A national scandal in the making.

Ren Hoëk · Post by **Ren Hoëk** » 21 Mar 2020, 23:25

The way RM is managing this crisis will be nothing short of a national scandal.

It seems going by this forum, friends at other DO's and my own DO that zero thought has gone into our health and well being and as a result the effects it will have on the wider community.

No social distancing is taking place within DO's in the morning. We are all on top of each other. We should be being encouraged to wash our hands every 15 minutes and having time allotted for this. We are handling vast amounts of mail which could have been handled by anyone and LICKED sealed by them. Stopping D2D's immediately would be a start to free up time for this. In the absence of being provided hand sanitiser to do it at our frames. It would also help reduce the amount of time we are indoors in general. We should be told to take our meal relief out of the office to reduce it even more. The less time we are spent on top of each other the better.
We should be staggering the amount of people who are on the IPS at any one time.
The meal break areas should be off limits.
Extra time should be allotted to clean the vans.
Lapsing should be cancelled to free up this time.

If we must deliver then we should be prioritising what we are delivering to limit our contact with each other and the people we deliver to. RM should be begging to suspend the USO to protect its staff and therefore the longevity of its operation during this crisis.

Should we be van sharing? It seems at complete odds to the guidance the government are giving to distance ourselves from each other.

The fact we have not been provided with hand sanitiser for when we are out of the office is negligent. Gloves are only as good as how often you can change them. CV-19 does not enter the body through the hands. You are just as likely to touch your face with or without gloves after having come into contact with it. It's all well and good washing ones hands before we leave but we will then be touching the same mail again throughout the day. Which is still potentially infected. There is no way to wash our hands once we are out of the office as already mentioned, We have no sanitiser. The regular stops are closed.

It seems a purposefully vague sickness policy to confuse staff wether they should/can go sick. There has been zero leadership to say clearly what is what. Will we get paid for this or that etc. The end result will be people coming in sick and infecting us and then the wider community. The fact we have people who clearly in the government defined vulnerable bracket questioning if they should/can be off is disgusting! The fact we have reports of managers trying to bully staff to come to work with rumours of company collapse and insinuations of lying is Truly abhorrent.

We have members who live with vulnerable people who do not know where they stand if they want to isolate with their loved ones. Their presence at work totally mitigates the point of their self isolation!

At the current rate RM is going the only thing we will be delivering this spring is CV-19!

I know managers read this forum. High ups and low level. Just as we have the backbone to stand up to you,You spineless c***s should have some backbone to do what is right and stand up to your bosses.

Gasman11 · Post by **Gasman11** » 21 Mar 2020, 23:36

Excellent post Ren!!!!

C'mon Royal Mail, PLEASE LISTEN TO YOUR STAFF BEFORE ITS TOO LATE, WE ARE BEGGING YOU!!!

sindba · Post by **sindba** » 21 Mar 2020, 23:57

Couldn't agree more.

If we are not protected properly then each and every one us should stay at home.

This virus is lethal. Do not risk your life, the lives of your loved ones, and the public if Royal Mail continue with these dangerous practices.

wij09 · Post by **wij09** » 22 Mar 2020, 00:13

This is so true,we all need to make a stand,concerns raised in every office throughout the country.
Only today we had a situation occur in our smallish DO where a chance the whole office could have been infected.
We have no protection at all,feeling very vulnerable and uneasy at RM response to this whole Thing.

PLEASE LISTEN TO THE ADVICE AND ACT!

andyman606 · Post by **andyman606** » 22 Mar 2020, 01:41

We need clarification tomorrow or everyone should stop another guy gone home infected with something replacement man has to go round with disinfectant to frame whilst infecting himself...is this the deep clean procedure....does someone have to die before we separate deep clean employ emergency procedures etc.
Has anyone seen the union since this started? Not a sniff! We are now potentially spreading the virus around the communities.
This is now the dispute!!

mybackhurts · Post by **mybackhurts** » 22 Mar 2020, 08:04

Nobody should be working in the conditions we are it's so stressful, we are putting our and our families lives at risk for junk mail and unnecessary packets, some major changes need to happen now!

Stormproof · Post by **Stormproof** » 22 Mar 2020, 08:14

Our sick board is filling up, those virus related have a mark against their name, all of them basically! On asking I was told the 'marks' were just there for ones that had been contacted. They must of forgotten I was in the office the other day when someone phoned in sick, I could hear them discussing CV19 and as soon as the phone went down the manager wanted the 'special' pen for marking against a name. It won't be long before the signing out sheets will be back out on the floor and not in the managers office for when we get back off delivery.

mjd24 · Post by **mjd24** » 22 Mar 2020, 08:58

Stormproof wrote:Our sick board is filling up, those virus related have a mark against their name, all of them basically! On asking I was told the 'marks' were just there for ones that had been contacted. They must of forgotten I was in the office the other day when someone phoned in sick, I could hear them discussing CV19 and as soon as the phone went down the manager wanted the 'special' pen for marking against a name. It won't be long before the signing out sheets will be back out on the floor and not in the managers office for when we get back off delivery.

