I cancelled my union subscription

[PostmanBitesDog]

I've tried to contact the CWU several times and no help, I am feed up, always the same, phoned my reps and they pass the buck, best to do it's just get on with it and forget about the Union. I am out guys.

That's exactly what I was going through. Fed up with their weakness long before the current dispute, and the fact that the reps are too buddy-buddy with the RM management in our delivery office.

The CWU has no power here.

[ssdd]

That's exactly what I was going through. Fed up with their weakness long before the current dispute, and the fact that the reps are too buddy-buddy with the RM management in our delivery office.

The CWU has no power here.

So what you are in effect doing is siding with Rico and his cronies.

[Strong bull]

What exactly has the union achieved in the last several years ?

Messed up 2 ballots for strike action

Negotiated a below inflation pay rise 12 months late

Negotiated a SWW which we all new was never going to work and never did

What they havent done

Tackled Bullying and harassment. Rife throughout the company

Average holiday pay . Basically sort it out yourself

Despite people constantly working there days off and the local F/T mafia managing to get a couple of hours ot before there shift and getting all the sa collections no P/T ERS are ever offered F/T contracts despite there is clearly the work there.We have even got agency staff in now

Linos and Doms regually doing OPG work, sorting ,deliveries etc.

Doesn't paint a pretty picture does it and they have gone very quiet reciently.

[PostmanBitesDog]

That's exactly what I was going through. Fed up with their weakness long before the current dispute, and the fact that the reps are too buddy-buddy with the RM management in our delivery office.

The CWU has no power here.

So what you are in effect doing is siding with Rico and his cronies.

You clearly didn't read my entire comment. Let me help you...

Fed up with their weakness long before the current dispute

[PostmanBitesDog]

What exactly has the union achieved in the last several years ?
What they havent done

Tackled Bullying and harassment. Rife throughout the company

I agree with this one, Strong bull. Totally.

Our CWU local rep and the area rep have persistently ignored this issue in our office. All we get is the following hollow comment: "Bullying and harassment isn't tolerated." So why does it still continue? What has the CWU rep said to RM management about it? After over a year, it's only gotten worse.

Just as I mentioned in another comment I posted, our local CWU representative has recently cozied up with our office DOM and the DLMs. Many of the posties have been peed off about it. A vote of no-confidence by the members? Perhaps, especially in the new year.

Not that it matters to me anymore. I'm glad to say that I'm no longer a member.

[ssdd]

@Strong Bull and PostmanBitesDog

I hear what you're saying guys, I just think it's the wrong time to be 'jumping ship'.
Let me ask you both a question, or anyone else who has doubts about the CWU.

Do you think your life within Royal Mail would be better if there were no Union representation at all within the workplace?

[PostmanBitesDog]

@Strong Bull and PostmanBitesDog
Let me ask you both a question, or anyone else who has doubts about the CWU.
Do you think your life within Royal Mail would be better if there were no Union representation at all within the workplace?

Yes. With that weekly CWU Opt Out fee that I was paying before, I can now spend it on a bunch of Euromillions lottery numbers every Tuesday or Friday.

I can feel that big £100 million win coming my way.

[Woody Guthrie]

Do you think your life within Royal Mail would be better if there were no Union representation at all within the workplace?

That's not a valid justification for poor representation.
How bad is a union allowed to get?

[Strong bull]

Granted it would worse without the union but what issues are they actually addressing. As I see it zilch.

[ssdd]

That's not a valid justification for poor representation.
How bad is a union allowed to get?

No, but we have have to look at the bigger picture and context of where we are at the moment with the Business. I know a lot of folk are jaded with the CWU, but Rico Back is fresh into the Company and he's ready to flatten us. He's like a Tidal Wave and the Union is the Seawall, the last line of defence.

At this critical juncture, people leaving the Union is like taking a brick out of the wall.

[Grumpyoldmailman]

Any Union member can put themselves forward to be a rep, if your not happy do something about it and put yourself forward.

[ssdd]

Any Union member can put themselves forward to be a rep, if your not happy do something about it and put yourself forward.

[Woody Guthrie]

Any Union member can put themselves forward to be a rep, if your not happy do something about it and put yourself forward.

No they can't.
If you have family commitments outside of work or a second job, if you're not in the popular clique or your face doesn't fit, if you're part-time, female or you don't get on with the personalities in the office or if you're not best mates with the area rep you more or less have to put up with whatever s**t you get.

Let's not pretend that the union is something it's not. In a lot of offices it more resembles a mafia organisation than a trade union and the chances of an 'outsider' making it to the inner circle are slim to none.

It's a ridiculous argument that members have to either put up with a s**t rep or do the job themselves, they're paying for union representation already and deserve exactly that.

[Celgar]

Membership of the CWU has always been like an insurance policy you take out to defend yourself against personal attacks from RM management & rules. It is still viable for this purpose and all posties would be best advised to continue paying into it. In my over twenty years being a postie I cannot recall a single major change the RM have tried to implement. The most damaging change was probably 'absorption/lapsing/flexing' along with dropping the bikes, widespread part time duties, and shared vans. Us posties played into RMs hands by continually making the job fit the duty time when it didn't and still doesn't now. Don't ever think the current leadership of the CWU can save our jobs because they themselves are not willing to take the stand and say the buck stops here! It's still theoretically possible to hold onto our jobs but not with these guys at the helm.

[clique]

I have been involved with unions for over 20 years. What many union members don't realise is that when it comes to negotiations, the union leaders/representatives have never managed to negotiate and secure a deal which was higher that what the business was prepared to offer. Never. On top of that, there is usually a trade off in the T&Cs also known as "give with one hand and take with the other". Just compare the terms and conditions of yesteryear with what we have today to see how much our T&Cs have been eroded. If it wasn't for certain EU legislation to protect our working rights and wellbeing at work (which automatically applied as law and did not have to be negotiated by the union), the CWU would have fared even worse.

It takes a strong man not to be corrupted by power. Sadly the CWU is in desperate need for new leadership. They are loosing the confidence and trust of their members on a daily basis.