Where are the union?

twiddledumb · Post by **twiddledumb** » 09 Apr 2020, 18:40

Ok so it is clear that Royal mail do not care about the safety of its employees. Apparently a postie has already died of Corona virus and delivery offices STILL have no social distancing, in my office the manager is the worst coming up to your face to tell you what needs lapsing. My question is what the hell are the union doing about this? We pay them to look after our interests and they have done very little as far as I can see to MAKE Royal mail take the health and safety of its employees seriously. The union should be telling Royal mail to force every worker to wear a mask/snood/scarf something to cover their mouths in DO and to have social distancing. They should be telling Royal mail that posties will not deliver d2d unless it is from the government or NHS. They should be telling Royal mail that putting profit before the health and safety of its employees is unacceptable and actions will be taken if it is not resolved. Come on union we pay our subs for you to protect us. We already have a mandate to strike, tell Royal Mail that you will use it unless our safety demands are met. If the only thing they care about is profits then strike action might make them take our concerns seriously.

Post by **woody38** » 09 Apr 2020, 18:55

I was thinking the same, not seen or heard anything from the union, even the local reps have disappeared.. Sad times but thing we are on our own on this one.

paradeem · Post by **paradeem** » 09 Apr 2020, 19:10

thinking of leaving the union myself

twiddledumb · Post by **twiddledumb** » 09 Apr 2020, 19:27

woody38 wrote:I was thinking the same, not seen or heard anything from the union, even the local reps have disappeared.. Sad times but thing we are on our own on this one.

The thing is the public would be on our side if they know we were wanting to strike because we were working in unsafe conditions. So why are the union not using our overwhelming vote to strike ballot in order to strong arm Royal Mail into making our workplace safe to work in? As for my union rep, well he threw in a sickie as soon as Boris said stay at home, and we have never seen him since. Anyway they need to do something and quick IMO. If not then I am leaving the union as well. The whole point of the union is stand up for its members on financial/working conditions issues, especially health and safety issues. All I have heard is words and no action.

Post69 · Post by **Post69** » 09 Apr 2020, 19:36

woody38 wrote:I was thinking the same, not seen or heard anything from the union, even the local reps have disappeared.. Sad times but thing we are on our own on this one.

I'm on annual leave this week but for weeks/months Ive been getting bombarded practically every day with WhatsApp messages from my union rep which fair play to him always keeps us informed so I'm definitely not complaining but this week absolutely nothing

Post69 · Post by **Post69** » 09 Apr 2020, 19:40

paradeem wrote:thinking of leaving the union myself

Why do people constantly want to leave the union when things get tough! Bazaar

twiddledumb · Post by **twiddledumb** » 09 Apr 2020, 19:47

Post69 wrote:
paradeem wrote:thinking of leaving the union myself
Why do people constantly want to leave the union when things get tough! Bazaar

Mate posties are literally getting killed by a deadly virus that can spread it seems very easily and Royal Mail are failing on the main advice of social distancing in DO. Posties need someone to stand up to Royal Mail and demand that we are protected with social distancing enforcement in DO and coverings of mouths in DO. These are basic requests that our union should be demanding and be willing to strike for to get it to happen, the fact that they are silent and seem to have just accepted Royal mails response of NO you are not getting your demands, is truly shocking. If the union cannot get us basic protection and to make Royal Mail follow GOVERNMENT advice in a pandemic then what is their point? They should threaten to strike, this will be all over the news and the public can see for themselves how poor our protection is and how there is zero social distancing in our DOs, this if anything would at the very least shame Royal Mail into doing something.

world class male · Post by **world class male** » 09 Apr 2020, 21:10

paradeem wrote:thinking of leaving the union myself

i just typed a lengthy post but it logged me out on sending it
gist of it was union leaders are spineless and RM will kill for profit

sack the entire social media team as they only post idle threats that are never acted on,
rely on national media, it gets out to more people
publicly inform them that RM are endangering our lives
tell the public that RM absolutely refused to offer a non service day to give us a well earned 4 day rest if only as a gesture of goodwill to gain more profit (my sat/mon off so i get 1 anyway) but it would have been a start if they were to take our health seriously,

invoke IA not to strike but a work to rule and overtime ban, give RM the chance to deliver what looks important then the public can then decide what really matters if the crap keeps on landing on their doormat and a backlog of adidas trainers and swim-shorts,
again, total silence on social media, don't post anything or retaliate, let the bbc sky itv be the delivery of news
let TP or DW stand in front of live tv cameras actually at the RM building explaining there is no social distancing AFTER the office as walked out in fear of their safety

