scaremonging or do they want a strike?

Celgar · Post by **Celgar** » 03 Jul 2019, 23:00

We have one new postie leaving on the 12th of this month excluding two weeks of AL following that date. I guess that means we will not be replacing her not that it is easy to find or retain new staff. Working some of the time unpaid isn't popular with most people nowadays.

30+YEARMAN · Post by **30+YEARMAN** » 04 Jul 2019, 06:01

I don,t think there would be a shortage of volunteers ,in fact I would say why only one ?.

Post by **greengiant** » 04 Jul 2019, 07:01

Celgar wrote:We have one new postie leaving on the 12th of this month excluding two weeks of AL following that date. I guess that means we will not be replacing her not that it is easy to find or retain new staff. Working some of the time unpaid isn't popular with most people nowadays.

No one should be working unpaid.. get your union rep involved Celgar. If you worked in Tescos would you be happy to work unpaid stacking tins of peas?

Woody Guthrie · Post by **Woody Guthrie** » 04 Jul 2019, 07:30

greengiant wrote:
Celgar wrote:We have one new postie leaving on the 12th of this month excluding two weeks of AL following that date. I guess that means we will not be replacing her not that it is easy to find or retain new staff. Working some of the time unpaid isn't popular with most people nowadays.
No one should be working unpaid.. get your union rep involved Celgar. If you worked in Tescos would you be happy to work unpaid stacking tins of peas?

UK workers complete an average of just under 8 hours of unpaid overtime every week, Tesco and Sainsbury had to pay out to some of its staff because the amount of unpaid overtime was pushing their pay below minimum wage. (they didn't stop the practice of unpaid overtime though), I've never worked in any industry that didn't involve an amount of unpaid overtime.

Working for nothing is not a good idea on a regular basis but to pretend that it is somehow limited to Royal Mail is a bit naive. We are relatively lucky in that it's not compulsory yet and a lot of those apparently working for free aren't really, they're just gaining the time back at the end of their shift. If members are genuinely working for free in an office you have to wonder where the help and support is for these members.

nightcrawler · Post by **nightcrawler** » 04 Jul 2019, 14:14

Nothing about this in our office today. And the union rep hasn’t heard anything either.

leolion855 · Post by **leolion855** » 04 Jul 2019, 14:57

been told its a load if bull

Sir Henry · Post by **Sir Henry** » 04 Jul 2019, 15:16

Area rep was on a conference call about this yesterday. No mention of it from the screws today though

danterossetti · Post by **danterossetti** » 04 Jul 2019, 16:30

[quote="worktotime"]who cares and it doesn't matter what they do or how much they give you to do you still have a FINISH TIME

daveyeff · Post by **daveyeff** » 04 Jul 2019, 17:21

well, it appears to be a double sided coin this one. the DOM came on the tannoy today and said he knows we've all heard about the jobs to go ...but, as its a far too busy day today, AND because management have been pretty 'vague' on the subject, he will now update us either tomorrow or Monday

but...he is meeting with the area reps today to discuss possible outcomes/actions etc. the lino says although we ARE starting interviews for people to come into the office (we need 6 apparently), this does not/will not affect the fact that we will need one body less?? he says we have 49 duties in our office. they want that down to 48. we will absorb the lapsed duty!! there is one postie in for a transfer to another office so that's OUR body gone. but the new starters will cover overtime being done by existing staff. i.e. there was 5 working their days off today. he says when they start the new people there will be no need for them to get people to work there days off. so although there is one person/duty too many, they STILL need the staff to cover the work??? in other words they still need enough bums on seats to cover. (I can't get me f*****g head round it to be honest) so if anyone can make head or tail of that bullshite, then please be my guest to put it in laymans terms! I also asked the DOM if this is a national thing, and he confirmed it is. the driver from the mail centre reckons they are in a right flap because of the other hour we are about to lose is just around the corner.....comments.

leolion855 · Post by **leolion855** » 04 Jul 2019, 17:51

From reading that they want to to stop paying over time because it costs to much so they think getting 6 more people in and paying them a basic 25 hr contract will save them money on the overtime bill, but the normal wage bill will go up.

Basically whoevers thought this up aint got a bloody clue about basic finances.

lisag42 · Post by **lisag42** » 04 Jul 2019, 19:18

Good to know Ive only just started (along with a few others) but there is already a threat to our jobs. Reading through this I’m starting to think I should just accept the offer of my old job back even if it’s £80 a week less.

citypostie · Post by **citypostie** » 04 Jul 2019, 19:23

Sounds like you have cover duties that aren't filled hence people working days off, fill those vacancies then no need to pay people to work days off anymore. Get rid of a duty and split it between the others and put it onto the frames. Permanent lapsing. We've had 3 duties removed and added onto our frames already, so have had all year lapsing for the last couple of years. Sounds like some offices might be catching up with offices like ours. This was mentioned to our Dom today, didn't have a clue about it.

Justanotherstar · Post by **Justanotherstar** » 04 Jul 2019, 19:27

Got at least 3 useless ***** in our office that would be much more suited to unemployment

Celgar · Post by **Celgar** » 04 Jul 2019, 21:21

Woody Guthrie wrote:
greengiant wrote:
Celgar wrote:We have one new postie leaving on the 12th of this month excluding two weeks of AL following that date. I guess that means we will not be replacing her not that it is easy to find or retain new staff. Working some of the time unpaid isn't popular with most people nowadays.
No one should be working unpaid.. get your union rep involved Celgar. If you worked in Tescos would you be happy to work unpaid stacking tins of peas?
UK workers complete an average of just under 8 hours of unpaid overtime every week, Tesco and Sainsbury had to pay out to some of its staff because the amount of unpaid overtime was pushing their pay below minimum wage. (they didn't stop the practice of unpaid overtime though), I've never worked in any industry that didn't involve an amount of unpaid overtime.

Working for nothing is not a good idea on a regular basis but to pretend that it is somehow limited to Royal Mail is a bit naive. We are relatively lucky in that it's not compulsory yet and a lot of those apparently working for free aren't really, they're just gaining the time back at the end of their shift. If members are genuinely working for free in an office you have to wonder where the help and support is for these members.

I fully acknowledge that this situation is not limited just to RM. Can't remember the exact figure but the yearly total for unpaid work in the UK is well over ten billion pounds per year. I don't think any firm will have a compulsory policy on unpaid work as that would be an obvious case of slavery and the police would become involved. What does happen is people either feel obliged to do so for numerous reasons or the employer makes it difficult to access payment which is how RM does it. In an ideal world posties would be able to come in earlier, work their hours, then go home. Unfortunately we don't have the necessary measurement systems so posties finishing early can only mean to RM that they have not received their pound of flesh.

Woody Guthrie · Post by **Woody Guthrie** » 04 Jul 2019, 21:50

Celgar wrote:I don't think any firm will have a compulsory policy on unpaid work as that would be an obvious case of slavery and the police would become involved..

Sorry to burst your bubble but it's perfectly legal to have compulsory unpaid overtime.
This is from the government's own website.

Overtime pay
Employers do not have to pay workers for overtime. However, your average pay for the total hours you work must not fall below the National Minimum Wage.