Scrumpy wrote:Walking Boots, i'm voting NO, though it looks like a large Yes vote.
Been in job 3 years and part time, I really cannot see why Union Bosses calling for strike action,
and the Posties really have no idea how good they have got it, try working in a Supermarket, minimum wage, no paid breaks, no sick pay, 1% pension , I could go on.
We have it so good because of the Union, not the other way round.
Without the Union we will end up with "minimum wage, no paid breaks, no sick pay, 1% pension", so why not try to delay the so called inevitable instead of surrendering cheaply.
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So we have a couple of new posters voting no. Still expect the biggest YES vote and turnout this union has ever had. This is the last stand and winter is coming.
I am in a similar position to the OP - only been in a few years, never going to have a massive pension because of that, no legacy payments to be taken away, no childcare issues to need to finish early etc etc.
But I will be voting YES for industrial action and the main reason is what RM are hiding behind the word "flexibility" in the offer. The proof of this is in the way I have been swamped by them with messages and mailings - what company has ever taken such action to get their message across (while hiding the real message)?
RM have talked of a "race to the bottom". That race is being made by RM itself in their determination to compete with other companies who don't have any real rules to abide by. The courier companies don't have to potentially deliver to every house every day and for a fixed fee. Their staff (who they love to compare us with) don't have to prepare and deliver door-to-doors every day - an one column on the average frame has 80 slots, 4 d2d means you are preparing over 300 items before you even start on the post - it may only take a few minutes, but RM think that anything which takes a few minutes actually takes no extra time. I see items doorstepped by couriers on a daily basis, and the great thing is that most householders immediately blame RM for everything delivered to them! There are loads of other reasons why there is no comparison between RM and other delivery companies.
When I joined RM there were still afternoon packet delivery duties. RM took them away to save money, now their future plan is based on the ability to be able to deliver packets later in the day. What sort of turnaround is that, and who had the great idea? At my office around a third of postie have the job because they needed to finish in the early afternoon for childcare reasons, what are they going to do if 'flexibility' turns the job into a regular 9am to 5pm?
One of the mailings from RM said to think of the community. That is the same community that Royal Mail Group took away Post Offices from, the same community that has had later collections taken away from post boxes - often boxes without a date tag to know it has been emptied. The same community that posties no longer have any time to be part of by having a quick chat with someone who never sees anyone else all day.
They talk of best jobs - that came in a week when my office failed to get everything through IPS on every day!! A week when we cut off on a Tuesday!!!
I am not a left winger, I have never voted Labour and never will - for many, many reason. But this isn't about politics, its about whether you want some form of a decent job, or to be expected to be "flexible" with no real idea what that will mean.
To repeat, I'll be voting YES.
Royal Mail
failing the workforce, failing the public and deliberately failing mail on a daily basis for too many years.
labbloke wrote:So we have a couple of new posters voting no. Still expect the biggest YES vote and turnout this union has ever had. This is the last stand and winter is coming.
While I agree that it will almost certainly be a massive yes vote I think the part timers might be the weak link when it comes to the vote, I've spoken to quite a few that are not bothering to vote at all! It will also be the part timers that will be the first to cross the picket line, I'm willing to strike for 2 shifts, beyond that I will be at work, on a 25 hour contract I have not been able to save anything to make up the shortfall
Think what the part-timers (I'm one) need to think about, is having a finish time is also under threat. Right now the only protection we have from managers bullying and harassment is they can't make us work over. Now imagine if that was taken away. Union would be as well to hang up their boots if they lose that one.
tommythreesheds wrote:When you're not doing so well, vote for a better life for yourself. If you are doing quite nicely, vote for a better life for others.
I'm not sure I'm doing well, I'm a part time Postie with no chance of being made full time, I worried about how much money I stand to lose by striking
Without unions fighting on our behalf, we would not have the terms and conditions we have. Neither would we have up to six weeks annual leave, Every thing we have, had to be fought for. Some times you have to lose some thing to gain some thing. Do you know my pension is due to be at least thousands of pounds more per year than much younger staff. How can this be right. Moya had £200,000 put into her pension and her scheme is not being wound up. Stand up and fight, because if you don't they will be back for more in the next pay agreement.
Scrumpy wrote:Walking Boots, i'm voting NO, though it looks like a large Yes vote.
Been in job 3 years and part time, I really cannot see why Union Bosses calling for strike action, it's as if they are still in the 70's and have no idea on how modern large companies run,
and the Posties really have no idea how good they have got it, try working in a Supermarket, minimum wage, no paid breaks, no sick pay, 1% pension , I could go on.
Any strike will lead to a exodus of valuable business and really once the business is gone Royal Mail will do what they like as any future strike action will be laughed at as there will be no
prime customers to protect, only 2nd class mailshots and Ebay Packets,
i think, if we dont support our union we will be looking at the terms you have described. I know what i'd rather.
