A message to our part-time members: Back your union and vote YES.

[rambo1]

I would have liked to read that but it's not very clear?

Just to recap then:
We have failed to do anything about b&H in the workplace which we know affects you more than anyone else.
We have failed to get an agreement on holiday pay so go to ACAS and do it yourself.
We have done nothing about getting you improved contracts while we went to mediation to protect the SA of your full time colleagues.
We know your part time contract isn't a living wage and you will probably die in poverty in your old age but please vote yes.
We promise you more of the same after ........

Clearer?

And can you at least hold the union meetings after the part timers start time instead of 6 30

I'm full time and don't start until 8am. 8.30 on Tuesday.

[rambo1]

Oh, so you are actually going to listen to part-timers now? 2 years ago I voted for strike action on both ballots - having only done 2 -3 years service at that point - the full-timers, most of which had been at RM much longer, were only concerned about THEIR pension and working hours so meekly fell in line when Terry came up with his ' cusp of something special ' blarney. Most of those same people continued to come in early and be out the door by 9.00 - 9.15 while PT staff come in at 830 to trek from one manager to another to find out what walk they have been switched to ( including duty holders ) and then to find piles of mail still to throw up and most/all packets untouched.

Not unusual for PT to leave office an hour or more after FT staff yet are still given the same or more lapsing to do also ( all those extras bits that the full-timers had refused or 'forgotten' to take ! ). Many PT have to work around kids and/or caring responsibilities and yet are bullied and harrassed if they say they can't work over and we often have to forego breaks to make up for the lost time compared to FT staff. When we do work over it's 50/50 chance that we are actually going to be paid for that time.....

Nearly 5 years experience and yet management AND union treat myself ( and so many others ) as 2nd class employees.

I will vote for strike action in spite of the union, not because of it.

Do you not think full time staff on impossible walks get bullied and harassed daily when they tell the lino how late they estimate being? Of course we do. There's no excuse for 'foregoing' your breaks to enable you to do lapsing. If you can't complete because someone hasn't prepped your walk up for you, then cut off. They'll soon get the message. Lapsing is only to be done if you have time or you want the overtime to do it.
In our office some full timers have to prep part timers walks up, only for them to be late and the part timers get a flyer if they sneak back in and out that is. All this full time vs part time crap does my head in. People need to take a stand for themselves and not get pushed around by the linos.
If you do the job right, come in on time, use correct equipment, don't tear around they have no reason to question you. People who don't do the above are the biggest threat to jobs. Not mr Back.

[k979aaa]

Gate meetings are hard to organise and are at best disorganised we need an email system type facebook is shite and hangouts is the same we need a communications expert to disseminate the information too all.

[Gasman11]

Oh, so you are actually going to listen to part-timers now? 2 years ago I voted for strike action on both ballots - having only done 2 -3 years service at that point - the full-timers, most of which had been at RM much longer, were only concerned about THEIR pension and working hours so meekly fell in line when Terry came up with his ' cusp of something special ' blarney. Most of those same people continued to come in early and be out the door by 9.00 - 9.15 while PT staff come in at 830 to trek from one manager to another to find out what walk they have been switched to ( including duty holders ) and then to find piles of mail still to throw up and most/all packets untouched.

Not unusual for PT to leave office an hour or more after FT staff yet are still given the same or more lapsing to do also ( all those extras bits that the full-timers had refused or 'forgotten' to take ! ). Many PT have to work around kids and/or caring responsibilities and yet are bullied and harrassed if they say they can't work over and we often have to forego breaks to make up for the lost time compared to FT staff. When we do work over it's 50/50 chance that we are actually going to be paid for that time.....

Nearly 5 years experience and yet management AND union treat myself ( and so many others ) as 2nd class employees.

I will vote for strike action in spite of the union, not because of it.

Do you not think full time staff on impossible walks get bullied and harassed daily when they tell the lino how late they estimate being? Of course we do. There's no excuse for 'foregoing' your breaks to enable you to do lapsing. If you can't complete because someone hasn't prepped your walk up for you, then cut off. They'll soon get the message. Lapsing is only to be done if you have time or you want the overtime to do it.
In our office some full timers have to prep part timers walks up, only for them to be late and the part timers get a flyer if they sneak back in and out that is. All this full time vs part time crap does my head in. People need to take a stand for themselves and not get pushed around by the linos.
If you do the job right, come in on time, use correct equipment, don't tear around they have no reason to question you. People who don't do the above are the biggest threat to jobs. Not mr Back.

Im a part timer and completely agree with everything you've written there. The bigger issue is not about full timers vs part timers, it's the very future of all of our roles and we have to stick together to have any chance of taking on the employer.

