End of F/T staff ?

Post by **eastie** » 28 Dec 2016, 18:53

We have had 5 F/T staff leave our small office in the last 2 months for various reasons and every one has been replaced with a 25 hour contract.
That is 70 hours taken out of our office of 32 posties.
That is the equivalent of 2 full time employees
During December we had 2 P/T doing 70 hours a week delivering parcels and cut offs because there was nobody on IPS as they were throwing other rounds off causing people out late and cutting off ..
Management cutting staff to the bone and then paying it all back in O/T

Phantom · Post by **Phantom** » 28 Dec 2016, 19:29

Answer: Stop all overtime = RM f****d! = Increase in contractual hours

Post by **woopesh** » 28 Dec 2016, 19:46

It must make a saving in sick and holiday pay. Also in the summer when it is lighter, the overtime should reduce significantly. Overall it will save RM money at the expense of staff morale (FT's getting out later due to having to throw off two walks etc) and quality of service (no PT doing 15 different walks a month can give the same service as a FT on one walk day in day out). I bet the savings are pretty small, much smaller than the number of contractual hours reduced.

Kings Norton · Post by **Kings Norton** » 28 Dec 2016, 20:05

eastie wrote:We have had 5 F/T staff leave our small office in the last 2 months for various reasons and every one has been replaced with a 25 hour contract.
That is 70 hours taken out of our office of 32 posties.
That is the equivalent of 2 full time employees
During December we had 2 P/T doing 70 hours a week delivering parcels and cut offs because there was nobody on IPS as they were throwing other rounds off causing people out late and cutting off ..
Management cutting staff to the bone and then paying it all back in O/T

Same in my office and the part timers has brought it on themselves by coming in 3 hours earlier to throw walks off working their days off and doing extra rows on walks on overtime, if they stopped that it might make management think and put a few up to full time but its dog eat dog no sooner does the phone ring and its like the 800 meters with Part timers legging it around the office with killing off stickers to put on the best rows..So basically when the part timers are doing this they are playing right in their hands unfortunately!

Chewster · Post by **Chewster** » 28 Dec 2016, 21:40

Kings Norton wrote:
eastie wrote:We have had 5 F/T staff leave our small office in the last 2 months for various reasons and every one has been replaced with a 25 hour contract.
That is 70 hours taken out of our office of 32 posties.
That is the equivalent of 2 full time employees
During December we had 2 P/T doing 70 hours a week delivering parcels and cut offs because there was nobody on IPS as they were throwing other rounds off causing people out late and cutting off ..
Management cutting staff to the bone and then paying it all back in O/T
Same in my office and the part timers has brought it on themselves by coming in 3 hours earlier to throw walks off working their days off and doing extra rows on walks on overtime, if they stopped that it might make management think and put a few up to full time but its dog eat dog no sooner does the phone ring and its like the 800 meters with Part timers legging it around the office with killing off stickers to put on the best rows..So basically when the part timers are doing this they are playing right in their hands unfortunately!

And if they stopped that they also might not be able to keep the wolves from the door. We don't all do overtime just to suck up, some of us like/need the money. Even if I went full time I'd still be working many days off and doing extras when needed. I never come in early though, that's one thing people need to stop doing. We (in my office anyway) used to get paid for coming in early but when they stamped that out myself and most others stopped.

As for the end of FT staff, not sure I'd go QUITE that far. Certainly a reduction, but with the higher turnover of staff these days you can see why RM are reluctant to give out FT contracts to anyone. A few in our office have been made up to FT in the last few months so I haven't given up hope yet!

Post by **Lincox** » 28 Dec 2016, 21:45

It's a downward spiral. Full time down to part time. Part time down to 1 hour contracts. One hour contracts down to zero hour contracts. This is the British business model and it is an inevitability because no union has the support by its members to stop it.

South_London_Postie · Post by **South_London_Postie** » 28 Dec 2016, 23:47

I literally could bang the heads of the part timers in this company. We need to run a national overtime ban and show Royal Mail the business cannot run on these short contracts. It would take less than a month for the business to fall apart with everyone working to their hours. It's so short sighted to use " I need to pay my bills I have to do it " when one month of action could resolve the issue. For every cut off you deliver, for every minute you work through your break, for every minute you come in early you are robbing holiday and sick pay off yourself and colleagues by allowing Royal Mail to get away with these PT contracts.

Chewster · Post by **Chewster** » 29 Dec 2016, 04:09

South_London_Postie wrote:I literally could bang the heads of the part timers in this company. We need to run a national overtime ban and show Royal Mail the business cannot run on these short contracts. It would take less than a month for the business to fall apart with everyone working to their hours. It's so short sighted to use " I need to pay my bills I have to do it " when one month of action could resolve the issue. For every cut off you deliver, for every minute you work through your break, for every minute you come in early you are robbing holiday and sick pay off yourself and colleagues by allowing Royal Mail to get away with these PT contracts.

