CWU/RM Agreement 2026 FAQ's

[postmanplod2026]

there goes walk ownership now that pretty much everyone is now a dogsbody with no set walk, constantly flung around 2 or 3 or 4 bits of frames between u and ur workmates, if they think they have hit the roof with people leaving in the last few years in their droves with walk ownership, just wait till this kicks in, be more than a revolving door, royal mail be hiring agency workers on tap to replace years of experience, hard to believe not many will actually have a set walk now, they will have 3 and 1/2, sad days,jobs conditions gone, chaos everyday whos doing what today, usual arguments whos getting what boxes, collections,specials half that frame, no wonder staff decide to call it a day

[Joe2783]

The union claiming in these FAQ’s that only 988 out of 28,000 new entrants are doing overtime is just complete utter rubbish
And if it is that small of a number they are claiming, what’s the need to remove the overtime rate

I’m looking at being £200 down a month now, I was so hopeful with this agreement I would be getting closer to a legacy wage, but am now facing a pay cut. How can a union support an agreement where members are earning less than they were before

[Wullie10]

It won't work because duties will be supported by
firms, rural and HCTs ( mainly the older posties ) who will run round fast as possible to help out .
Well thats never going to happen. Its always been every man for themselves. Who ever volunteered for more work ?

[Pidleypoo]

How is someone in on a hct duty meant to help ? It would mean someone would had to pick them up from their own round and take them to wherever help is needed wasting absolutely loads of time whilst not doing all of their own duty

[tramssirhc]

The CWU's position is this is the best they could get. In other words if you don't make it work its your own fault. Not the lazy bag avoiding trade union officials who couldn't represent their own image in a mirror.

[postslippete]

So it starts with the CWU selling the deal.....call rates, capacity, revised duties, balanced workload, support structures

The core structural weakness is the "4 into 3". Just because there are fewer letters doesn't mean fewer parcels which obviously take longer to deliver. And perfect models don't fit the reality of staff sickness, new starters, vehicle issues and parcel spikes. Paired duties are inefficient and they have left it up to each office to decide how to absorb the 4th duty. A strong system shouldn't require local patching.

Also, these "safeguards" may be strong on paper but weak later. Its not difficult to ensure that an office is fully resourced with extra resources just so that a rep can sign things off and then afterwards these reserves disappear, the temporary overtime gets removed and the pressure returns again. This is what will happen because it's happened every time our office has had a revision.........and re-pick.

If I was a new starter I wouldn't be happy that equalisation is incomplete and once again delayed, so I expect that their resentment will likely continue. I've seen many of them sort of working to rule, doing the minimum possible and who can blame them! There is no clear binding roadmap for them being on equal pay with paid breaks and supplements to us. And as the business has historically relied on overtime to get the work done, are they going to step up and do it if they have cut their premium?

I'm not convinced that what RM are doing will save as much they think and the clue is this "If the office still cannot clear workload, extra hours and duties can be put in". That already implies that the model may need extra staff just to function and if extra duties and extra hours are needed then where are the real savings?? In the short term there obviously will confusion, workload disputes, delayed clearances and overtime going through the roof as each office looks at "unofficial" local workarounds. But I still think there will be "hidden costs" of the churn, of sick absence, of morale dropping as staff only work their hours or others working hours over which means that the business either needs to recruit more staff or expect more customer complaints, more loss contracts and QoS being irrecoverably damaged. There won't be any compulsory redundancies in offices that are already short staffed.

And I'm intrigued, why are there two separate votes?? One for operational agreement and one on the new entrant pay? Could that create divided interests between the groups?

[derekm]

So what happens if the operational vote comes back no ?? Is executive action then brought in.

[Perseus]

So what happens if the operational vote comes back no ?? Is executive action then brought in.

It’s a non binding consultative vote, probably just to gauge the feeling. If/when it gets voted out then they will offer a lump sum.
I’ve yet to read anything that says it will only be brought in if we vote yes to it.
Or as you say executive action.

[claretandblue]

If it's 8 loops each, why not make it paired, like it is now, no need for 4 into 3, saves having singleton vans.

[Perseus]

It’s abundantly clear that any version of ODM only works when there is 1 person and 1 duty. This criss crossing each other doing loops here there and everywhere is doomed to fail.
Each person 3 hours worth of all letters and parcels on side A of a frame then 2 hours of parcels and 1C on side B.
Switch over the next day.
It’s not hard. It’s how offices have been doing it for years now.

[Saturn1]

Vote no, how this could be deemed viable is beyond belief.

More work, same pay, no incentive.

[Mr Rush]

It’s not hard. It’s how offices have been doing it for years now.

Indeed. But apparently that's not enough savings.

It's already a shitshow handling election material at the moment. I cannot imagine playing musical chairs with 3 into 4 and you take two loops off that and he does three over there and singleton vans ride to the rescue and take a loop. It's barely worth it now for 6p. When the payments were agreed twenty plus years ago you'd earn a Freddo every second leaflet!

[Perseus]

I’m also extremely intrigued about how rural, business and singleton duties were originally deemed to be not be able to help in the ODM but now they are being touted as the key to DM26 working.
It stinks.

Maybe we are finally seeing the deployment of 'expanding the role of postal workers'

Call it, Rurals to the Rescue* - The postie emergency service.

*may not arrive.

[clashcityrocker]

It's already a shitshow handling election material at the moment.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/r ... 0f71&ei=43

Seems easy enough?

[ted_e_bear]

I’m also extremely intrigued about how rural, business and singleton duties were originally deemed to be not be able to help in the ODM but now they are being touted as the key to DM26 working.
It stinks.

Maybe we are finally seeing the deployment of 'expanding the role of postal workers'

Call it, Rurals to the Rescue* - The postie emergency service.

*may not arrive.

Let's have a theme tune, I suggest....

Rob the rural can we fix it - Rob the rural can we f**k