London's Divisional Response to Capital Markets Day statement

Post by **POSTMAN** » 22 May 2019, 10:18

Martin Walsh · Post by **Martin Walsh** » 22 May 2019, 11:16

London Divisional Committees Response to Royal Mail’s Announcement

Royal Mail’s announcement concerning their strategy moving forward is further evidence , if any was needed that they have moved further away from the CWU and the Four Pillars Agreement.

Royal Mail’s announcement to remove larger parcels from circa 1400 Delivery Offices and inward mail centres , not only breaks one of the key commitments of the Four Pillars Agreement , that we would jointly develop a 3,5 and 7 plan , but it is a clear snub to the CWU.

We are also believe that Royal Mail have deliberately mislead our members with their Colleague update today where they do not even mention that they will be removing larger parcels from circa 1400 delivery offices and concentrating them as outlined in the documents they produced today to 200 to 300 units.

Royal Mail suggest their strategy is around growing these parcels. However for the vast majority of our members the removal of these larger parcels will see efficiency and productivity reduce and jobs and hours removed.

In short for most, this strategy will signal that Royal Mail are managing decline in the majority of offices.

Additionally Royal Mail announced that they want to further use PDA actuals and other digital technology such as Automated Hours Data Capture ( scanning in and out ) and Resource Scheduler which can produce a different duty set for offices on week/ monthly basis.

They want to use all of the of the above for resourcing purposes.

We believe this will lead to real problems over workload and cause further issues in workplaces across the UK.

Remember this is not about whether you start on time or finish on time.

Royal Mail are introducing these systems so they can have standardised work performance standards and they can link it to pay.

The reports of management mis-using PDA’s is growing. These reports include , attempts to bank hours when you finish early , increasing absorption on the day due to some finishing early the day before , not paying part timers for coming in early as they finished early the day before , challenging the work performance of OPGS based on the fact a reserve or rest day cover has finished the walk earlier than the duty holder.

These problems will get worse if Delivery Office Managers can in the future solely Resource by the PDA actuals.

PDAs are not accurate in recording an OPG’s true workload and we should not be agreeing to any further use of PDAs for resourcing purposes.

Royal Mail’s strategy is that they know if they get Agreement to resource just by the outputs of PDAs it marginalises the CWU’s right to negotiate in the workplace.

So in conclusion, Royal Mail’s announcement today was predictable. The CWU National Executive knew this and that is why they submitted Emergency Motion 2 to Postal Conference.

It was carried unanimously and now needs to be actioned.

The London Divisional Committee believes unless we can change the two pronged Royal Mail strategy than the CWU membership must once again rise up and fight to defend their jobs , their terms and conditions and their future.

A Statement by the London Divisional Committee

chickenwittle · Post by **chickenwittle** » 22 May 2019, 11:19

So what is the the Cwu plan to help Royal Mail innovate and stay competitive.They can’t complain that moving big parcels to lat offices is taking work from the business, because it isn’t .What is the Cwu plan , rather than just rejecting everything because it is clear that things need to change if we are all to have jobs in 5 or 10 years time.

Postie45 · Post by **Postie45** » 22 May 2019, 11:43

tend to agree with you, in theory im not against RMs plans, any loss of workforce is going to be VR and through people leaving naturally it seems.
What also needs to be assessed is if they continue to make deliveries longer and longer, what health affects is that going to have on the workforce. Is 6 hrs + of delivery work viable for most posties, its not what most of us signed up for !
Also not against PDA data being used, however how its used is the key, some of our colleagues dont make it easy for themselves or the union by flying around their deliveries, not taking breaks and ignoring h&s and therefore making the data skewed.

Celgar · Post by **Celgar** » 22 May 2019, 12:01

The PDA only measures the time taken to actually deliver the mail for DO staff. This seemingly suits RM as they have tunnel vision and are solely concerned with what time we return from delivery & if that precisely matches the end of our paid duty time or not. Only having timings for one half of the operation is a totally inaccurate method and a misrepresentation of the time it takes to complete the job.
What we need is some type of clocking system that cannot be worked or fiddled by RM or the workforce. It could be AHDC or signing into the PDA when we first arrive at work or a better paper based version that is monitored & checked but we need SOMETHING to witness this happening. Once we get this we will be able to prove we are productive and that invariably all hours paid are worked or that more hours are worked than are actually paid for! Then we can throw the absorption regime in the dustbin.