And every minute I don't work, the harder it is for me to pay another bill. If I work to my time every day for a month, I've effectively halved my wage. I cannot afford to do that. Get your head out of your arse.

The anti PT attitude on this site is disgusting at times.

salomon2 · Post by **salomon2** » 29 Dec 2016, 07:27

Don't blame the part timers for everything. In our office the full timers come in early, work past their time and many don't book it.

South_London_Postie · Post by **South_London_Postie** » 29 Dec 2016, 09:25

Oh guys it's not a dig at part timers, banging their heads is a expression I don't mean literally! I was referring to the ones who moan about their contract yet still continue to feed into the overtime system allowing Royal Mail to get away with it ! I understand some people have commitments! But let me tell you something I'd sooner be a month behind on bills and take the chance to put this issue to bed! Rather than just put up with it for the foreseeable future hence my short sighted comment! As for FT / PT divide, for the record I am part time too!

Excuses and lack of action never solved anything.

I don't buy this "I can't stop over time I need the money next week" attitude. The hand to mouth, month to month living is exactly what Royal Mail want! so you are stuck and cannot afford to fight for better terms! don't let short term thinking affect your long term future.

And please before you fight and try to pick apart my comments remember I am suggesting action that benefits every one at delivery level in this business it's a no brainer we need all staff on FT hours. So yes I am prepared to stand behind my words and make a stand for YOU!

rubberbond · Post by **rubberbond** » 29 Dec 2016, 13:19

Zarkandar wrote:It's not as easy for part timers to just turn round and say, we're not doin any overtime for a week, month whatever, especially when they have children to feed, mortgages to pay. So you can bang whoevers heads together you want, people have different circumstances to you, n we are not guaranteed to get a bigger contract if we all just start cutting off...

What I fail to understand is ,why does anyone take a job with such ridiculously low weekly hours,is it a case of any port in a storm,or some other reason,more so if you have a mortgage and children, I know I wouldn't take such a job,but each to their own, I suppose.

Post by **Lincox** » 29 Dec 2016, 14:11

Rubberbond, I would think that the answer to this is that Full Time manual jobs are becoming less and less as many companies are now only prepared to pay for hours actually worked, so when they have a downturn in work or the work isn't evenly spread they can lay people off or if employing on a part time basis they can allocate the work on shift patterns. In the past employers would use downtime to up skill their workforce or would keep them working cleaning, repairing assetts and other jobs that would help retain valued staff. We now live in a different world where bottom line profits are king, and where long term planning/resourcing is a part of history. The future workforce of this country will not have one employer but probably two or more and this is why people are being forced into taking these part time roles in the hope that they will be able to get extra hours or even supplement with a second job.

fishtank · Post by **fishtank** » 29 Dec 2016, 15:21

Phantom wrote:Answer: Stop all overtime...

"RM" have been wanting to do that for years, they would bloody love it to paraphrase Kevin Keegan ( google him ).

Supermac0151 · Post by **Supermac0151** » 29 Dec 2016, 15:36

It's despicable talking about part timers like they are different, almost neo-nazi like. We are all working for the same company and are all human beings regardless of contracted hours!!!! Part time jobs are all there is advertised these days, you have to earn your stripes and hope there's an opening for a full time position but in the meantime if the opportunity to work full time hours in order to feed your family and pay the bills then why not? Why should anyone forego money to prove a point? That's ridiculous and detrimental to that persons financial needs. Get a grip I'd never hold anything against anyone trying to make up their hours to keep themselves afloat!!!!

Kings Norton · Post by **Kings Norton** » 29 Dec 2016, 16:06

Supermac0151 wrote:It's despicable talking about part timers like they are different, almost neo-nazi like. We are all working for the same company and are all human beings regardless of contracted hours!!!! Part time jobs are all there is advertised these days, you have to earn your stripes and hope there's an opening for a full time position but in the meantime if the opportunity to work full time hours in order to feed your family and pay the bills then why not? Why should anyone forego money to prove a point? That's ridiculous and detrimental to that persons financial needs. Get a grip I'd never hold anything against anyone trying to make up their hours to keep themselves afloat!!!!

Disagree, Part timers come in think they know everything and can do everything and try to rule the roost over full timers, we full timers try tell them they are cutting their own throat by doing what they are doing but will they listen? They see pound signs in Fridays wage packet rather than see their future on a full time contract.