Unfair Selection of Angard Casuals

NW11851 · Post by **NW11851** » 21 Jun 2017, 06:06

Following the email directive from Angard that recipients of telephone calls to come to work by local .Managers are to be ignored, the said Managers have adopted a different strategy,

Now, they simply tell Angard which staff to whom the work should be offered!

This really does pose a problem for one set of staff in the 'pool' available.

The following is NOT a racist comment. It is simply a statement of what appears to be taking place.

Sri Lankan-origin Managers nominate the names of fellow Sri Lankan-origin Angard Casual Staff.

Pakistani-origin Muslim Managers nominate 'their own'.

And so on.

It is very difficult for others to obtain any shifts.

From my limited observations, and conversations with friendly RM staff, it appears that some staff are turning up for every single shift on a regular basis.

Then there are the various Managers' wives.........

Now that I have passed the 12-week Minimum Wage period, my shifts have reduced from up to three per week to one per fortnight.

Coupled with the above, is this unreasonable?

It's becoming like the well- known George Orwell book "All .... are equal but some are more equal than others."

Zahirm115 · Post by **Zahirm115** » 21 Jun 2017, 09:05

It's happening everywhere, regardless of Asian or black or white. I applied for a job out 6, five were white, who had family managers in Royal Mail working, talking to them, they didn't any experience. So every one suffers regardless of what religion they are. Don't give up

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 21 Jun 2017, 13:32

it is ILLEGAL to base selection for shifts based on religion, ethnicity, gender or disability, as long as they are capable of doing the job everyone should have the same chance of getting shifts.

The thing is Royal Mail managers are so badly trained in basic employment law that most are probably unaware. If you are in the Union then bang in a grievance with their help, in fact even if you are not in the CWU still bang in a grievance, it may come to nothing, but if everyone who is also aggrieved at the situation does it, it helps build a paper trail and makes it more difficult for it to carry on, or be ignored.

PauloC · Post by **PauloC** » 21 Jun 2017, 18:50

OK here is my situation. I have not worked since mid April, although I had a text for a shift May 12th which I couldn't do. I sent an e mail to Angard a few days ago asking if I was still on their books, as I know your security clearance runs out after 6 weeks (I was told). I had no reply, so I have just rang them today and was told it was very quiet, and was I still available for work and she would let people know I was available!!!!!????

In the meantime I know that staff at my mail centre have been getting shifts! My grievance is the total lack of communication over what my situation is. What a shocking way to treat employees.

NW11851 · Post by **NW11851** » 21 Jun 2017, 23:30

One of the problems for Angard staff is that, legally, we are not employed by RM, but by Angard.

If RM Managers telephone Angard and state that they want (say) 10 staff and their names are A, B, etc, how are Angard to know what is happening. They may suspect it but it's us not my direct employer doing it.

As an aside, I suspect that this wa one of the reasons that RM Managers were instructed not to telephone individual Angard staff directly but always to go through the agency.

TrueBlueTerrier wrote:it is ILLEGAL to base selection for shifts based on religion, ethnicity, gender or disability, as long as they are capable of doing the job everyone should have the same chance of getting shifts.

The thing is Royal Mail managers are so badly trained in basic employment law that most are probably unaware. If you are in the Union then bang in a grievance with their help, in fact even if you are not in the CWU still bang in a grievance, it may come to nothing, but if everyone who is also aggrieved at the situation does it, it helps build a paper trail and makes it more difficult for it to carry on, or be ignored.

tabact · Post by **tabact** » 22 Jun 2017, 14:09

If RM Managers telephone Angard and state that they want (say) 10 staff and their names are A, B, etc, how are Angard to know what is happening. They may suspect it but it's us not my direct employer doing it.

As an aside, I suspect that this wa one of the reasons that RM Managers were instructed not to telephone individual Angard staff directly but always to go through the agency.

Royal Mail are not alllowed to specify who they want from Angard unless for a specialised job that no one else can do. They can only tell Angard they don't want somebody back. If you query it with Angard I suspect you will find that managers are still bypassing Angard when booking staff. I never got an email from Angard about direct bookings from RM so maybe more of an issue at your mail centre.

NW11851 · Post by **NW11851** » 25 Jun 2017, 09:33

Welcome to Gatwick Mail Centre

xUzi786 · Post by **xUzi786** » 29 Jun 2017, 00:35

NW11851 wrote:Welcome to Gatwick Mail Centre

Had both my 2pm-12am shifts cancelled this week at PRDC, I cannot wait to leave angard and be done with their bullshit (cancelling shifts, cutting shifts) but whats holding me back is the £15/£16 hour rate which is currently the best rate job I can find at the moment (I'm 21 btw).

