So.... What does the future hold for RM employees??

[Dalelad]

As a part time employee with a year in, i'm increasingly asking myself, what am I still doing here? I went for a postman job last year as i'd been made redundant in my previous job. I thought if I start part time and prove myself, i'd eventually get a full time position. How wrong was I?! Its becoming more and more apparent that this is a dead end job with absolutely no prospects. Its a rut you get stuck in. The only thing the job has going for it is the hourly rate. But without the hours, what use is that. Full timers are retiring or taking VR and all RM do is replace them with more part timers. More mouths to try and feed when it comes to over time. Whats happened to this supposed 70/30 split where 70% of staff will remain full time? Surely if an audit is carried out, they would find this isn't the case. So in 20-30 years time, if RM still exists, will the entire work force be part time?

The obvious response I will get is, why don't you just go find another job. I am always on the look out. I just want the opinions of other part timers who feel the same way and what do some of you CWU reps think about the current situation and what the future holds....

[wabbithunta]

As a part time employee with a year in, i'm increasingly asking myself, what am I still doing here? I went for a postman job last year as i'd been made redundant in my previous job. I thought if I start part time and prove myself, i'd eventually get a full time position. How wrong was I?! Its becoming more and more apparent that this is a dead end job with absolutely no prospects. Its a rut you get stuck in. The only thing the job has going for it is the hourly rate. But without the hours, what use is that. Full timers are retiring or taking VR and all RM do is replace them with more part timers. More mouths to try and feed when it comes to over time. Whats happened to this supposed 70/30 split where 70% of staff will remain full time? Surely if an audit is carried out, they would find this isn't the case. So in 20-30 years time, if RM still exists, will the entire work force be part time?

The obvious response I will get is, why don't you just go find another job. I am always on the look out. I just want the opinions of other part timers who feel the same way and what do some of you CWU reps think about the current situation and what the future holds....

I think you'll find that a lot of full time posties actual share your misgivings on this one. No doubt you'll even get the same response from posties in the DO you work at? Have you even asked or even been told of any available posts in DO's near to where you live. It may be worth asking your DOM and see what they say. There was a link to a website that listed such openings, also there's a listing on the RM website too if I recall. When I get back home later on I'll see if I can find it and post it on here for you... [as I'm off to work in the next few mins] so that'll be this afternoon, or maybe a little later on.

[Lounge Lizard]

The answer most will have to "what am I still doing here?" is "The only thing the job has going for it is the hourly rate" and there aren't many other similarly paid unskilled jobs about so we put up with all the problems.

[2pints]

Same boat.One year in,just had a 3 month contract through post after 2 previous 6 month contracts.Am a bit concerned tbh.But i am not looking for anything else.I really enjoy the job actually and looking around my office there are a few permanent staff who were part time for just over a year before being made perm so that eases the worry a bit but things are a little different now than they was then.

I am fairly lucky i have a 30 hour contract so i only need to do a bit of overtime like coming in early or working a day off and i have made my hours up but most part time contracts are 25 hours or so and that is a bit harder to manage.But i still feel that the job is very well paid and i enjoy the mix of indoor/outdoor work and the hours are great for familys.

[Pat Ostman]

The future well, more bullying, more suspect dismissals and more pressure.

[Dalelad]

As a part time employee with a year in, i'm increasingly asking myself, what am I still doing here? I went for a postman job last year as i'd been made redundant in my previous job. I thought if I start part time and prove myself, i'd eventually get a full time position. How wrong was I?! Its becoming more and more apparent that this is a dead end job with absolutely no prospects. Its a rut you get stuck in. The only thing the job has going for it is the hourly rate. But without the hours, what use is that. Full timers are retiring or taking VR and all RM do is replace them with more part timers. More mouths to try and feed when it comes to over time. Whats happened to this supposed 70/30 split where 70% of staff will remain full time? Surely if an audit is carried out, they would find this isn't the case. So in 20-30 years time, if RM still exists, will the entire work force be part time?

The obvious response I will get is, why don't you just go find another job. I am always on the look out. I just want the opinions of other part timers who feel the same way and what do some of you CWU reps think about the current situation and what the future holds....

