Royal Mail chairman says firm is at 'crossroads moment' as it balances union action with productivity woes

[mjd24]

To think we will have to go through all this again next year. Every other company can give their staff a no strings pay rise. We are so far behind the times. We waste so much money, our offices are like being back in the 1970s, no A/C no fans, no canteen, clapped out vans with no A/C . DPD have vans with A/C and all this rubbish about we are not in the van long enough is false. A decent A/C unit in a vehicle works ice cold within seconds upon starting the engine.

I was told years ago the job will be family friendly now. What a laugh that is. I don’t spend any money because I’m too knackered after work to go out. Family friendly? They go out and leave me unconscious on the sofa. The worse thing that happened was working in pairs. You can never make two loops the same in time to deliver and you can never get two people to be the same speed. One person will always end up waiting for the other. It’s worked fine for 550 years until this stupid new way of working. We use to have managers who knew the job and had done the job for years. Now you can’t ask them anything because they don’t know.
Never had cut offs. I’d never heard the word. We are on the verge of being history and to be quite honest lots of us really dont care anymore. The dressing room has been lost.

Brilliantly put and i hugely identify with the being knackered after work thing. Another post i wish Simon et al would read and properly digest how some and probably many of his “team” feel.

[mjd24]

We are on the verge of being history and to be quite honest lots of us really dont care anymore. The dressing room has been lost.

Im slowly getting to that stage myself. Never thought I would - after all I ‘only’ have 8 years to go but I’m worn out by it all.

The 6am to 11am Mon to Fri job practically on my doorstep for just £40 a week less than my current wage is looking more appealing by the day.

Do you mind me asking what job that is? Sounds perfect!

[Woody Guthrie]

I think morale has been driven so low by the constant gaslighting, criticism and negative briefing that most of us now don't give much of a f**k whether the company dies or not.

That's a sad legacy for the current board to leave behind.

[mjd24]

“Your average postie used to have a big bag full and he doesn’t any more''


Thats true. We now have 8 big bags full.

We now regularly cant fit everything in our van.

[richietns]

We are on the verge of being history and to be quite honest lots of us really dont care anymore. The dressing room has been lost.

Im slowly getting to that stage myself. Never thought I would - after all I ‘only’ have 8 years to go but I’m worn out by it all.

The 6am to 11am Mon to Fri job practically on my doorstep for just £40 a week less than my current wage is looking more appealing by the day.

Do you mind me asking what job that is? Sounds perfect!

So does this job on paper until you do it.

[HTPostman]

We are on the verge of being history and to be quite honest lots of us really dont care anymore. The dressing room has been lost.

Im slowly getting to that stage myself. Never thought I would - after all I ‘only’ have 8 years to go but I’m worn out by it all.

The 6am to 11am Mon to Fri job practically on my doorstep for just £40 a week less than my current wage is looking more appealing by the day.

Do you mind me asking what job that is? Sounds perfect!

Cleaning job. A lot of people would turn their nose up at it but from talking to a few already working there it really is stress free. Not pressured to do OT (there isn’t any!), not given an unrealistic workload, just the occasional spot check so you’re not monitored everywhere. No idiots going in early and cleaning extra rooms in their own time. They aren’t going home knackered either, a lot of them have the energy to then work an afternoon job.

Note: a reminder however I’m on a 4 day week at RM so take home pay for the potential new job is £255 a week, possibly not enough for a lot of people which is understandable.

[norris9]

So when are we expecting some sort of compromise from Royal Mail? Is there an update due anytime soon? Are talks ongoing in terms of changes?

or is that it now?, they want ALL the changes they've proposed to come in for an extra 1.5% pay and they are not moving on this, hence why we will be receiving a ballot paper in relation to changes? or are talks ongoing?

[priority102]

There'll probably be an announcement sometime soon by the CWU that RM have requested showdown confidential talks behind closed doors......like they did following Rico's departure and prior to the last new agreement...and the CWU will have no alternative but to go along with it.......AGAIN.

This will go on for a few weeks....with a big new agreement to be announced.......AGAIN. More terms and conditions eroded in exchange for a little more pay.....AGAIN.

The new agreement will be named "GRICA"...Going Round In Circles Again.

