Rumour of franchising the walks.

[bustedflush]

they all do one wave and their delivery spans in Germany of 6.5 hours

If there is anybody at HQ who believes that simply extending deliveries in their current form beyond the current levels is a sustainable way to protect full time jobs let them do a 6.5 hr delivery for a month or so and we'll see if they change their mind.

Time to get real I think, If the future of the business is predominantly part-time it's a damn shame but trying desperately to hold that back by turning it into some kind of ridiculous test of endurance is not sustainable. It's time to stop thinking about the CWU balance sheet and start thinking about CWU members.

Rather than come on here telling us that German Posties have 6.5hr deliveries lets hear about how that 6.5hr delivery is achieved, lets compare like for like because unless they are superhuman they aren't doing what we're doing for 6.5hrs day in day out.

TBT makes a great point IMO. There does come a time when you have to put a value on the state of your physical health and quality of life (especially your leisure time) as opposed to monetary reward. I used to live in Germany and the way their posties work is quite different; most houses that aren't open-plan have boxes/parcel bins outside or on the property perimeter as do flats and apartments. There is little opening of gates and walking down broken paths, or walking down 100-yard drives. They use mopeds/bikes still and there is less walking in a 6-hour stint than we'd do in 3. They also do collections daily. It's a blend of our system with the USA-style perimeter mailboxes.
Of course little regard will be paid to this by the CWU/RM as we are all droids, machines with pulses but no feeling, no concept of fatigue.

[clashcityrocker]

How exactly are they going to trial one wave?
Either you have to move everyone to a later start or people are sitting around twiddling their thumbs for a couple of hours.
What about the machine operators?

Thank you to the workers of Walsall for agreeing to be the guinea pigs in this experiment. (They did agree didn't they?)

[The_Wax_Man]

they all do one wave and their delivery spans in Germany of 6.5 hours

If there is anybody at HQ who believes that simply extending deliveries in their current form beyond the current levels is a sustainable way to protect full time jobs let them do a 6.5 hr delivery for a month or so and we'll see if they change their mind.

Time to get real I think, If the future of the business is predominantly part-time it's a damn shame but trying desperately to hold that back by turning it into some kind of ridiculous test of endurance is not sustainable. It's time to stop thinking about the CWU balance sheet and start thinking about CWU members.

Rather than come on here telling us that German Posties have 6.5hr deliveries lets hear about how that 6.5hr delivery is achieved, lets compare like for like because unless they are superhuman they aren't doing what we're doing for 6.5hrs day in day out.

Fish, - This won't be disclosed - Not only are RM trying to chase the competition who work on a complete different playing field, they now want to compare against European and international markets.

I think RM need to go back to basics first and get a real understanding of where they sit in the market place instead of trying to chase off 100 different angles.

The customer is suffering huge, lot's of increased despondence with RM in the publics eye on the service they provide. With the postie taking the flak daily.

[Edward Hunter]

4 hours should be the absolute maximum for a delivery with an HCT. Personally id rather see more PTers and have a reasonable delivery span, than end up crocked because of the constant battering our bodies take doing the job now. Im sure this could be achieved through natural wastage over time, after all, us Full timers are generally the older members of the workforce. Youngsters comming into this job on delivery now are never going to last. The CWU/H&S needs to have a look at some of the posts on these forums to see that current delivery spans are killing us off! It might work on paper but those FT release boys and gals need to walk the walk for a couple of months to get the real picture.

[Postal Postie II]

When all is said and done. It's now all about making money. Soon there will be no postmen. Just a huge mail centre were customers come in and collect their mail.

And at the end of the day you'll have the Union to thank for it.

[Martin Walsh]

Fish it so easy to be critic ! No one said 6.5 hours was a goer ! I probably gave more information to this board on Royal Mails current thinking then any of you know ! Yet everyone attacks what is the point of giving any information to this board I might as well just keep the information for the Members I cover.

Equally if you have no responsibility to the membership as a whole it is so easy to say the future in the industry is part time so let's tell all the members that and let all take a pay cut ! The CWU not Royal Mail or any social media site has defended full time jobs , the current ratio is 70/30 and when the outstanding revisions are done it will move back torwards 75/25 due to the numbers of part time Ftcs being reduced.

