Mountain of mail getting higher and higher

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpoo ... -20066381/

Nov 6 2007 by Neil Hodgson, Liverpool Echo


LIVERPOOL’S mail mountain is getting higher – despite Royal Mail claiming it would be cleared by the end of this week by employing hundreds of casual posties.

Mail for ‘L’ postcode areas mounted during nine days of unofficial strike action by Communication Workers’ Union members last month.

Royal Mail’s policy is not to award overtime to posties if they have been involved in unofficial action and have, instead, advertised for casual workers and brought in managers from around the UK.

But postal workers claim that rather than reducing the mail backlog by the end of this week, delays have grown and will carry on into the hectic Christmas period.

It is understood that at the Speke depot last week it was estimated it would take 13 days to clear the backlog but that has now increased to 18 days.

Likewise, last week’s target to clear mail for the L6 and L7 areas was seven days and now the estimate is 11, while West Derby’s 12 day target has now increased to 15 days.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: “We have drafted in managers from other regions to help clear the backlog created by the unofficial, unlawful industrial action taken by staff in Liverpool recently.

“Temporary employees were asked to bring their passport and a utilities bill and if they were then deemed suitable, our usual vetting procedures were carried out.

“We are doing all we can to ensure the backlog of mail is delivered and our service returns to normal as soon as possible.

“We will not pay extra overtime to staff who were involved in strikes as it doesn't make sense to reward industrial action. However, we are using agency and casual staff to help clear the backlog. This is a practice we also follow in the run-up to Christmas.â€

[IWW Fellow Worker]

Royal Mail’s policy is not to award overtime to posties if they have been involved in unofficial action and have, instead, advertised for casual workers and brought in managers from around the UK.

So, what do these overpaid, underworked strike breakers do for the rest of the time when there is no backlog?

[smokerjim]

[quote="TrueBlueTerrier"]http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpoo ... -20066381/

Nov 6 2007 by Neil Hodgson, Liverpool Echo


“Temporary employees were asked to bring their passport and a utilities bill and if they were then deemed suitable, our usual vetting procedures were carried out.

quote]

Funnily enough, I thought the vetting proceedure took weeks, if not months - not a 5 minute ID check ( that can be easily faked ) & as long as it takes to check someone is vaguely fluent in English!