CWU passes motion to help Angard agency workers at this weeks Annual CWU Conference

[Xeonus]

Hi guys, I wanted to share some information I came across as a fairly new CWU member having been with them for under a year so I did not know about last years Annual CWU conference.
You can find all information to this conference at https://www.cwu.org/conference/annual-conference/ and the immediately relevant parts that I read personally so far were "General Conference Agenda 2019" and browsing all the motions being brought to vote starting from page 19, as well as reading "1.General Conference - Sunday 28.4.19" for the motion results on that day.
I will be looking up information of what happens for each of the remaining days as they are made available on the link above.

If you want to search specifically for anything related to zero-hour contracts, agency, agents, angard etc, simply do Ctrl+F, type in the keyword and you can find any specific topics you hope are being touched on within the documents.
You can also view this Annual CWU Conference as a way to see what is being done for Royal Mail in general to keep on top of future battles that the CWU will be taking on or are continuing to take on over a prolonged period of time already.

Any comments you may want to make, feel free below but keep it civil as per the forum rules of course.

[Xeonus]

A big breakthrough today in the concerns of Agency workers working regular hours being strung along with hopes & verbal promises of getting a permanent job but not receiving it.

On page 44 of http://www.cwu.org/wp-content/uploads/2 ... OVER-1.pdf, we can see Motion 43 which states: "This Conference notes the abuse of some agency workers working within Royal Mail with regards to how long they are held as agency workers despite working regular hours. This Conference instructs the Postal Executive to work with the national Young Workers Committee to reach an appropriate agreement with Royal Mail on the conversion of agency workers to permanent contracts. The terms of this should be agreed between Royal Mail and the CWU."


On page 2 of http://www.cwu.org/wp-content/uploads/2 ... 0.4.19.pdf, we can see that this motion was in fact carried at approximately 4:13pm today.

What disturbs me is that Motion 62 (which was to be brought up if Motion 43 had failed), it states that the Four Pillars Agreement had actually wanted Agency workers to not work beyond 12 weeks for each temporary contract. I had no idea that this was a thing and I do not think that other Angard agents, some of whom have been working for Royal Mail this way since it began about 12 years ago, know either.
"This Conference notes that within the Four Pillars Agreement agency workers should not normally be used longer than 12 weeks, but we continue to see abuse of some agency workers working within Royal
Mail with regards to how long they are held as agency workers despite working regular hours. This Conference instructs the Postal Executive to reach an appropriate agreement with Royal Mail on the conversion of agency workers to permanent contracts. The terms of this should be agreed between Royal Mail and the CWU. "


I know that there are probably hundreds of Agency Workers in each Mail Centre so I have no idea who will be given consideration for permanent contracts if this indeed becomes a thing. It cannot be seniority based and it might be unfeasible for each and every person to be interviewed fairly (even though this should be a possibility).
Any thoughts and comments you want to add?

[pleb]

Not supposed to be here after 12 weeks? Thats me screwed then. We dont all want perm contracts and fixed hour, I cant do that.
We just want some shifts, I got 14 hours in April.

[nothingatthemoment]

Not supposed to be here after 12 weeks? Thats me screwed then. We dont all want perm contracts and fixed hour, I cant do that.
We just want some shifts, I got 14 hours in April.

My interpretation of Motion 62 is that what the union are saying is if Agency workers are required to work more than 12 weeks they should be offered at least a part-time contract and that by going past 12 weeks (in some cases years) Royal Mail are abusing Agency staff.
Back in the day if you worked more than 12 weeks as a casual with R.M. you would have automatically offered a part-time contract.
The CWU are not trying to get rid of Agency staff before 12 weeks as this would be avoidance tactics which are a breach of AWR Regulations.

[SpacePhoenix]

Not supposed to be here after 12 weeks? Thats me screwed then. We dont all want perm contracts and fixed hour, I cant do that.
We just want some shifts, I got 14 hours in April.

My interpretation of Motion 62 is that what the union are saying is if Agency workers are required to work more than 12 weeks they should be offered at least a part-time contract and that by going past 12 weeks (in some cases years) Royal Mail are abusing Agency staff.
Back in the day if you worked more than 12 weeks as a casual with R.M. you would have automatically offered a part-time contract.
The CWU are not trying to get rid of Agency staff before 12 weeks as this would be avoidance tactics which are a breach of AWR Regulations.