No is saying you cannot you have to walk with an HCT more than 4 hours. There is a fratiguge study going on in the North East where postmen and women have been using heart monitors on walks and CDVs ! There is also s review of methods being used including the fact that some loops mean that s postman/women is carrying more weight with pulling the light weight trolley then if they simply carried on their shoulder.

Now going back to the mail optimisation process if the work comes in later and the last letter stays at 3 then you may get your wish about a part time industry but some of us will put up a fight to stop it.
equally we have to look at the last letter time and push that back as well as maybe having s premium service for parcels ( not the current tracked product ) which may mean a delivery between 0700 and 0900 where first time delivery rates are higher. We have to win the arguement that delivery to neighbour needs time built into duties.

Of course we need a reduction in the work week again. We work minus meal reliefs 35 hours and 40 mins on average and we need a further cut with no loss of pay. In addition we need to look at seasonal variations in the business and maybe look at balancing our hours over a longer period to ensure that we protect both full time jobs and give part timers the chance to work more hours at certain times of the year.

History shows most unions who rebel against new technlogy advances like the print unions , dockers and car workers do not win in the end. We have to fight to protect our futures but we have to also be willing to change.

It really is so easy to come on this board and be popular , all you need to his slag of the union , slag off London , slag of Royal Mail and your pushed for the next general secretary of the cwu , however the prove in the pudding is how are things in your unit and if you can't stop it happening in your own unit then what chance have you got in the othet 1500 unit. It's easy to criticise but much harder to practicise what you Preach ! Then a lot on here start the blame game it is down to the union , we cannot organise the part timers etc.

Excuses ! I learnt a long time ago that if you commuincate with the members face to face and try your best to help them resolve their issues regardless of whether their full time part time black or white or any other nationality they will back you and be willing to fight. There is a motto in London which we have always abided by is that if an office has an issue then first and foremost they have to raise it and it is not resolved get s yes vote in an industrial action ballot and then the rest of their Branch will also ballot , The rest of London will not then leave that Branch isolated. It is called unity. To many on here believe the Cwu starts and ends at 150 the Boardway it does not it begins in your office and you have the strongest protection a legal right to challenge a management decision or action and Royal Mail have signed a legal document which states they cannot take executive action. At the moment there are just 50 disagreements in the whole of the UK.

I am out of here and I let you get on with your love fest !

[Darren Bent]

How exactly are they going to trial one wave?
Either you have to move everyone to a later start or people are sitting around twiddling their thumbs for a couple of hours.
What about the machine operators?

Thank you to the workers of Walsall for agreeing to be the guinea pigs in this experiment. (They did agree didn't they?)

It is for worst 50 walks at the moment, and it is trying to improve the sorting of WSM machines. Didn't realise we are a guinea pigs for this experiment. I am not involved with it. They are trying to cut down randomly and make it smarter ie whole bunch for a huge school to save time. We still got too much flats and we spend lot of time waiting for flats to finished. So it is not there yet.

[halfull]

Dingo, none of us want to work any later than we already do! would you like to deliver in a high rise flat or high crime area in the dark at 4-4:30pm??
None of us want bigger delivery's than we already have! What about hips,knees,ankles,backs.....
And i & many would challenge that 75-25 fulltime to partime split, i would say its more like 60-40 & getting closer to 50-50 year on year.
Also it does not surprise me there are so few disagreements in throughout the uk as the process to get some good backing from the cwu on issues is so slow & so bad it pointless in registering a disagreement on many issues.

[The_Wax_Man]

Dingo,

A heart felt post and I agree kinda with what you are saying, but also what you are saying gives me concern.

The reason there is a RM/Union/Members them and us is that so much is kept secret, no information, no heads up.

In order for this business to work, there needs to be a lot more transparency from RM and the union over what is our future.

A bullet list of objectives etc. - The business plan has been done, every area of the business has been touched, why is this information never shared.

From the Unions point of view, many on here and in the DO's see the union losing out to RM time and time again on incentives, lots of things being pushed through. DTN is a classic example. Lots of joint statements about projects and many of them are good, that just seem to blend into the background with little or no follow up communication. That is why there are plenty of vocal users expressing their dissatisfaction.