[Celgar]

Not sure why an official CWU communication would state RM wish to move to a five day week operation. RM would not want to lose a business day from the week as that would give further advantage to the competitors. If it ever did happen it would be the Tuesday & not the Saturday that goes and everyone knows that. It would break the vote on the strike if RM did shut down on Saturday as a lot of posties would like the whole weekend off like most people get BUT it isn't going to happen.
If RM does want to radically change the USO then, like most other main postal operators have already done, they would revert to an every other day operation for letters & flats only. This combined with seasonal and mail volume based walks would result in far more job losses than a five day operation but would enable RM to retain the six day operation.
Not sure either why the CWU are referencing the 20k job losses figure to a five day operation change. This amount of job losses was previously linked to the one in six job losses along with 'productivity' changes. It does seem like scare tactics except that the changes already listed by Martin Walsh are far worse than switching to a five day operation.

[SpacePhoenix]

RM are bound to have another look at some point at new machines to sequence flats and letters together (AFAIK every manufacturer of sorting machines, all the machines can sort/sequence flats and letters together), the big thing will be if they can find one that can also process d2d at the same time.

[Marshamp11]

RM are bound to have another look at some point at new machines to sequence flats and letters together (AFAIK every manufacturer of sorting machines, all the machines can sort/sequence flats and letters together), the big thing will be if they can find one that can also process d2d at the same time.

But why spend money on machinery that sorts/sequences a declining part of our industry.

[SpacePhoenix]

RM are bound to have another look at some point at new machines to sequence flats and letters together (AFAIK every manufacturer of sorting machines, all the machines can sort/sequence flats and letters together), the big thing will be if they can find one that can also process d2d at the same time.

But why spend money on machinery that sorts/sequences a declining part of our industry.

If letters and flats go to being every 2 or 3 days you can have a smaller number of sites doing the sequencing and covering a much larger area. It could potentially mean an increased amount of duty time for DO staff being out delivering instead of indoor work

[DGH]

Just to recap then:
We have failed to do anything about b&H in the workplace which we know affects you more than anyone else.
We have failed to get an agreement on holiday pay so go to ACAS and do it yourself.
We have done nothing about getting you improved contracts while we went to mediation to protect the SA of your full time colleagues.
We know your part time contract isn't a living wage and you will probably die in poverty in your old age but please vote yes.
We promise you more of the same after ........

This is so perfect a summary that I could weep.

[97gaz]

[

[Celgar]

Not sure why an official CWU communication would state RM wish to move to a five day week operation. RM would not want to lose a business day from the week as that would give further advantage to the competitors. If it ever did happen it would be the Tuesday & not the Saturday that goes and everyone knows that.

The thing is we can't give an advantage to the competitors because, mail wise, we have none. We're the only company delivering mail. I don't think business and the general public will be too fussed if they don't get their mail on a Saturday as long as the packets are going out. Cutting a weekday will cause havoc. Can you imagine not delivering letters to the DVLA or the DSS or any other large company. What will they do with their staff given most of their work is likely mail driven? Most of these large companies don't work Saturdays so IMO that'll be the only day they can cut and still keep the public on side. I'm talking about mail only here as packets will still go out on Saturday (and likely Sunday in the future)

I hadn't considered the point about mail not arriving at businesses on a weekday which I see is another factor to consider.
On the other side of the equation the main principle of switching to a five day operation is that EVERYTHING in RM shuts down for that sixth day. In addition until the release of this flyer from the CWU there has been no mention of moving to a five day operation from either side. It's often something that gets thrown out of the rumour mill periodically, and I can see RM deploying it to attack the CWUs position as the workers negotiator, but I think RM will use other changes to source their cost cutting regime. The changes they are hinting at are far more damaging & deal breaking than switching to a five day operation.

[DGH]

A five day week with weekends off is a fantasy. Modern corporations simply don't think in those terms. If anything, we'll move to 7 days with you working 5 out of seven rotating (cue head-in-sand wishful-thinker protests that this is impossible for dodgy reason [insert here] . . .). Mail deliveries on alternate days Mon-Fri (with every day possible for a small subscription for businesses) with packets, tracked and specials going out every day.

Wouldn't happen overnight, obviously. But be under no illusion that this would be a desirable end-state for Royal Mail (or whoever buys us out)

[SpacePhoenix]

(with every day possible for a small subscription for businesses)

Can't see that happening, the mail would still have to be sorted at the outward MC and to a degree at the inward MC.

[leolion855]

Do i have to vote to strike?

[aiden01]

Do i have to vote to strike?

Your choice