I'm voting no

[ScousePostie]

I've worked at Royal Mail since the end of 2014. I'm paying into the 'inferior' DC pension scheme. Although I'm happy that at under 25 years old, I have started saving for my pension, but I'm also aware that I am contributing to an inferior scheme. Although the pension issue largely doesn't affect me, there are a number of other issues I will be voting yes.

It's been said time time again on here; 5pm finishes is an absolute no-no especially where the delivery of letters is concerned. Health and safety wise, delivering the in dark in the winter is a major problem. Royal Mail want to accept parcels later therefore pushing back first letter until, potentially, after 12 noon. I understand that Royal Mail wants to accept parcels later into the network so that there is a next day delivery on parcels much like our 'competitors' (if we actually do have any competitors), but as the union have said, this shouldn't apply to all parcels. Yes, there may be a market for SOME parcels to be delivered next day, but not all. Royal Mail seem to want next day delivery of parcels as standard. How would this even be possible? There could be flexibility so that those who want to deliver parcels later in the evening can do so and be paid overtime to do so. Or, hire a new workforce with different shift patterns that could cover this time. Royal Mail are effectively saying goodbye to the market that we have in the morning delivery slot more-or-less surrendering this part of the day to competitors. Businesses want their letters as early as possible. Under our current mode of working, businesses receive their mail and can act on their mail on the same day. Under RM proposals of 5pm last letter, this would mean business wouldn't be able to do so.

We've been told about a reduction in lapsing. One RM communication actually stated that RM had listened to our concerns about lapsing and that this would be removed from DOs in the future. Team working means that DOs will be split into groups. When someone is on annual leave or goes off sick, the group will have to clear up those walks. The more people that are off on annual leave or sick the more work that needs to be done. This is just another name for lapsing. Probably a worse lapsing agreement that what we currently have.

This also fits into work ownership. We've been told in our office of these plans. You own a walk. Sounds good. It's a con! Walk ownership is designed to make you feel like you're in control when in fact, you are anything but. As standard you'll have to clear your walk every day, whatever the workload. This could mean that whilst you may get some good days during the summer, you'll be working some long days during the winter, especially in the run up to Christmas. As far as I understand, you won't be able to claim overtime if you go over, like you can now. Whatever comes into the office for your walk on each day, you'll be expected to clear. There'll be no 'I haven't got time'.

All this means we'd be doing more work for less. A £375 lump sum and 1.5% pay rise is NOT good enough. RM want to remove delivery supplement, election payments, bonuses. A 1.5% 'pay offer' is nothing more than a PAY CUT! A no vote in this ballot will just allow Royal Mail to attack everything! If you're fine with all this then by all means vote no, but don't complain when you effectively have no finish time, more work and less pay.

I'm voting yes! Sorry, I HAVE voted yes! It's the only way that we can show that we're standing up for ourselves, and are colleagues.

[maninred]

I am voting YES.

I pay the Union to spend their days understanding the issues which I don't have time for. They look out for me and my colleagues and try to work with our employer to help the company understand what we need and to help us to be more productive employees.
My Union has put a lot of time and effort into ensuring all goes as smoothly as possible, however they have come to a crux which is not going to be resolved adequately. They have called on me to vote YES in my own long term best interest and it is clear that voting NO is against my best interest and the long term viability of the Union.

You have been called to arms and it is appropriate to join with your fellow workers regardless of whether you can see the full layout on the table.

[Walking boots]

I've taken everyone options on board and have not 100% made my decision but the major factor for me is that I can't afford to take industrial action for a period of up to 6 months, I fully support the union and do appreciate everything they have done for us but unfortunately support for the union will not feed my children.
im not sure if this is across the board but in my office part timers have been very much left in the dark and are not really sure what we are fighting for!

[Chitchat]

I've taken everyone options on board and have not 100% made my decision but the major factor for me is that I can't afford to take industrial action for a period of up to 6 months, I fully support the union and do appreciate everything they have done for us but unfortunately support for the union will not feed my children.
im not sure if this is across the board but in my office part timers have been very much left in the dark and are not really sure what we are fighting for!

Putting an x in the yes box does not mean you commit yourself to striking what it means is the cwu goes back to RM with a really strong mandate for striking and hopefully RM start to negotiate a better deal. This is our future, it's fight today or forever suffer.

[worktotime]

I've taken everyone options on board and have not 100% made my decision but the major factor for me is that I can't afford to take industrial action for a period of up to 6 months, I fully support the union and do appreciate everything they have done for us but unfortunately support for the union will not feed my children.
im not sure if this is across the board but in my office part timers have been very much left in the dark and are not really sure what we are fighting for!

I think most of us cant afford to strike or want to strike , but if royal mail get there way people will lose £1000s on pensions , then they will start removing dutys to increase workload even more with no overtime payments , and then they will start of getting rid of bodys then they will start on trying to get rid of the uso by saying it isn't doable or affordable anymore which will be a massive cull to get rid of 1000s of jobs , without the cwu , so this isn't just about a £350 golden carrot they are offering , watch some of the cwu stuff and that should tell you whats , what, support the cwu to protect your job.