Martin Walsh · Post by **Martin Walsh** » 22 May 2019, 12:56

Parcels formatted 3 & 4 which are the larger parcels are growing significantly.

If Royal Mail believe they will grow faster by being delivered later in the day. Than why can’t these larger parcels remain being delivered in all delivery offices, rather than being delivered by just 200 to 300 LAT units.

We could have imaginative attendances such as 4 day weeks , 9 day fortnights , rotating duty patterns early and lates.

There would also be the opportunity for part timers to increase their contracted hours by delivering later.

This would mean all delivery offices offered a delivery window from 7 to 7 which saw the USO being delivered in the morning and larger parcels and same day delivered up to 7 by other duties.

The CWU have told Royal Mail this . However Royal Mail wants to reduce costs and cut jobs by removing parcels from the majority of offices.

Post by **Sugar** » 22 May 2019, 17:30

Postie45 wrote: any loss of workforce is going to be VR and through people leaving naturally it seems.

No it won't.

RM will go for as many as possible through dismissal either by conduct or hitting a stage 3 for time off. Heard already that the number being severly conducted of dismissed is sky rocketing through the company and will only get worse. Why pay for IHR or VR when you can sack someone?

Postie45 wrote:What also needs to be assessed is if they continue to make deliveries longer and longer, what health affects is that going to have on the workforce. Is 6 hrs + of delivery work viable for most posties, its not what most of us signed up for !

See above, they'll sack you for time off as you become more battered from the excessive hours and clock up stages. They don't want loyal long serving employees, part time workforce or one that's too scared to take time off due to ill health is the future. Oh and your own van to do the work in.

norris9 · Post by **norris9** » 22 May 2019, 18:08

I am not sure what RM need to do in terms of competing with other parcel delivery companies for price....

If I was going to send a parcel somewhere I would automatically go to the Post Office. I would never use DHL or another delivery company.

RM need to win big contracts with big retailers.

As they say....post is expected to drop significantly....

-Do people need to have a paper payslip these days?
-Do people need paper bank statements these days?
-Do people need paper appointment reminders these days?
-Do people need paper contracts these days?

Why are we yet to move to digital with all these things? People still without internet/very slow internet?

-If a law came in banning junk mail then 60%+ of the mail will be wiped out.

All that needs to be delivered in terms of letters are things like bank cards, drivers licences, magazines, Celebratory cards, Gift/Loyalty cards, passports, photos....

citypostie · Post by **citypostie** » 22 May 2019, 18:12

These changes are going to happen in some form. I just hope that if royal mail get the saving they want they thrown a carrot our way in the form of decent attendances like 4 day weeks. I could stomach a six hour delivery with a couple of hours in the office before it if I only had to do it 4 days a week hopefully working less Saturdays as well

Paleridercraig · Post by **Paleridercraig** » 22 May 2019, 18:39

Don't really know why some people think the PDA actuals will be great. You only have to look at how the indoor prep times are mirco managed and the harassment that comes from them.

Woody Guthrie · Post by **Woody Guthrie** » 23 May 2019, 06:32

Paleridercraig wrote:Don't really know why some people think the PDA actuals will be great. You only have to look at how the indoor prep times are mirco managed and the harassment that comes from them.

I'm with you, every tool management has been given has been abused but some people are deluded enough to believe that the PDA actuals will be used in some benevolent way to defend members. It's laughably naive at best. The PDA data is like any other data, it can be spun to paint any kind of picture you want. Even with a delivery that's too long they just point at all the big yellow inactivity dots and blame you.

south London postie · Post by **south London postie** » 23 May 2019, 09:27

Had a guy on my walk in a zero emissions vehicle yesterday - first time I've seen him - delivering just for one company (Asos). That's a big step on from an 'everything' outfit like Amazon.

The pace of change seems extraordinary to me.

Gangham_style14 · Post by **Gangham_style14** » 23 May 2019, 11:38

I smell STRIKE!!!

postmanzach · Post by **postmanzach** » 24 May 2019, 09:08

citypostie wrote:These changes are going to happen in some form. I just hope that if royal mail get the saving they want they thrown a carrot our way in the form of decent attendances like 4 day weeks. I could stomach a six hour delivery with a couple of hours in the office before it if I only had to do it 4 days a week hopefully working less Saturdays as well

yeah we have 6+hour deliveries it’s only possible as we get long long weekends (Friday Saturday Monday Tuesday) every 4 weeks so gives us a nice break, something to look forward to.

ROYALMAILCHAT