Attacks on working conditions at Royal Mail

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 09 Oct 2018, 16:06

https://socialistworker.co.uk/art/47335 ... Royal+Mail" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Royal Mail postal workers lost out on hundreds of pounds due to privatisation last week—and now top bosses want to give them another kicking.

Workers were set to lose £895 on average after Royal Mail’s shares crashed last week.

They were given shares in 2013 as part of a deal bosses drew up with their CWU union to stop them striking against privatisation.

With two weeks until workers are able to sell theirs, bosses caused share prices to crash on Monday of last week by announcing an expected fall in profits.

Privatisation means Royal Mail is in competition with other parcel delivery companies as the number of letters it has to deliver falls.

Now bosses will use the share price crash to step up their drive for efficiency “savings”. This includes changes that are being trialled as part of an agreement between Royal Mail and the CWU that headed off a strike.

They will also want to use an agreement to shorten the working week to put more pressure on workers.

The CWU hopes the agreement to cut working hours from 39 hours to 35 hours a week will help protect against job losses. It says the workload will have to be shared out among more people.

But managers will pressure workers to do the same amount of work in less time.

CWU members at some Royal Mail workplaces have rejected these changes.

Pressure from management lay behind a number of unofficial strikes against bullying and harassment at delivery offices in the summer.

That pressure will increase as the volume of post rises in the run-up to Christmas—meaning there could be more disputes to come.

wf · Post by wf » 09 Oct 2018, 17:26

Now who would of seen this coming .

hans solo · Post by **hans solo** » 09 Oct 2018, 17:57

everyone but terry n dave

Post by **rambo1** » 09 Oct 2018, 21:03

Never read such a load of inaccurate rubbish! Shame on you union. No body has 'lost out' on hundreds of pounds. If you sell now maybe you'll lose out on money as opposed to selling last week or sometime in the future, but what they conveniently forget is the £650 in dividends from the 613 shares as well as the fact we were given them free anyway. As for bosses pressuring workers ,well that's what reps are for, right? Everyone has a start and finish time.

ted_e_bear · Post by **ted_e_bear** » 09 Oct 2018, 21:09

"share the workload amongst more people"

Has that happened anywhere as that one seems to have passed us by at our place.

Post by **rambo1** » 09 Oct 2018, 21:57

ted_e_bear wrote:"share the workload amongst more people"

Has that happened anywhere as that one seems to have passed us by at our place.

Is that where one person gets done an hr early while another is an hr late? Lol

tommyrep · Post by **tommyrep** » 10 Oct 2018, 09:21

For how long have RM been in bre@ch of long drawn out supposed negotiations with the CWU ?
RM know they are dealing with toothless and gutless people, all wind and piss.
Driven to the point - and I stress, the POINT - of finally taking real action against a horrible employer who always promise jam tomorrow only to back track and renege on many points supposedly agreed ?
Nothing is written in stone to be applied nationally. We have units singing from different hymn sheets, loop holes exploited by various managers on interpretation, basically a shambles that is never crystal clear by design from RM.
How stupid can our negotiators be ? They get conned at every turn and the poor posties are left to deal with the aftermath.
Shocking, change in attitudes haaaaaaa. Every, every, every time we get a raw deal only vaguely applicable in the large strong units, the rest get shafted- unrelentlessly every day with constant intimidation and bullying by unscrupulous RM managers.
It disgusts me, honestly !

tommyrep · Post by **tommyrep** » 10 Oct 2018, 09:23

hans solo wrote:everyone but terry n dave

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 10 Oct 2018, 13:09

rambo1 wrote:Never read such a load of inaccurate rubbish! Shame on you union.

The CWU didn't write this its a Socialist Workers article.

Post by **rambo1** » 10 Oct 2018, 14:57

TrueBlueTerrier wrote:
rambo1 wrote:Never read such a load of inaccurate rubbish! Shame on you union.
The CWU didn't write this its a Socialist Workers article.

Ok. Sorry. So the cwu don't agree with it then ?

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 10 Oct 2018, 15:06

rambo1 wrote:
TrueBlueTerrier wrote:
rambo1 wrote:Never read such a load of inaccurate rubbish! Shame on you union.
The CWU didn't write this its a Socialist Workers article.
Ok. Sorry. So the cwu don't agree with it then ?

I've no idea but I doubt they agree with all of it, CWu seems more inclined to Momentum rather than the SWP, though a lot of reps belong to the SWP and others of a similar political persuasion.

tommyrep · Post by **tommyrep** » 10 Oct 2018, 17:24

TrueBlueTerrier wrote:
rambo1 wrote:Never read such a load of inaccurate rubbish! Shame on you union.
The CWU didn't write this its a Socialist Workers article.

Fair point, but, it has relevance to non action of the CWU to protect members interests - even the ones that have been won in so called negotiations. No enforcement and maverick managers still not prepared to honour agreements or work with staff to promote harmony in the workplace. Constant confrontation is all they know and enjoy. So it is in fact relentless ongoing attacks on working conditions at RM.

Woody Guthrie · Post by **Woody Guthrie** » 10 Oct 2018, 18:15

rambo1 wrote: No body has 'lost out' on hundreds of pounds. If you sell now maybe you'll lose out on money as opposed to selling last week or sometime in the future, but what they conveniently forget is the £650 in dividends from the 613 shares as well as the fact we were given them free anyway.

What it should say is "posties feel they have lost out on hundreds of pounds". The problem for the business is that feeling is just as dangerous as far as labour relations go as the real thing.

Colleague shares...remember them? Most of us do and it's still a bitter memory even though just like these shares we didn't pay for them so technically we didn't lose anything, they also paid "dividends" but we still felt screwed over. Same s**t different day, from an employee engagement point of view it's a huge own goal..the kind of own goal that hits the bar, the post, the keeper's backside and trickles in.

Post by **Navalron** » 17 Oct 2018, 11:20

tommyrep wrote:For how long have RM been in bre@ch of long drawn out supposed negotiations with the CWU ?
RM know they are dealing with toothless and gutless people, all wind and piss.
Driven to the point - and I stress, the POINT - of finally taking real action against a horrible employer who always promise jam tomorrow only to back track and renege on many points supposedly agreed ?
Nothing is written in stone to be applied nationally. We have units singing from different hymn sheets, loop holes exploited by various managers on interpretation, basically a shambles that is never crystal clear by design from RM.
How stupid can our negotiators be ? They get conned at every turn and the poor posties are left to deal with the aftermath.
Shocking, change in attitudes haaaaaaa. Every, every, every time we get a raw deal only vaguely applicable in the large strong units, the rest get shafted- unrelentlessly every day with constant intimidation and bullying by unscrupulous RM managers.
It disgusts me, honestly !

Tommyrep, 100% agree mate.

Mr Rush · Post by **Mr Rush** » 18 Oct 2018, 22:18

Woody Guthrie wrote:we didn't pay for them so technically we didn't lose anything

If I remember correctly, the Colleague Shares were the carrot for agreeing to 'modernisation'. We certainly did pay for it in one sense.