Table Top Revisions.

Dorset Plodder · Post by **Dorset Plodder** » 25 Apr 2018, 15:45

We've just had a Table Top (or internal) revision. A few questions have been raised. The DOM says we have to have a Re-Sign.

I know that normally happens when there's a lot of changes, to a lot of duties. What are the guidelines for a Re-sign? IMPO I don't believe it requires one. For example the "Top 5 Duties" that have already been signed for (by the Top 5 Posties) have had no changes at all. Strange that.

Once the DOM and CWU Local Rep have put forward their "proposed changes" does the Delivery Office have to vote the "proposed changes" in?

Obviously the most senior Posties are going to be happy with the status quo, but there's a lot of people from the mid to low section of the Seniority List that are not happy at all. I would have thought it would be reasonable to say to the DOM, "The Majority of the Office aren't happy with these Proposals go and try again".

Also the DOMs introduced Long & Short working days. Which I would have thought would need some sort of official workforce agreement, apart from the usual wishy washy "Local Agreement" that nobody ever seems to know when it was "Agreed".

TBH I believe some of the "Top 5" duties have had these put in place, but only to try and claw back some of the excessive time they are finishing early most days (I think giving them a bit more outdoors work to do would have been more logical).

There's a lot Bad Feeling within the Office and a lot of Posties are feeling the stress of perhaps getting kicked off their regular duty. I'll probably give the Area Rep a ring, he has got results in the past, but any input, or advice is appreciated.

loverman shabba · Post by **loverman shabba** » 25 Apr 2018, 18:45

should be an office vote

tommyrep · Post by **tommyrep** » 25 Apr 2018, 22:15

Do not entertain one !
Table top revisions are a con to try and by pass fair and sensible duties.
There are some winners but many more losers.
The sort of local agreement guaranteed to come back and bite your ar..
Promises, promises. A cost saving exercise here RM win, win, win, and shaft you well and truly.

Dorset Plodder · Post by **Dorset Plodder** » 26 Apr 2018, 10:02

tommyrep wrote:Do not entertain one !
The sort of local agreement guaranteed to come back and bite your ar..
Promises, promises. A cost saving exercise here RM win, win, win, and shaft you well and truly.

TBH we've been pushing for a Revision within the DO ourselves. We've got the usual situation of "The Chosen Few" (a mafia of the very senior Posties) who don't want ANY change because they've all got cushy duties, and always finish early. Meantime the bottom three quarters of the DO are going over regularly, have oversized duties and are basically getting shat on!

Surprise Surprise

We've had this "Table Top Revision and nothing's really changed at the top.

With the exception of one Rural which has had work added (only logical when you've got a Rural coming back an hour early every day ....very unusual) Lot's of upset at the bottom of the Food Chain where basically the DOMs been rearranging the Deck Chairs on the Titanic. In all honesty I can't see much improvement to the Duties he's modified.

I really get the feeling he's avoiding conflict with the usual "Squeaky Wheels" that are in his office moaning every day (and not making any changes to their Duties) while just making a gesture to a Revision. There's no savings been discussed and we haven't lost any staff. Basically just a lot of Stress & Upset with no REAL Change!

LaggyBand · Post by **LaggyBand** » 29 Apr 2018, 07:43

Dorset Plodder, did /are you getting any sort of payment for the table top revision being completed?

Dorset Plodder · Post by **Dorset Plodder** » 29 Apr 2018, 12:40

LaggyBand wrote:Dorset Plodder, did /are you getting any sort of payment for the table top revision being completed?

There's no payment involved/mentioned. It was basically just an internal "Shuffle" around of a few streets/roads, from duty to another. That's why I'm surprised that it triggered a Resign.

So far the "Top 8" Duties have been signed for (In Seniority Order) and there's no NO CHANGE to any of them!

The next Senior Posties Duty has had about 45 min added to it, because it was stupidly light (I'm sure the Resident Duty holder will still sign for it.... they'll just have to do a Full Day's work now).

The fun's going to start mid-table where one FT Duty's become PT and another 2 have become a Van Share. We've also had someone transfer in whose got a bit of Seniority so it's all a bit messy, and there's plenty of not so senior posties getting Stressed!

Post by **SpacePhoenix** » 29 Apr 2018, 18:13

afaik if a duty is unchanged then the duty holder can withdraw it from a re-sign

Celgar · Post by **Celgar** » 29 Apr 2018, 22:10

Dorset Plodder wrote:We've just had a Table Top (or internal) revision. A few questions have been raised. The DOM says we have to have a Re-Sign. I know that normally happens when there's a lot of changes, to a lot of duties. What are the guidelines for a Re-sign? IMPO I don't believe it requires one. For example the "Top 5 Duties" that have already been signed for (by the Top 5 Posties) have had no changes at all. Strange that.