I think you'll find that a lot of full time posties actual share your misgivings on this one. No doubt you'll even get the same response from posties in the DO you work at? Have you even asked or even been told of any available posts in DO's near to where you live. It may be worth asking your DOM and see what they say. There was a link to a website that listed such openings, also there's a listing on the RM website too if I recall. When I get back home later on I'll see if I can find it and post it on here for you... [as I'm off to work in the next few mins] so that'll be this afternoon, or maybe a little later on.

Thanks mate. That would be much appreciated.

Same boat.One year in,just had a 3 month contract through post after 2 previous 6 month contracts.Am a bit concerned tbh.But i am not looking for anything else.I really enjoy the job actually and looking around my office there are a few permanent staff who were part time for just over a year before being made perm so that eases the worry a bit but things are a little different now than they was then.

I am fairly lucky i have a 30 hour contract so i only need to do a bit of overtime like coming in early or working a day off and i have made my hours up but most part time contracts are 25 hours or so and that is a bit harder to manage.But i still feel that the job is very well paid and i enjoy the mix of indoor/outdoor work and the hours are great for familys.

My sentimants exactly. I also enjoy the job and the hours fit well around my family life. I'm one of the unfortunate ones on a 24 hour contract. 15 hours O/T needed to get upto F/T hours. On my 4th 3 month temp contract now with final 50p ph increment coming next month. There seems to be alot of differences between DO's across the country. Your office sounds more promising going forward. The office I work at hasn't taken anyone on full time for over 10 years, even though a shed load of full timers have left in that time. I think RM are starting to prey on people such as ourselves. They know we are willing to do the O/T as and when needed, so why give us the benefits of being full time. It will just cost them more money in holiday pay, sick pay, future pay offs etc. It is morally wrong but the powers that be couldn't care less about our financial stability. This is why i'm so concerned about my future. I've still got at least 30 years til retirement and in all honestly, if I was to stay with RM, i'd spend the rest of my working life as a part time employee. A living to work, not working to live existance.

[Patrick301]

the future is part time now mate
and when the TNT delivery trojan horse escalates
things can only get worse
anyway you have a part time job and i think your best bet is
to look for another part time job outside royal mail
if you have your own car ,,,,,,,,maybe get one delivering parcels
or bar work at night , etc
there are plenty more part time jobs out there outside royal mail
get 2 more and you could earn a good wage

[wabbithunta]

As a part time employee with a year in, i'm increasingly asking myself, what am I still doing here? I went for a postman job last year as i'd been made redundant in my previous job. I thought if I start part time and prove myself, i'd eventually get a full time position. How wrong was I?! Its becoming more and more apparent that this is a dead end job with absolutely no prospects. Its a rut you get stuck in. The only thing the job has going for it is the hourly rate. But without the hours, what use is that. Full timers are retiring or taking VR and all RM do is replace them with more part timers. More mouths to try and feed when it comes to over time. Whats happened to this supposed 70/30 split where 70% of staff will remain full time? Surely if an audit is carried out, they would find this isn't the case. So in 20-30 years time, if RM still exists, will the entire work force be part time?

The obvious response I will get is, why don't you just go find another job. I am always on the look out. I just want the opinions of other part timers who feel the same way and what do some of you CWU reps think about the current situation and what the future holds....

I think you'll find that a lot of full time posties actual share your misgivings on this one. No doubt you'll even get the same response from posties in the DO you work at? Have you even asked or even been told of any available posts in DO's near to where you live. It may be worth asking your DOM and see what they say. There was a link to a website that listed such openings, also there's a listing on the RM website too if I recall. When I get back home later on I'll see if I can find it and post it on here for you... [as I'm off to work in the next few mins] so that'll be this afternoon, or maybe a little later on.

Just got back home a little while ago and "dug this out" so take a look here.. see if this is of any help to you.
Just enter the relevant info on the page and see what shows up for you. This is on the Royal Mail Group website.. so no need to go searching via agencies

http://rmg.i-grasp.com/fe/tpl_royalmail01.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[kirstyx]

We seem quite lucky in my office when we had the revision in January we had 8 people put up to full time and all part time contracts put up to 30 hours tne only exceptions are the family friendly route which is done on a 22 hour contract.

[centenaryman]

we had the revision just before xmas,,,,,some part time staff were given extra hours to make up to full time temps,,,,,the 1st time a full timer left we were refused a part timer moving up...."saving hours" was the excuse....it was moved up to area rep who then told us there was nothing we could do LOL