AC2490 · Post by **AC2490** » 19 Jul 2017, 17:22

Phone has been constantly engaged for over 3 hours now

Must be busy

Makes a change from the phone line just being switched off

Every time i manage to claw a shift out of angard i have to listen to other workers tell me how they have had plenty of hours last week, and they are booked in for some day next week.

Or how the manager rings them almost every night looking them to come in.

Ring for a shift, told its full, only for someone else to ring 2 minutes later (same person on phone) and get in for that night with no problems

Dont hear anything for days so i phone up and get talked to like im some criminal for daring to ask if there is any work available , that's if they even answer the phone

Try the main number because they generally answer but its the same automated response every time "uhhh don't be ringing this number looking for shifts, we dont cover that area"

"its very quiet at the minute" been hearing this bs for well over a year now, yet constant recruitment throughout the year and new starts in every few weeks

Total shambles, cant wait to get away from this place, the job its self is fine but no one should have to put up with this to get one shift a week (if your lucky)

pleb · Post by **pleb** » 20 Jul 2017, 10:30

This is normal, you aren't alone!

NW11851 · Post by **NW11851** » 24 Jul 2017, 23:24

No work offered to me for 15 days yet I know that Angard are still texting various staff almost every afternoon for the Late shift.

The Managers are still picking the staff and telling Angard who they want. Muslim Managers request Muslim staff, Hindu Managers, Hindus and Sri Lankan Managers puck Sri Lankan's.

There are virtually no white British Managers.

Heaven forbid that any if the ladies should be expected to cut and tip, stop babbling and behave.

It doesn't help that Angard pursue a continuous recruitment policy at Gatwick RMC, so there's an endless supply of newbies in the Minimum Wage of £7.50.

Now I am on AWR £13.03, it's virtually impossible to get offered a shift.

I live the work but the organisation of staff and lack of fairness is dreadful.

I joined the CWR union but they're not interested.

Is there a solution?

mahrm1 · Post by **mahrm1** » 18 Sep 2017, 10:55

This is also happening at Preston Mail Centre.

NW11851 · Post by **NW11851** » 19 Sep 2017, 13:43

Last night at Gatwick RMC the 'Management' wanted a reasonable number of staff to work for 2 hours beyond the scheduled 22:00 finish.

Quite blatantly asked only those who spoke a particular language - and it certainly was not English.

So much for treating all the staff equally - or it may have been a coincidence.

And there's the not-so-small matter of only offering Christmas contracts (to date) to those who gave the Manager(s) a present last year.

No word yet from Angard about offering Christmas contracts to staff. I suppose they are waiting to see how many 'Friends & Family' or 'Off-the-Streets' that can get to apply for £9.30/hour.

A shameful way to treat those who have turned up, when asked, all through the year for minimal shifts.

Post by **gomez73** » 04 Oct 2017, 13:20

I have had this problem at Edinburgh mail centre. I was not offered any shifts for over two weeks, yet speaking to permanent staff that I know who work in there, there were casual staff in working.

It appears that some staff are sent a text and others are phoned directly by Angard. This seems unfair.

I also tried to apply as a Christmas casual again this year (I did so last year through Royal Mail) and I was unable to as I was employed through Angard. As a result I have had to resign from Angard to enable me to do this. At least this way should I be successful in applying, I am guaranteed shifts for the Christmas period instead of waiting on a text message and spending ages trying to get through to Angard on the phone.

xUzi786 · Post by **xUzi786** » 04 Oct 2017, 22:42

gomez73 wrote:I have had this problem at Edinburgh mail centre. I was not offered any shifts for over two weeks, yet speaking to permanent staff that I know who work in there, there were casual staff in working.

It appears that some staff are sent a text and others are phoned directly by Angard. This seems unfair.

I also tried to apply as a Christmas casual again this year (I did so last year through Royal Mail) and I was unable to as I was employed through Angard. As a result I have had to resign from Angard to enable me to do this. At least this way should I be successful in applying, I am guaranteed shifts for the Christmas period instead of waiting on a text message and spending ages trying to get through to Angard on the phone.

Why didn't you just ask angard to block book you for Christmas shifts at your mail centre instead of leaving angard and joining the Christmas casuals.