Once the DOM and CWU Local Rep have put forward their "proposed changes" does the Delivery Office have to vote the "proposed changes" in? Obviously the most senior Posties are going to be happy with the status quo, but there's a lot of people from the mid to low section of the Seniority List that are not happy at all. I would have thought it would be reasonable to say to the DOM, "The Majority of the Office aren't happy with these Proposals go and try again".

Also the DOMs introduced Long & Short working days. Which I would have thought would need some sort of official workforce agreement, apart from the usual wishy washy "Local Agreement" that nobody ever seems to know when it was "Agreed". TBH I believe some of the "Top 5" duties have had these put in place, but only to try and claw back some of the excessive time they are finishing early most days (I think giving them a bit more outdoors work to do would have been more logical).

There's a lot Bad Feeling within the Office and a lot of Posties are feeling the stress of perhaps getting kicked off their regular duty. I'll probably give the Area Rep a ring, he has got results in the past, but any input, or advice is appreciated.

RM hates having resigns as it mostly causes great upset and hassle for them. Most Postie's hate resigns as it brings uncertainty and change both of which people dislike. The union will usually enforce a resign if the walks have been redesigned admittedly in our best interest as they see it.
During the redesign process it is likely all posties will be invited to put forward ideas and suggestions but you will not be allowed a vote. The computer program is supposed to make all similarly ranked walks the same length although it is not infallible . On the last reworking of our walks the first guy brought in didn't seem to know how to do it so another guy was brought in. He did a fairly good job but quite a few tweaks occurred afterwards and the walks didn't end up being the same length. It is seemingly very hard to do so.
The long and short days have been implemented in our office as well equally across all the walks. It comes from RM, is designed to match workload to hours, and you won't be able to stop it. It is seen as a way to keep the wolf (RM) from the door so is not seen as a bad thing.

BELIAL · Post by **BELIAL** » 29 Apr 2018, 22:15

SpacePhoenix wrote:afaik if a duty is unchanged then the duty holder can withdraw it from a re-sign

If the change is less than 25% it does not come up for repick , unless the duty holder wishes.

Dorset Plodder · Post by **Dorset Plodder** » 30 Apr 2018, 15:56

BELIAL wrote:
SpacePhoenix wrote:afaik if a duty is unchanged then the duty holder can withdraw it from a re-sign
If the change is less than 25% it does not come up for repick , unless the duty holder wishes.

That's a very interesting point BELIAL. I don't believe that hardly any of the Duties had more than 25% changes to them!

(That's got to be about 150 Delivery points changed, on an average duty of 600 DPs). No ones had that much added, or taken away.

Most changes appear to be more "Geographic" with some roads being taken off that are miles away, and replaced with some that are nearer to the bulk of the Delivery. Admitedly some have become Van Shares and some have become PT from FT, only because the indoor element has been removed.

The DOM did say that once the proposals had been made we could discuss it. As I said to him, "Who is going to start discussing whether changes are right or wrong before they know which duty they've signed for"? You could be arguing for a Duty to have more outdoor work added to it and then get that duty in the Resign!

I think I'll have to give the Area Rep a ring and see if he's on board with this. Up to this point we've had some more Senior Posties resign......... and they've all gone for their "Old" Duties.... which have no changes. So in theory we could have just "Adjusted" a few of the Duties further down the Pecking Order. I seriously don't believe a Resign was Necessary. Thanks you all for your thoughts.

postslippete · Post by **postslippete** » 30 Apr 2018, 16:29

I don't personally believe that re-signs are a good idea.

It unsettles everyone regardless of whether you are a duty holder or not because unless you are in the top ten of ten seniority with 40 years or so life experience of Royal Mail, you are probably going to have to choose something else possibly in another section that you are unfamiliar with. Part of this in our last revision and re-pick was partly due to ring-fencing more part-timers on fixed duties.

Celgar · Post by **Celgar** » 30 Apr 2018, 16:39

It only takes one walk to be removed and the roads added to other walks or one postie deciding to pick a different walk and everyone below in seniority could end up getting moved. At one time you could say you were happy with the walk you were on and be able to hold onto it but you can't do that anymore.

Dorset Plodder · Post by **Dorset Plodder** » 01 May 2018, 21:59

Both good points guys. And proving to be true. The "Top 10" are happy because nothings changed but the rest of the Office is pretty stressed & pissed off.

Probably the most unpleasant aspect of the process is having to s**t on your less senior colleagues (by signing for their duty).... because someone's decided they think your duty's a bit easier and signed for it themselves!