It used to be for casuals once they hit 12 weeks they'd get laid off for a couple of weeks

[tabact]

Not supposed to be here after 12 weeks? Thats me screwed then. We dont all want perm contracts and fixed hour, I cant do that.
We just want some shifts, I got 14 hours in April.

It depends how you interpret it. I read it as somebody who works 12 weeks doing fixed hours regular shifts over that period. How often if ever would you do that in a 12 week period?

[26l34]

Interesting stuff, this, thanks for sharing. At my mail centre they seem to shove the more incompetent RM staff on the night shift and you wonder how they ever got a foot in the door in the first place? I'd probably struggle to work nights 5 nights a week every week but the prospect of receiving some job security shouldn't be too much to ask for staff that've done their time as agency workers surely.

[Lewisboy55]

At my mail centre they have already taken a few angard on permanent contracts.

[Navalron]

Interesting stuff, this, thanks for sharing. At my mail centre they seem to shove the more incompetent RM staff on the night shift and you wonder how they ever got a foot in the door in the first place? I'd probably struggle to work nights 5 nights a week every week but the prospect of receiving some job security shouldn't be too much to ask for staff that've done their time as agency workers surely.

Very judgemental of you. Who are YOU to pass judgement on anyone's work. Their fulltime, YOUR just a casual with a zero hour contract. It would be interesting to know which MC you worked at just so your RM workers could know what the casuals think of them.

[26l34]

Most full time staff on the night shift are great and full time and Angard employees get along well, on the whole. Like in most workplaces there's a fair share of folk who like to slack off and you wonder how they got employed in the first place, and I say that as someone who until recently was employed directly and worked alongside casuals on zero hour contracts (as you sneeringly put it) at another workplace.

[Xeonus]

Who are YOU to pass judgement on anyone's work. Their fulltime, YOUR just a casual with a zero hour contract.

Because obviously having a zero hour contract means you can't notice the quality of other workers?
Again, this false assumption that agency staff are somehow less capable then RM workers. You realise many people choose to work causal hours because they have other things going on in their life - and these mail jobs are a pitifully easy source of EXTRA income. How the hell you can act so pompous? Oh yes, congratulations on your amazing "career" - reading an address and putting a letter into the right box - JFC, even that is too complicated for some Royal Mail staff to handle..

These "just casuals" are propping up the entire dysfunctional Royal Mail system. Without them it would grind to a halt.
All your incredible fulltime roles are going to be replaced by ROBOTS anyway - and much sooner than you could imagine.
Good riddance to the lot of you honestly. At least the robots will be treated equally LMAO

I already requested in the first post to keep it civil. Royal Mail and Angard both work equally to help each other get the job done. I've witnessed it and even the union sees no difference in my mail centre between the workforces. I've seen members of staff who do things differently to me and may not be as efficient as I do it but that doesn't mean they are any less deserving of a wage. I have yet to hear a negative comment about myself either in the 2 years since I began as a christmas casual then moved into Angard where I currently reside. I have many friendly colleagues among both Angard and Royal Mail that I can happily talk to or at least greet as I go by.

Can't we all get along?

[TrueBlueTerrier]

How the hell you can act so pompous?

You don't do Irony very well, do you?

Oh yes, congratulations on your amazing "career" - reading an address and putting a letter into the right box

I mean that doesn't sound pompous at all.

[SpacePhoenix]

Many permanent RM staff probably started off as casuals

[TrueBlueTerrier]

I mean that doesn't sound pompous at all.

Oh how shocking, you again...
Jumping down my throat but yet again wilfully ignoring the initial post that was deliberately argumentative and derisive.
Funny, usually on forum sites admins are expected to be capable of showing a thread of impartiality and unbiased judgement.
I guess the quality of this site and those who enforce it are well reflective of the deplorable company it represents.

You again, I don't have to report to you every action I took to do so would be pointless. see my signature

You'll also notice that post was not in green, it was a personal comedic comment from me as an individual, can't you separate that I am both a member and a Moderator and I even give clues in my signature as to what hat I have on. Also, we go out of the way to say that we do not represent Royal Mail.

Sorry if you cant take a joke.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Jumping down my throat but yet again wilfully ignoring the initial post that was deliberately argumentative and derisive..

Help me out here I can't find it, did you report it. Or has it been deleted?

Navalron was being a bit confrontational but he didn't break the rules.