will this happen? will it hell because the union leaders don't have the gonads
i'll always stay in the union, but i have absolutely no faith in the leaders, the talk a hell of a lot, but absolutely zero action

we still have a powerful weapon of a YES vote but we aren't guided how to use it to it's full potential and too scared of the public outcry,
we don't need to strike and appear like mercenaries, it can be done if the public knows the score, but they are still relying on individuals to act and face the consequences individually, yes they'll back them after, after they become a future target
one thing for sure, it definitely won't be done on twitter or facebook, it needs sacking asap

rant over, totally pi$$ed off with RM & CWU

olilew · Post by **olilew** » 09 Apr 2020, 21:15

I'm sure someone with a better knowledge of strike laws than me will correct me if I am wrong and I will be happy to stand corrected but I think you can only strike for what you balloted for. In other words we can only strike for the four pillars agreement, we cannot use our strike mandate to strike on the grounds of coronavirus or anything else.
I'll start a new topic on this point as it seems very popular.

twiddledumb · Post by **twiddledumb** » 09 Apr 2020, 21:28

olilew wrote:I'm sure someone with a better knowledge of strike laws than me will correct me if I am wrong and I will be happy to stand corrected but I think you can only strike for what you balloted for. In other words we can only strike for the four pillars agreement, we cannot use our strike mandate to strike on the grounds of coronavirus or anything else.
I'll start a new topic on this point as it seems very popular.

If that is the case then they should be balloting again about our working conditions while we are in a pandemic. This pandemic will be around for a long time, so they should start balloting now if they need to. I have a feeling a vote for strike action would win that ballot. At the moment they don't seem to be doing anything to pressure Royal mail into protecting their workforce.

world class male · Post by **world class male** » 09 Apr 2020, 21:30

olilew wrote:I'm sure someone with a better knowledge of strike laws than me will correct me if I am wrong and I will be happy to stand corrected but I think you can only strike for what you balloted for. In other words we can only strike for the four pillars agreement, we cannot use our strike mandate to strike on the grounds of coronavirus or anything else.

but if RM are are allowing us to break the law? i.e social distancing then that's a different ball game.
and there's nothing to stop CWU leaders calling for an investigation and even call for an office shut down.
i don't and never want to strike during this unique situation, but if the public knew our risk factor was way higher due to domino pizza flyers (no disrespect as i like them) adding 1 hour per day to the risk i'm pretty sure who the public would side for.
btw, our management team have all of a sudden become our best friends and thanking us, been there loads of times before and when its all over they'll become tw@ts again.

Woody Guthrie · Post by **Woody Guthrie** » 10 Apr 2020, 07:27

but if RM are are allowing us to break the law? i.e social distancing

It's only a law in Wales.
Everywhere else it's a guideline where practical.

luddite · Post by **luddite** » 10 Apr 2020, 07:55

Woody Guthrie wrote:
but if RM are are allowing us to break the law? i.e social distancing
It's only a law in Wales.
Everywhere else it's a guideline where practical.

Not even a law in Wales Woodie sadly! Drakeford bottled it in the end. Our manager took.delight in informing us about the "where possible" clause!
When this is over will anything be done about the fraudulent pictures taken by managers of empty frames, rooms with barely anyone in, one person on ips etc?
Pictures sent to higher management to prove social distancing....fraud!

richietns · Post by **richietns** » 10 Apr 2020, 08:03

twiddledumb wrote:
woody38 wrote:I was thinking the same, not seen or heard anything from the union, even the local reps have disappeared.. Sad times but thing we are on our own on this one.
The thing is the public would be on our side if they know we were wanting to strike because we were working in unsafe conditions. So why are the union not using our overwhelming vote to strike ballot in order to strong arm Royal Mail into making our workplace safe to work in? As for my union rep, well he threw in a sickie as soon as Boris said stay at home, and we have never seen him since. Anyway they need to do something and quick IMO. If not then I am leaving the union as well. The whole point of the union is stand up for its members on financial/working conditions issues, especially health and safety issues. All I have heard is words and no action.

Our rep took two weeks off straight away as well lol.

Tman · Post by **Tman** » 10 Apr 2020, 09:07

twiddledumb wrote: The thing is the public would be on our side if they know we were wanting to strike because we were working in unsafe conditions..

You sure about that? Given the current positive media focus on everyone from NHS, health care workers, shop assistants, bus and tube drivers and staff, etc etc and the sterling work they do in dealing closely with members of the public, you reckon anyone's going to feel much sympathy with posties who wanted to strike at the present time over Covid-19 concerns? Really?