CWU claim victory in the Royal Mail dispute

Post by **SpacePhoenix** » 24 Jan 2018, 19:30

tbqf I can't see the shorter working week ever being implemented as I can't see how any office (MC or DO) can make it work without taking on more staff

A2B · Post by **A2B** » 24 Jan 2018, 22:25

SpacePhoenix wrote:tbqf I can't see the shorter working week ever being implemented as I can't see how any office (MC or DO) can make it work without taking on more staff

It will come in and most people will just adjust their pace to fit the extra work into the shorter day, some won't be able to because of workload but the majority will just get on with it much like they accepted absorbsion.

We will have to wait to see how it's implemented but almost certainly it will be minutes off a day rather than a whole hour off in one go. At a guess it will be Monday, Tuesday and Saturday with the larger reduction

Celgar · Post by **Celgar** » 24 Jan 2018, 23:00

Regarding any pay rise RM will offer what they are able to pay or what they able to get away with. Regarding the pension scheme and UK pension schemes generally until we can get back to a pre-2008 bank base rate of say 5% then pension balances will not be able to start to recover. RM and the union cannot fix the pension system.
The more serious matter is how far the CWU is willing to degrade our working conditions. They are looking to cut our working hours by one hour with a view to a further four hours reduction. The main problem with this is the work we currently do in those hours will not disappear. That work will still exist and RM will expect it to be completed. In some delivery offices it appears to be possible to work your contracted hours and go home. In others posties are working hours unpaid and attempts to remedy the situation results in unforeseen and unfortunate consequences.
Others have mentioned on this forum that RM should operate standard operating procedures in all DOs and I believe this should be achieved in the current talks. Currently some offices do no absorption, some do lapsing and/or absorption, and some have lost walks and increased walk lengths with additional work plus incorporated double absorption. The computer system used to determine walk lengths to keep them comparatively equal and possible to achieve within paid hours does not seem to work. In short the whole system is a bloody mess.
The last time we had pay talks the majority looked at the few hundred quid before tax that RM waived in our faces and snatched it. This time we have to wake up and realise money isn't the most important factor. Quality of life is far more important. Please don't let them **** us over again.

fishtank · Post by **fishtank** » 24 Jan 2018, 23:13

SpacePhoenix wrote:tbqf I can't see the shorter working week ever being implemented as I can't see how any office (MC or DO) can make it work without taking on more staff

It's a 2.6% reduction in the weekly staffing resource.

Most DOs are already carrying vacancies way beyond 2.6%.

We manage most of the time.

We don't need more staff, we just need to fill existing vacancies.

Even if we don't there's always plenty appetite for indoor overtime. Delivery staff love indoor overtime, it's like being paid for doing nothing.

Post by **SpacePhoenix** » 25 Jan 2018, 06:40

fishtank wrote:Delivery staff love indoor overtime, it's like being paid for doing nothing.

You wouldn't survive long doing overtime in a MC. Managers always find work for us to do

A2B wrote:
SpacePhoenix wrote:tbqf I can't see the shorter working week ever being implemented as I can't see how any office (MC or DO) can make it work without taking on more staff
It will come in and most people will just adjust their pace to fit the extra work into the shorter day, some won't be able to because of workload but the majority will just get on with it much like they accepted absorbsion.

We will have to wait to see how it's implemented but almost certainly it will be minutes off a day rather than a whole hour off in one go. At a guess it will be Monday, Tuesday and Saturday with the larger reduction

All shifts go right to the wire as it is, so if you take hours out then there's only two possible outcomes: 1) Some mail fails every night or 2) the work gets sent out to the DOs later

Martin Walsh · Post by **Martin Walsh** » 25 Jan 2018, 08:06

Today is the day for some good news !

fishtank · Post by **fishtank** » 25 Jan 2018, 08:07

The reason mailcentre shifts always go to the wire is because as Parkinson's law states work expands to fill the time available and as Horstman' corollary states work also contracts to fit the time available

If you had a fixed rate of throughput and a consistency of workload it might be possible to measure that against 100BSI and argue that you were "maxed out" but I've worked in the mailcentre and I'm still in there on a regular basis and maxed out is not a word that springs to mind.

You can only argue that something like a reduction in the working week is impossible if you can show that your staff are working at full capacity for their entire shift and there are no inherent inefficiencies in the system. That's not a judgment on my part it's simply a reply to your constant assertion that a shift "going to the wire" necessarily means that there is no scope to reduce that resource.

A shift going to the wire in itself means nothing other than the staff in a situation where they can't go home early aren't stupid enough to run out of work before their shift ends.

There is another corollary of Parkinson's law... If you leave it to the last minute...it only takes a minute.

fishtank · Post by **fishtank** » 25 Jan 2018, 08:09

dingo wrote:Today is the day for some good news !

Chelsea buying a new striker?

bolton1969 · Post by **bolton1969** » 25 Jan 2018, 11:48

dingo wrote:Today is the day for some good news !

SO DOES THAT MEAN THERE GOING TO RELEASE THE DETAILS OF THE DEAL TODAY?

fishtank · Post by **fishtank** » 25 Jan 2018, 12:15

bolton1969 wrote:
dingo wrote:Today is the day for some good news !
SO DOES THAT MEAN THERE GOING TO RELEASE THE DETAILS OF THE DEAL TODAY?

Yes but don't shout.
Get the popcorn out, we're getting a video.

Post by **Judgee** » 25 Jan 2018, 15:39

fishtank wrote:
bolton1969 wrote:
dingo wrote:Today is the day for some good news !
SO DOES THAT MEAN THERE GOING TO RELEASE THE DETAILS OF THE DEAL TODAY?
Yes but don't shout.
Get the popcorn out, we're getting a video.

Debbie does dallas the sequel?

Post by **cloherty1976** » 25 Jan 2018, 16:21

fishtank wrote:
bolton1969 wrote:
dingo wrote:Today is the day for some good news !
SO DOES THAT MEAN THERE GOING TO RELEASE THE DETAILS OF THE DEAL TODAY?
Yes but don't shout.
Get the popcorn out, we're getting a video.

What happened to a good old letter.

daveyeff · Post by **daveyeff** » 25 Jan 2018, 16:45

cloherty1976 wrote:
fishtank wrote:
bolton1969 wrote:
dingo wrote:Today is the day for some good news !
SO DOES THAT MEAN THERE GOING TO RELEASE THE DETAILS OF THE DEAL TODAY?
Yes but don't shout.
Get the popcorn out, we're getting a video.
What happened to a good old letter.

the volumes are dropping!!

gary1975 · Post by **gary1975** » 25 Jan 2018, 17:27

dingo wrote:Today is the day for some good news !

What's the news then Dingo? You must know what we all want to know

citypostie · Post by **citypostie** » 25 Jan 2018, 18:38

SpacePhoenix wrote:
fishtank wrote:Delivery staff love indoor overtime, it's like being paid for doing nothing.
You wouldn't survive long doing overtime in a MC. Managers always find work for us to do

I think he means any indoor work is classed as money for nothing because its easy compared to working outside on delivery. What would you rather do, an hour of early morning sorting/prep inside in the warm or an hour delivering mail possibly in rain after doing a 5 hour delivery already?