[worktotime]

I've taken everyone options on board and have not 100% made my decision but the major factor for me is that I can't afford to take industrial action for a period of up to 6 months, I fully support the union and do appreciate everything they have done for us but unfortunately support for the union will not feed my children.
im not sure if this is across the board but in my office part timers have been very much left in the dark and are not really sure what we are fighting for!

Putting an x in the yes box does not mean you commit yourself to striking what it means is the cwu goes back to RM with a really strong mandate for striking and hopefully RM start to negotiate a better deal. This is our future, it's fight today or forever suffer.

to right.

[k979aaa]

I've taken everyone options on board and have not 100% made my decision but the major factor for me is that I can't afford to take industrial action for a period of up to 6 months, I fully support the union and do appreciate everything they have done for us but unfortunately support for the union will not feed my children.
im not sure if this is across the board but in my office part timers have been very much left in the dark and are not really sure what we are fighting for!

Well what ever you do decide to do just vote have your say on the vision of royalmails approach or the CWU's it's not hard to vote we should all vote and vote we must.

[onthestella]

Well 'Walking boots' I'm surprised you haven't changed your mind to a Definite 100% YES MOYA! after reading over your colleagues measured and well informed responses to your post. If your struggling to feed your family and keep a roof over their heads Now, what do you think will happen if we get a NO vote and the CWU roll over to a bullying management team that don't give a toss about those on the front line doing the work. Make no mistake, me and you are only numbers on a spreadsheet of the powers that be and if they think they can squeeze more work out of us at reduced costs then its happy fat cat shareholders and manager bonuses all round.
'Boots' you mentioned industrial action for up to 6 months in your last post,that is So ill informed scare mongering that you have listened to it doesn't warrant a reply.
A wee birdie told me earlier today RM are going to release another improved offer by Tuesday. How unprofessional and pathetic of their negotiating team and we haven't even had the ballot result.
Part-Timers can any of you really afford to not VOTE YES. Vote for your future dignity! VOTE YES!

[rogersh]

I've taken everyone options on board and have not 100% made my decision but the major factor for me is that I can't afford to take industrial action for a period of up to 6 months, I fully support the union and do appreciate everything they have done for us but unfortunately support for the union will not feed my children.
im not sure if this is across the board but in my office part timers have been very much left in the dark and are not really sure what we are fighting for!

Putting an x in the yes box does not mean you commit yourself to striking what it means is the cwu goes back to RM with a really strong mandate for striking and hopefully RM start to negotiate a better deal. This is our future, it's fight today or forever suffer.

With respect you made your decision with the post headline "I'm voting no" . It did not state "why should I vote yes" or "I am thinking of voting no can anyone persuade me otherwise"

I think comments on here have been informative & there are numerous posts on legacy payments which explain how they evolved, perhaps now you can enlighten some of your colleagues, who are in the dark!, what the fight is about.

Look beyond what you think does not affect you now to the affect on future generations coming into Royal Mail if a stance is not made now.

[postslippete]

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.

[Spedley]

I've done lots of overtime lately and while not rich at all I can survive for a few weeks without pay. I'm happy to swap my day off with those in my office who are less fortunate if it means they don't feel forced to cross the picket line.

[datasaint]

Any strike will lead to a exodus of valuable business

Did Yodel lose a mass of business when they couldn't handle the volume of packets in their network over the the Black Friday and Xmas sales? Nope. Even though it massively inconvenienced thousands of customers and got them bad PR.

Businesses go to whatever firm is cheapest to use at the time. That is what is wrong with the industry and making it a race to the bottom. If all firms in the delivery business treated employees with the same terms the CWU are seeking to defend we wouldn't be in this ridiculous situation of having to strike.

Even RM are trying to compare us to Hermes and Yodel now, so it's pretty clear which way they'd like to see it go.

[steve1873]

You are bold to start a thread with such a topic and I commend the administrators for letting you have your say.

If you follow some of my comments, then I understand where you are coming from.

The whole might get very messy and ugly a d long drawn out ,-RM will not back down on operational changes - if they do now, they will still keep coming back to it...

The issue is that folks like you will lose money and what for? There is very little to gain for someone like you. You have arrived at the job when it is already shi**y and you have had other work experiences that has prepared you or hardened you to changes.

Even the pay rise will not benefit part timers because it is pro-rata and not based on average hours worked; other staff also lose out mind as it and scheduled attendance not included.

But RM might cede on money up front but on issues of Pensions and Operational changes including flexibility, modernisation, shift pattern changes, productivity and other changes, we might not win on those.

Hence, it might be time for people to go out for long (with all the negative consequences esp with Xmas coming). The alternative is to recognise that the world is changing and RM is now a private business.

Some will try to belittle you or question your sanity, I will advice those that every vote counts and you have to win the argument and convince that you are not just being selfish...

How the **** will the payrise not benefit part-timers? Engage your brain before you type please!

[jack~jack]

Has anybody else found that royal mail's constant propaganda, bullying and harassment during the last few weeks. Has turned me from an easy going union member into a red hot activist for the C.W.U.?

[redneck]

If your working just your contract hours and not being exploited to do more you are in the 1%. Im part time. I have never worked just my contract hours for a single day here in 4 years. Regularly doing full time hours. Im voting yes because i want to be made up to reflect the actual work i do. Thats my reason to vote yes. RM need to stop this part time exploitation.

Reasons to vote yes. In a nutshell - perfect