Confused... You won't be, after the next episode of. SOAP
Walking boots wrote:I am a member of the cwu and I appreciate what they have done for our terms and conditions, I will go with the majority but I haven't really heard an argument that is relevant to a part time worker with 1 years service
Not heard about the average hours worked when on leave. That's being pushed by the CWU, that ONLY affects Paty Timers, being put on the same pension as the rest of us, that's better than the pension you are on now.
To simply mention something and wish it to happen is not pushing the part time issues. The are still not putting it in prints despite needing all the votes esp the growing number of part timers.
In politics, if people keep asking the same question then the message is not getting through or the players do not want to deal with the issues.
The Union had had a lot of time and many complaints and opportunities to make things better for part timers and help everyone in the process.
On the issue of Pensions, can we now actually trust or respect the CWU when they could not even get their own house in order and are massively in pension deficit? Furthermore, RM has now come up with sums claiming the CWU will make 70% worse off.
Who to believe or trust?
The Union has achieved a lot but do not compare the achievements when RM was government owned monopoly to a more competitive field and being a private company...
I think that if you are in a union, you should support that union even if you don't directly agree with them on every issue. The reason being that unions maximise the value of employee terms and conditions. Without that there would be a race to the lowest terms and conditions that the business can get away with.
We all know there are complex issues behind these kind of disputes, for instance, I strongly agree that introducing technology and operational changes to businesses, eventually leads to increases in the wealth of a nation and we would still be in the dark ages if we didn't allow it. I also believe that the human impact of these kinds of changes must be taken into account and the only effective way that human voice can be heard is through a union.
I see it all as a balance of forces and you as a union member are on side of the workers and should make your presence felt, there will be plenty of force on the other side without apathy or by actively undermining the side of the union.
Saying we should not strike because others have worse terms and conditions than us is a ludicrous argument.
We have the terms and conditions we have not because RM gave them to us willingly, but because we fought for them.
We can either hand them back and embrace RM's race to the bottom, or stand up and say, enough is enough.
Walking boots wrote:I am a member of the cwu and I appreciate what they have done for our terms and conditions, I will go with the majority but I haven't really heard an argument that is relevant to a part time worker with 1 years service
Not heard about the average hours worked when on leave. That's being pushed by the CWU, that ONLY affects Part Timers, being put on the same pension as the rest of us, that's better than the pension you are on now.
To simply mention something and wish it to happen is not pushing the part time issues. The are still not putting it in prints despite needing all the votes esp the growing number of part timers.
In politics, if people keep asking the same question then the message is not getting through or the players do not want to deal with the issues.
The Union had had a lot of time and many complaints and opportunities to make things better for part timers and help everyone in the process.
On the issue of Pensions, can we now actually trust or respect the CWU when they could not even get their own house in order and are massively in pension deficit? Furthermore, RM has now come up with sums claiming the CWU will make 70% worse off.
Who to believe or trust?
The Union has achieved a lot but do not compare the achievements when RM was government owned monopoly to a more competitive field and being a private company...
I trust the Union who has my back and interests at heart. I don't trust Royal Mail who never tackle bullying managers effectively, who think the harassment of sending leaflets that are condescending in nature is reasonable, I don't trust Royal Mail when their SOLE aim is to generate profits for "shareholders". Finally, I don't trust any business who are willing to make cuts to workers T&Cs, pensions and pay, when they don't do the same to their CEOs. It smacks of double standards.
I personally have never understood why it's ok to pay exorbitant wages to keep the CEOs happy, but somehow its against the natural order to pay decent wages to the workers at the other end of the scale.
On the CWU pension at least they are putting it out to consultation and being open and honest about it to their members. We still don't know what pension Royal Mail are going to impose on us, and they keep quoting £25,000 as an average postie. Well I am full time and I earn £21,000 basic - thats the figures they should be using.
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All post by me in Green are Admin Posts. Any post in any other colour is my own responsibility. If you like a news story I posted please click the link to show support Any news stories you can't post - PM me with a link My sharing of news articles should not be interpreted as an endorsement or condemnation of any particular viewpoint or the issues presented. I share them solely for informational purposes.
if you are quite happy working till tea time, in the dark, frozen to the bone in December...... by all means vote no . Don't go moaning to your union rep or work colleagues when Sunday becomes a regular day either. I despair
Sorry but to vote no is fuc˚ing retarded...ok you're only a year in and in you're 40's...what so you don't mind taking what is effectively a pay cut? you want to be out delivering until 5pm? If a no vote is carried the union have no way of fighting for a decent pay rise and against this ridiculous plan of theirs and whatever other ludicrous changes they want to make...like franchising walks ...If you vote no, cancel your CWU subscription because if you aren't going to back them when there's a national fight you don't deserve their help when you have your own issue.
. Don't go moaning to your union rep or work colleagues when Sunday becomes a regular day either. I despair 
...If you vote no, cancel your CWU subscription because if you aren't going to back them when there's a national fight you don't deserve their help when you have your own issue.