Royal Mail's Moya Greene: Hostilities with CWU Union Thawed

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Royal Mail's Moya Greene: Hostilities with CWU Union Thawed After Privatisation

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http://d.ibtimes.co.uk/en/full/1403526/royal-mail.jpg?w=719&h=462&l=50&t=40The hostilities between Royal Mail managers and the postal service's main union have died down after the state-owned employer was privatised, according to Moya Greene.

The chief executive of the Royal Mail told IBTimes UK that she has implemented a renewed emphasis on "improving relationships everywhere" in the FTSE 100 firm.

"If you've got 150,000 people, it's inevitable that you're going to have disputes," Greene said.

"You're not going to agree on everything. The question is not so much the dispute, it is how do you solve it, how do you approach it.

"Sadly, we had a history of approaching it with a very conflictual attitude. Our union is a strong industrial union, known for strike activity.

"Well, we have reduced a lot of that. Our union has decided that, for the good of the company, and the people who work in it rely on us having better relationships and looking for less conflictual ways to resolve our differences.

"That is something that has happened since the privatisation and, I don't say that there's a causal relationship, but I just say there's a greater willingness on the part of our union to solve things in a less conflictual way."

The comments come after members from the Communication Workers Union (CWU) agreed on a five-year post-privatisation terms and conditions deal following the postal service's £3.3bn ($5.3bn, €4.2bn) flotation on the stock market.

The agreement, which is designed to prevent local strikes, secured a 9.06% hike in basic pay for Royal Mail workers over three years.

In addition, the deal also means that zero-hours contracts are banned for Royal Mail employees.

Greene also told IBTimes UK that the improved relationship between Royal Mail and the CWU would help workers.

"Individuals don't want to come to work and face conflict, they've got enough to contend with in their lives," Greene said.

"So they certainly don't want added aggravation because of poor employer/employee relationships."

Greene spoke at the first European Business Leadership Forum to Target Depression in the Workplace.

The chief executive has backed the group's new business charter, which is designed to target depression in the workplace.

"If anyone, in any workplace, looks at things like morale and absenteeism; if you scratch below those numbers, you will see a very significant problem for some people with mental health issues," Greene said.

"Sadly, there's still a lot of stigma [around mental illness].

"About 18% of people report that their absence is due to depression and mental health issues at Royal Mail, we think it's probably higher because people would be concerned about telling us."

Greene explained that 1% of absence in the Royal Mail is worth about £30m.

"The worst thing you can do is to let people suffer in silence and in isolation," Greene said.

"Sometimes the workplace is a contributor, there are such things as toxic workplaces, but often work is really helpful to people's wellbeing."

The Six Principles of the European Business Charter

1. A Healthy, Prevention-Focused Workplace

2. An Informed and Understanding Workplace

3. A Well-Trained, Responsive Workplace

4. An Open, Safe and Secure Workplace

5. An Adaptive, Supportive Workplace

6. A Workplace with Ties to Community Care and Key Influencers

[rubberbond]

Considering that the union have capitulated on every thing Royal Mail propose, no wonder she thinks relations have thawed. I am not saying we should constantly be in dispute, but for goodness sake, stand up for the membership once in a while. You only have to look on this site to get a feeling of the way things are on the shop floor, and whilst I do not claim to speak for anyone else, and only work in deliveries, I gather that mail centres are equally as bad.
This article just goes to show how out of touch, both her and the union executive are. It gets worse week after week, we all say , it cannot get any worse, but somehow it does and continues to do so.
Yes, we are relatively well paid for what we do, but I,like most of my colleagues, work damned hard for it.

[justdeno]

I heard she was leaving, so why would she care about us(not that she ever did).

[Judgee]

"Individuals don't want to come to work and face conflict, they've got enough to contend with in their lives," Greene said.

"So they certainly don't want added aggravation because of poor employer/employee relationships."




Yup things have thawed. Now the union just does whatever the bosses tell them too!

[Martin Walsh]

I heard she was leaving, so why would she care about us(not that she ever did).

Don't believe what you read on Facebook. She has just married an english man and I do not think she is going anywhere at this moment and as they have revised their business plan she is still in a strong position.

Of course the CWU have given up on everything , How many companies have had a 3 year pay rise , with no compulsory redundancies and safeguards ?

The issue always seems to come down to absorption !! Absorption can only be introduced if you have time within your duty spans , management cannot make you work beyond your time on absorption. Equally how can a union demand no compulsory redundancies yet say people cannot work till their finish times ?

[Judgee]

Some kids in India spend 12 hours a day looking through rubbish to earn enough to eat too Dingo.

Just because we don't have it as bad as some people doesn't mean we have it good!

[Martin Walsh]

Judgee that's not a compassion.

Royal Mail have now good wages above the industry norm , shif allowances , paid meal reliefs , paid holidays up to 6 weeks , on average a 36 hour working week taking into account paid meal reliefs , pension above the norm .

You can hardly compare Royal Mail terms to poverty of children in India.

[k979aaa]

Judgee that's not a compassion.

