Any 5 yr plan update?

Martin Walsh · Post by **Martin Walsh** » 11 Jul 2019, 07:20

A point of principle was raised by the CWU over the fact that business has broken a key part of the four pillars and instead of jointly working up a new pipeline for the next 3 , 5 & 7 years , Royal Mail unilateral with the assistance of McKinsey ‘s consultants developed there own 5 year strategy which is based on the following key principles

1. Working all paid for hours linked to the following PDA’s , AHDC , Resource Scheduler and Final Mile Optimisation ( the new geo Route tool which is also linked to PDA actuals. The above is not about balancing routes but about introducing performance standards , moving to seasonal / annualised hours approach. They also want 30 minutes per day flexibility to be compulsory due to the failure of Royal Mail to reliably to predict traffic.

2. The second stage of their plan is to introduce more parcel automation into mail centre to increase the numbers of parcels being automated.

3. The third is parcel separation. The first parcel Hub in Warrington will have the ability later next year to automate larger parcels to circa 300 LAT units

Once the second parcel hub is up and running which will either be in London or Midlands ( the end game is 3 ) than they can introduce parcel Separation to 300 LAT units by passing inward Mail Centres / RDCs and circa 1000 delivery offices.

Royal Mail’s thinking is that parcel separation will reduce deliveries from 60 thousand across the UK to 50 thousand.

However there will be approximately 30 duties per LAT hub which will perform larger parcels , LAT and tracked LAT. Royal Mail suggest that this equates to 15% of the current parcel traffic but accept larger parcels are growing faster.

The impact in the delivery offices who lose the large parcels is expected to be significant as their productivity will drop and will be expected to reduce hours to maintain their current performance.

The last part of their strategy is they want to increase productivity to around 5% per year over the next 5 years which is hours will mean the equivalent of 20 thousand full time jobs.

Whilst talks are on-going it expected that it will end up in external mediation. The other issues which is causing issues is that there is no agreement to the next hour off the working week which was due from October and it is very unlikely that the hour will be deployed in October as any agreement will probably lead to office revisions and this will take longer and no revisions will be deployed in the run up to Christmas.

So tensions are high. Mediation looks likely and if you remember Royal Mail took the union to the High Court because we had not gone to mediation before taking strike action . This time we are ensuring we go through all the correct processes before we potentially say we are in dispute.

In my view we are at once of the most significant points in the unions and Royal Mail history and whoever wins this will decide whether we allow Royal Mail to manage decline in most offices or whether we stop that and fight for a future for postal workers.

Yamr1 · Post by **Yamr1** » 11 Jul 2019, 10:31

Anybody reading Martin's post that doesn't take tea breaks, dont use proper equipment etc
Must now wake up and smell the coffee.
20,000 jobs there trying to take away from us and guys are running around to save 30 minutes to go up the road early if there office managers let them.
Then there area manager wants hours taken out office
Come on guys get a grip now.

It time to do the job correctly and stop giving managers faulse figures on there pda dashboards.

worktotime · Post by **worktotime** » 11 Jul 2019, 14:02

Yamr1 wrote:Anybody reading Martin's post that doesn't take tea breaks, dont use proper equipment etc
Must now wake up and smell the coffee.
20,000 jobs there trying to take away from us and guys are running around to save 30 minutes to go up the road early if there office managers let them.
Then there area manager wants hours taken out office
Come on guys get a grip now.

It time to do the job correctly and stop giving managers faulse figures on there pda dashboards.

I would save your breath and your wasting your time , these posties that work for free etc wont even take any notice from the top men from the CWU who have been saying this for years , they might start to take notice when theres jobs going and then it will be to late to support the CWU and fight this , and it wont be there fault .

billycat · Post by **billycat** » 11 Jul 2019, 14:32

I cannot understand the problem here we all know mail volumes are dropping , I for one NEVER finish before my time , the only way in my opinion for royal mail to survive is to water down the uso and by doing this jobs are lost through EVR or not back filling vacancies so be it but before any of this happens the salaries that are been paid to our top brass need slashing . sorry if you don't like my opinion.

number one · Post by **number one** » 11 Jul 2019, 17:22

The number of managers and people who offer nothing to the business needs to be addressed. My office usually runs on 1 or 2 managers, last week we had 6 all stood around drinking tea. They are all probably on £30-£40k a year, that’s an instant savings right there. Multiply that throughout the country and it’s millions.

Binsey · Post by **Binsey** » 11 Jul 2019, 20:08

number one wrote:The number of managers and people who offer nothing to the business needs to be addressed. My office usually runs on 1 or 2 managers, last week we had 6 all stood around drinking tea. They are all probably on £30-£40k a year, that’s an unstant savings right there. Multiply that throughout the country and it’s millions.

Believe me that's coming. They have stopped there bonus for starters.
On a more pragmatic approach if they stopped there bonus what's planned for us?

Binsey · Post by **Binsey** » 11 Jul 2019, 20:14

zz666 wrote:RM's 5 year plan didn't mention 35 hour week at all. I think a 35 hour week is a pipe dream.

It's the Union end game. Royal Mail know this. I suspect it will be the carrot.
Whether we all get there I suspect it is a " pipe dream".

postslippete · Post by **postslippete** » 11 Jul 2019, 22:01

Yamr1 wrote:Anybody reading Martin's post that doesn't take tea breaks, dont use proper equipment etc
Must now wake up and smell the coffee.
20,000 jobs there trying to take away from us and guys are running around to save 30 minutes to go up the road early if there office managers let them.
Then there area manager wants hours taken out office
Come on guys get a grip now.

It time to do the job correctly and stop giving managers faulse figures on there pda dashboards.

Alternatively, they could always keep doing what they are doing, keep coming in over an hour for free, forget about the breaks, rush through their delivery and allow Royal Mail to plan the next revision with additional loops on the duties.

