ole David Camaron gets up at the dispatch box and talks about improving unemployment figures!! When the reality is this overall insecurity that is built into our employment terms. You cant get a mortgage, rent a house, plan or save for the future with this type of employment. Its all on the side of the company. Rant over.

I've not been on the post for very long, but i have to say, I'd quite like to see the CWU taking a much harder line on things like this. This is at the very heart of an employees ability to have a happy work/home life.

[mlw]

Yeah it has always been a 3 month rolling contract. I was obviously lucky to have that even for a short amount of time.

What really winds me up, is when ole David Camaron gets up at the dispatch box and talks about improving unemployment figures!! When the reality is this overall insecurity that is built into our employment terms. You cant get a mortgage, rent a house, plan or save for the future with this type of employment. Its all on the side of the company. Rant over.

I've not been on the post for very long, but i have to say, I'd quite like to see the CWU taking a much harder line on things like this. This is at the very heart of an employees ability to have a happy work/home life.

i have been on22.5 hrs for 3 years covering ft rounds 5 days a week floating i put in all ot which is every day, i come in to work and have 2 finish prep of my walk and then re directions parcels and tie up i start at 830 and get out about 10 the walks plus lapsing take us 4.5 hrs so i claim abut 1.5-2 hrs a day and now dom has said i claim too much! but the guy i work with is ft plus all benefits and starts at 7 dom says over a yr ago he woud up my hrs to 31.5 but it never happens! they are just full of lies i am afraid ido not trust any dom now,yhe union need to improve pt hrs because the rm are paying pt wages for ft jobs