Royal Mail have now good wages above the industry norm , shif allowances , paid meal reliefs , paid holidays up to 6 weeks , on average a 36 hour working week taking into account paid meal reliefs , pension above the norm .

You can hardly compare Royal Mail terms to poverty of children in India.

No but dignity and respect at work it isn't but were not in India and we are not children so there is no comparison. When will our union use their/our might to have clock in clock out we all have the cards then we should all be paid for the hours we work! Till then it is management with its bonus culture which will prevail and the workers who will lose out.

[fishtank]

I think it's all about perception dingo, Joint this and joint that, talking about seats on the board and inviting Moya to conference are all propaganda coups for the business,

While I think the days of a union fighting everything are long gone I also think it's important not only that the union realises that its members come first but also that it is seen to put its members first. RMT make as many if not more concessions than we do but Bob Crow always looked up for a fight and his members appreciated that. Dave no longer looks like he has any fight left in him....and don't get me started about Mr Gibson.

[Lincox]

Dingo, we have a comment on another recent thread where a Manager is speaking to a colleague regarding his sickness absence, and the managers comments are that the union rep is in the room to support him (The manager). Having personally experienced such an occurrence a couple of years ago, it is not surprising that there is no respect for the CWU heirarchy and no surprise that Moya Greene is commenting on the fact that since privatisation, the militancy culture within CWU has been neutralised.

[Judgee]

I think it's all about perception dingo, Joint this and joint that, talking about seats on the board and inviting Moya to conference are all propaganda coups for the business,

While I think the days of a union fighting everything are long gone I also think it's important not only that the union realises that its members come first but also that it is seen to put its members first. RMT make as many if not more concessions than we do but Bob Crow always looked up for a fight and his members appreciated that. Dave no longer looks like he has any fight left in him....and don't get me started about Mr Gibson.

[Martin Walsh]

Do you really think clocking in and clocking out is the answer ? Let's just think do the majority of workers work past their time for no extra pay , yes some are bullied but they are in the minioity and whilst this should be stopped clocking in and out is not the answer.

if clocking in and out was introduced then we would have lots of OPGs either short of their contract hours or simply staying out till their finish times. The next generation of PDAs will be able to track OPGs on their delivery routes but that is about 18 months away and Royal Mail need a server big enough to handle the information which is needed for 29 million addresses and the 1500 delivery offices.

Fish the CWU have always played a strong hand and the difference now is that when we go on strike we lose the Mail to TNT forever. When the RMT go on strike passengers have no alternative to the tube in places like London as car drving the buses are grid locked every day.

The CWU have to live in the real world , when I first started we used to go on strike and then come back and clear the work on overtime now we don't see the work? However if the issue is right then members the CWU will take action, in my area we have had 2 walkouts in the last few weeks and a ballot request from 3 Branch's which has been resolved.

In terms of Dave and Bob , not many past leaders of the CWU have had to deal with what they are dealing with now. It is not an easy job Especailly when competition threatens the USO and we have areas who are still seeing growth as TNT and Amazon are not intrested in areas which are more costly to deliver.

[k979aaa]

Do you really think clocking in and clocking out is the answer ? Let's just think do the majority of workers work past their time for no extra pay , yes some are bullied but they are in the minioity and whilst this should be stopped clocking in and out is not the answer.

if clocking in and out was introduced then we would have lots of OPGs either short of their contract hours or simply staying out till their finish times. The next generation of PDAs will be able to track OPGs on their delivery routes but that is about 18 months away and Royal Mail need a server big enough to handle the information which is needed for 29 million addresses and the 1500 delivery offices.

Fish the CWU have always played a strong hand and the difference now is that when we go on strike we lose the Mail to TNT forever. When the RMT go on strike passengers have no alternative to the tube in places like London as car drving the buses are grid locked every day.

The CWU have to live in the real world , when I first started we used to go on strike and then come back and clear the work on overtime now we don't see the work? However if the issue is right then members the CWU will take action, in my area we have had 2 walkouts in the last few weeks and a ballot request from 3 Branch's which has been resolved.

In terms of Dave and Bob , not many past leaders of the CWU have had to deal with what they are dealing with now. It is not an easy job Especailly when competition threatens the USO and we have areas who are still seeing growth as TNT and Amazon are not intrested in areas which are more costly to deliver.

What about the many who do the overtime yet do not get paid or are forced too because contractual reasons yet still are not paid. Time has come when our union needs to get into the 21st century and not cower for the rights of workers to be paid for the hours minutes and seconds we all work maybe the pillocks that come in early will lose out!

[TrueBlueTerrier]

There you go we have the view from the Top Table. Pity our concerns and views aren't so easily passed up, or infact even addressed. I know what Dingo is trying to say, those that fail to learn from history will repeat it. Thing is the Union appear to be losing the trust of ordinary members, but not the people within the structure, its a sandy foundation Perhaps we can learn from the mistakes of Tom Jackson before its too late, he lost the trust of ordinary postal workers and offices and units went off by themselves for a decade. If we do that in this era, then the Union will really be finished.

[POSTMAN]

More to the,point did Bill n Dave and the gang get any selfies at said wedding?