Sensitive Business issues aside - All many want to see is what are the plans? - where is the future going ?- What are we needed to do. We all want to be good at our jobs and the chance to go home at the end of the day feeling like you have had a good day.

Strong follow ups and good communication is the key to the workforce as all it becomes otherwise is a 'wake up Monday, new rules, methods and 'musts'' syndrome which kills motivation. If there is going to be WCM or equivalent, then let's see some company 'Best practice' being put into place instead of loads of local 'pointers'

I am sure you have access to sickness records, which would show an increase over the last few years. - This is an employees way of a silent protest. It happens in all industries where motivation is shot.

I'm sad with what I see to be honest. The 'Way forward' - seems to be stuck in a mud field.

[dvbuk55]

I'd like to see this fabled 75/25 head count on FT/PT and I'd also like to see what the number of employees is now as opposed to 2 years ago. I'm sure someone in the know would have the figures to hand

[fishtank]

Fish it so easy to be critic !

To be fair that's only my part-time job.
My other job is much harder.

[dvbuk55]

I'd be interested to see how this would work in real time. How would you insert flats, small packets and D2D, especially if you have 6 lots of them and dozens of small packets. How long would it take to keep flicking through a pack. How about the supposedly walk sequenced mail falls off the york as does happen?
TBH the managers are sceptical about it as well and it has been mentioned before. It looks like there's been a "Joint" junket to Europe to view the system at first hand then thinking it would be ideal for the UK postal service.

[Mezza]

To many on here believe the Cwu starts and ends at 150 the Boardway it does not it begins in your office and you have the strongest protection a legal right to challenge a management decision or action and Royal Mail have signed a legal document which states they cannot take executive action. At the moment there are just 50 disagreements in the whole of the UK.

I am out of here and I let you get on with your love fest !

Really !

There have been a total of 7 level 2 and 3 level 3 grievances in my office.
Despite documented proof that National Agreements have been clearly broken or ignored on numerous occasions in our office, there has never been a grievance outcome that in anyway helped us, it's always gone against us and in our DOM / RM's favour.

One level 2 was actually swept under the carpet completely and despite emails to our DSM complaining about it, it was ignored.

Our Union Rep doesn't want to know as he's one of the office runners and just wants to get home each day, so often agrees to local agreements even ifit's to the detriment of the office.
Our Area Rep is great over the phone, but we rarely see him and he really doesn't want to know either.

We've even used the whistle blower thing and written to Moyra directly - and still nothing is done and each week there are further issues - most have given up and just come in take all the s**t thrown at them and go home.

So please don't go on about legal rights here because they mean nothing. If RM can get away with something they will - end of.
There may be only 50 disagreements in the whole of the UK, but what about all the stage 2's or 3's awaiting outcomes (loads on here with no resolution after months of waiting).

The Union tell us that these National Agreements may not be all we want but we should vote for them because we won;t get any better (our Area reps words there), and yet they mean nothing when we want to use them to support us !

[ziggy]

Our union rep isn't interested in anything but themselves either. The walks in our office are unachievable at least three quarters of the year, we are constantly being asked to do more, either because of sickness or because the mail is down allegedly

We used to be a fairly decent, flexible office prepared to muck in if for instance someone phoned in sick. We are now a broken office . . No moral left, nothing more to give. I left the union because in our office its a joke. It seems to exist only to look after itself and its little clique. A lot of others have left also for the same reasons.

This seems to be the case all over so basically RM can do whatever it damn well wants. Whether it's increasing delivery spans, later starts or franchising

[dvbuk55]

To many on here believe the Cwu starts and ends at 150 the Boardway it does not it begins in your office and you have the strongest protection a legal right to challenge a management decision or action and Royal Mail have signed a legal document which states they cannot take executive action. At the moment there are just 50 disagreements in the whole of the UK.

I am out of here and I let you get on with your love fest !

Well how do people exercise that legal right dingo, go to disagreement and then what? Well obviously it's peoples experience that doing that achieves nothing time after time and so they give up and criticise the union for doing nothing to ensure they are protected. The union have copped out dingo, rhetoric and platitudes do not solve the underlying problem of a failure to bring a cohesive union membership to the table. Stranger still we have information passed by you when it should be coming from HQ to the membership. Bye dingo