What point are you trying to make regarding signing put sheets??

plaguelift · Post by **plaguelift** » 22 Mar 2020, 09:08

One simple question should be asked by employees to managers. Can you guarantee the health and safety of all employees? The answer is obviously no, so we should all be sent home. I for one don’t feel comfortable delivering no matter what protection we (don’t) have.

Stormproof · Post by **Stormproof** » 22 Mar 2020, 09:10

mjd24 wrote:
Stormproof wrote:Our sick board is filling up, those virus related have a mark against their name, all of them basically! On asking I was told the 'marks' were just there for ones that had been contacted. They must of forgotten I was in the office the other day when someone phoned in sick, I could hear them discussing CV19 and as soon as the phone went down the manager wanted the 'special' pen for marking against a name. It won't be long before the signing out sheets will be back out on the floor and not in the managers office for when we get back off delivery.
What point are you trying to make regarding signing put sheets??

At the moment all staff have to sign back in on the sheets that are put in the managers office so any early finishers are stopped from going home. Managers will be the first to get it with 100+ posties signing back in. So how long before the people who are telling us just to get on with it will be self isolating in their little office. Its strange that the only wipes avaiable are in their office and they are always cleaning their desks with them, meanwhile our frames and the majority of the office are minging.

Post by **CPTNemoUK** » 22 Mar 2020, 09:21

Well I'm back in work tomorrow after a 7 day isolation. I am dreading on going in and seeing the state of everything. I will just have too be careful because my wife is asthmatic and I was about too be tested for it. That's gone through the window at the moment

FilthyBloke · Post by **FilthyBloke** » 22 Mar 2020, 09:26

I told the manager I would only come in at 9am when the majority, if not all, other posties are out delivering.
So I’m on my own prepping my walk.
I have gloves and hand sanitizer on me. I stay away from everyone and leave parcels on doorsteps (unless nobody answers; then I 739 them). I wash my hands after every loop and only eat food that’s pre packaged so I don’t have to handle food directly.
I do 3 hours overtime after my walk following the same procudure.

It’s not ideal. But it works for me. I advise anyone I see when I’m delivering to make sure they wash their hands after handling any mail/junk/parcels. A few folk are aware I am happy to collect milk and bread for them.

Tbh I am more concerned shopping in packed shops and markets and queuing up for ages. I tend to do that either very early or very late.

My managers are almost ignorant of the situation so Iv tried to find a solution that suits me.

mjd24 · Post by **mjd24** » 22 Mar 2020, 09:47

Stormproof wrote:
mjd24 wrote:
Stormproof wrote:Our sick board is filling up, those virus related have a mark against their name, all of them basically! On asking I was told the 'marks' were just there for ones that had been contacted. They must of forgotten I was in the office the other day when someone phoned in sick, I could hear them discussing CV19 and as soon as the phone went down the manager wanted the 'special' pen for marking against a name. It won't be long before the signing out sheets will be back out on the floor and not in the managers office for when we get back off delivery.
What point are you trying to make regarding signing put sheets??
At the moment all staff have to sign back in on the sheets that are put in the managers office so any early finishers are stopped from going home. Managers will be the first to get it with 100+ posties signing back in. So how long before the people who are telling us just to get on with it will be self isolating in their little office. Its strange that the only wipes avaiable are in their office and they are always cleaning their desks with them, meanwhile our frames and the majority of the office are minging.

Ohh ok, got you.

Post by **denhamhoop** » 22 Mar 2020, 09:55

The keeping yourself a certain distance from others just is not practicable in DO's and even less so in MC's the management's whole priority will always be to get the mail out as that's what turns a profit for Royal Mail everything else will come behind that.
On Friday in my office they had the ridiculous practice of only allowing 5 people per WTL and then sending people back into an area where 12 people are sorting large parcels in a small area.

Post by **SpacePhoenix** » 22 Mar 2020, 09:58

denhamhoop wrote:On Friday in my office they had the ridiculous practice of only allowing 5 people per WTL and then sending people back into an area where 12 people are sorting large parcels in a small area.

Have they not yet at your MC cancelled all WTL for everyone until further notice?