Then when the big changes happen suddenly decide to then start doing the job properly, starting on time, taking a break and leave the loops that got added on everyday. The problems this causes when just a few guys in the section do this is immense when suddenly the go-to guys who do all the docket decide when their own rounds are too big that they can't be ar*ed to take out other posties loops on overtime because they won't be finished till late. Thats when you either see managers out on the streets delivering mail at gone 4pm or mail and packets being left on York's from the previous day.

From Martin's comments, here are some points to consider:
1. Its all well and good using PDA actuals to move to a seasonal/annualised hours approach. Does that mean if we are working fewer hours in the summer would that be an end to the traditional summer absorption when traffic is lower, or do Royal Mail still want to have their cake and eat it, with the added option of 30 minutes per day compulsory flexibility to complete all workloads for that day?? Also, if Royal Mail expect their staff to work that additional 30 minutes on top of their delivery time - does that mean that staff get a choice when they want those 30 minutes back? See, its no good to us for RM to say to its staff well "can you work an extra 30 minutes today and we will let you come in 30 minutes later tomorrow". How about "OK boss, I'm prepared to work 30 minutes longer today if you take a loop off my delivery tomorrow?". My thoughts on flexibility is that is supposed to be a two way thing. A bit like "I'll work my day off for you next week if you can give me a day off on such and such a date". I'm guessing that this doesn't happen in most delivery offices because most offices cannot plan a rota system more than a week in advance.

2. Parcel automation is interesting but honestly I think what they may save on the swings they will more than likely pay out on the roundabouts. What happened to the idea that we are only profitable when delivering parcels with the letters? The idea behind not going to an address more than once in a day? Like I said earlier its easy to make the rounds bigger and cut back on staff, but to add an additional loop instead of delivering a dozen parcels, I know what I would prefer and the idea of walking longer, well, thats great innit

claretandblue · Post by **claretandblue** » 12 Jul 2019, 06:18

Our wave 2 is no longer sequenced, makes sense, most days it's only about 30 letters and it arrives about 40 minutes earlier than if it were sequenced.

heraldmoth · Post by **heraldmoth** » 12 Jul 2019, 09:57

billycat wrote:I cannot understand the problem here we all know mail volumes are dropping , I for one NEVER finish before my time , the only way in my opinion for royal mail to survive is to water down the uso and by doing this jobs are lost through EVR or not back filling vacancies so be it but before any of this happens the salaries that are been paid to our top brass need slashing . sorry if you don't like my opinion.

heraldmoth · Post by **heraldmoth** » 12 Jul 2019, 10:00

Would 1st and 2nd class targets still have to be met if the uso is removed?

billycat · Post by **billycat** » 12 Jul 2019, 15:32

I think in the in the last update rico black stated that going forward they were looking at a bespoke USO, also regarding EVR, at the delivery office I work in if you were to believe everybody, there would be a mass rush for the exit door, I personally have worked in other industries believe me the vast majority haven't got anything to moan about, the union has done a fantastic job, believe me up until 18 months ago I use to be one of the runners, now I will not give the managers at my office the satisfaction of pulling me up for anything, they know what the answer will be, can you please display the PDA actuals. a couple of weeks ago two postman were adamant they would not be able to complete the conversation went on for 27 mins, the following day I approached the two individuals they took everything and got back to the office 10 mins early even though they spent 27 mins in the office arguing. I said may be they need a bit more putting on their duties, wow. do your job as instructed, any problems ask your manager to refer to your PDA actuals.

Decky Boy · Post by **Decky Boy** » 12 Jul 2019, 15:56

Martin Walsh wrote: In my view we are at once of the most significant points in the unions and Royal Mail history and whoever wins this will decide whether we allow Royal Mail to manage decline in most offices or whether we stop that and fight for a future for postal workers.

Martin, I enjoyed very much reading your piece...and you are correct...we are at a significant and very important place with regards to Royal Mail's and our future. However I do not believe that Royal Mail simply wish to manage decline ! If you watched the 4 hour video presentation to the markets on Capital Markets Day it is apparent that Growth is all important going forward. The commencement of the building of the first of 3 Mega Parcel Processing Hubs supports this Growth idea !
I have heard that the floor space in this first Parcel Plant is equivalent to 3 professional football pitches ???

Going forward I look forward to a 35 hour week. And in an ideal world a 4 day 35 hour week is what I seek ?

k979aaa · Post by **k979aaa** » 13 Jul 2019, 02:36

Decky Boy wrote:
Martin Walsh wrote: In my view we are at once of the most significant points in the unions and Royal Mail history and whoever wins this will decide whether we allow Royal Mail to manage decline in most offices or whether we stop that and fight for a future for postal workers.
Martin, I enjoyed very much reading your piece...and you are correct...we are at a significant and very important place with regards to Royal Mail's and our future. However I do not believe that Royal Mail simply wish to manage decline ! If you watched the 4 hour video presentation to the markets on Capital Markets Day it is apparent that Growth is all important going forward. The commencement of the building of the first of 3 Mega Parcel Processing Hubs supports this Growth idea !
I have heard that the floor space in this first Parcel Plant is equivalent to 3 professional football pitches ???

Going forward I look forward to a 35 hour week. And in an ideal world a 4 day 35 hour week is what I seek ?

Who is going to the the other 3 days a week on just 20 hours?

Post by **wacko74** » 13 Jul 2019, 05:11

k979aaa wrote:
Decky Boy wrote:
Martin Walsh wrote:

Going forward I look forward to a 35 hour week. And in an ideal world a 4 day 35 hour week is what I seek ?
Who is going to the the other 3 days a week on just 20 hours?

Plenty of people only need/want part time, I'd love to do 20 hours over 3 days.