[Woody Guthrie]

There won't be any talks until both sides see how strong the strike mandate is.

That's what defines your position going into talks, how big a stick you bring to the fight.

[norris9]

There won't be any talks until both sides see how strong the strike mandate is.

That's what defines your position going into talks, how big a stick you bring to the fight.

Seems stupid.

Of course we aren't happy with just 2% as a pay rise.

and...

Of course we aren't happy with the ridiculous changes which mean we work harder for less money, not just in real terms, but we will be earning less than our current monthly pay as I've heard they want to remove paid breaks.

So of course we are going to strike over both issues.

[Woody Guthrie]

Seems stupid.

It's the size of the yes vote that's important.
The business is hoping to see any kind of sign that support for IA isn't rock solid.

A low turnout or a less than impressive majority would be seen as a sign of weakness encouraging Royal Mail to go in harder right from the start.

[2yearpostie]

Seems stupid.

It's the size of the yes vote that's important.
The business is hoping to see any kind of sign that support for IA isn't rock solid.

A low turnout or a less than impressive majority would be seen as a sign of weakness encouraging Royal Mail to go in harder right from the start.

Well going on the CWU facebook page it seems a good percentage of members aint had a ballot paper yet, (RM holding them back?) so a good turn out looks uncertain.

[Martin Walsh]

Expecting a massive yes vote with a record turn out on Tuesday.

There have been virtually talks due to Royal Mail first taking executive action on pay and than on the 346 parcel hub strategy.

We spent 3 days in separate rooms two weeks ago. Since then talks have paused and you have seen a lot of sabre rattling from the Chair Keith Williams and Simon Thompson ahead of next weeks Share holders meeting. There was never a chance that anything would move forward until after the AGM and our ballot result on Tuesday.

Don’t expect any strike dates , as we will serve notice of our intention to allow for constructive talks whilst balloting our members for industrial action on Royal Mail’s breaches to the Pathway to Change Agreement especially as they have already taken executive action and could do on their other proposals.

Remember you cannot take strike action to fight Royal Mails executive action on change by taking industrial action on pay.

Hence why the need to have both ballots in our locker. The timing works for us as well as we are stronger taking action from September onwards then in August.

[aiden01]

Expecting a massive yes vote with a record turn out on Tuesday.

There have been virtually talks due to Royal Mail first taking executive action on pay and than on the 346 parcel hub strategy.

We spent 3 days in separate rooms two weeks ago. Since then talks have paused and you have seen a lot of sabre rattling from the Chair Keith Williams and Simon Thompson ahead of next weeks Share holders meeting. There was never a chance that anything would move forward until after the AGM and our ballot result on Tuesday.

Don’t expect any strike dates , as we will serve notice of our intention to allow for constructive talks whilst balloting our members for industrial action on Royal Mail’s breaches to the Pathway to Change Agreement especially as they have already taken executive action and could do on their other proposals.

Remember you cannot take strike action to fight Royal Mails executive action on change by taking industrial action on pay.

Hence why the need to have both ballots in our locker. The timing works for us as well as we are stronger taking action from September onwards then in August.

So why have it on ballot paper ( 2nd of august as possible 1st strike day)

[Cedar_Room]

Expecting a massive yes vote with a record turn out on Tuesday.

There have been virtually talks due to Royal Mail first taking executive action on pay and than on the 346 parcel hub strategy.

We spent 3 days in separate rooms two weeks ago. Since then talks have paused and you have seen a lot of sabre rattling from the Chair Keith Williams and Simon Thompson ahead of next weeks Share holders meeting. There was never a chance that anything would move forward until after the AGM and our ballot result on Tuesday.

Don’t expect any strike dates , as we will serve notice of our intention to allow for constructive talks whilst balloting our members for industrial action on Royal Mail’s breaches to the Pathway to Change Agreement especially as they have already taken executive action and could do on their other proposals.

Remember you cannot take strike action to fight Royal Mails executive action on change by taking industrial action on pay.

Hence why the need to have both ballots in our locker. The timing works for us as well as we are stronger taking action from September onwards then in August.

So why have it on ballot paper ( 2nd of august as possible 1st strike day)

I presume that is the earliest date that the CWU could call the strike?