Why London and others are still striking !!

[Martin Walsh]

A few comments have been posted on here recently asking why London and others are still striking when a national ballot is due within two weeks.

Hopefully the following will explain why we cannot take a backward step and certainly cannot wait until the end of September for National Action.

The current position in London is this.

We now have over 80 offices out of 140 where management have either taken executive action or have notified us of their intent to take action.

These range from whole scale revisons to the normal 5% savings within an office.

EC deliveries was the first office in London who had executive action introduced , they have a further revision planned for october based on best pratice and last week all their night duties which are currently 4 night weeks were told that they will be reverted to 5 day weeks from later this month , meaning indivduals will have to work an extra 46 nights per year and lose money from overtime up to £6000 per year. Intresting enough a number of night duties decided not to support the strike last week and now they have all said that they will be on strike on Wednesday. Another own goal by Royal Mail.

We have Royal Mail stating that they will be removing 4 day weeks every where regardless of the fact they were only agreed by Royal Mail under phase 2 and signed off. Royal Mail will off course not give back the savings offices made as a result of cutting extra duties to fund 4 day weeks. Instead they expect staff to complete deliveries in 8 hours which they previously had 10 hours to complete.

in addition all collection staff are going to be instructed to only perform one collection per day apart from high streeets and the rest of their duties will be used to plug the gaps in delivery offices as a result of the failed revisons. In North West London last week the DSM who planned the revsions was removed from his post due to the fact that the imposed revisons are not working. However true to form bullying management are intent on removing people from pay if they cannot complete their deliveries.

At Wimbledon on Friday 4 postal workers were taken off pay and some more today as a result of them refusing to be trained to drive the car derived vans. Management said to staff unless you accept to drive these vans you will have to move offices , plus walks will be selected for car derived vans regardless of whether it is currently your walk or not.

In mail centres we have work being dirverted out on non strike days around the country , all overtime being scapped and with revisons which will mean that members in processing will be complusory transfered.

Plus in Network 2009 we have the planned executive action on September 7th which will have massive implications for all functions not just network. Managment have allocated duties out of a hat and have left senior people without jobs.

This is in addition to outdoor absorbtion and the bullying managment which is currently operating in Royal Mail.

On top of all this we now have a London region management best pratice sheet for which Royal Mail want implemented in all delivery offices across London but in the end across the UK.

It is a standard 8 hour 5 day week with start times 0600 -1400 Monday to Saturday which will mean the lost of shift payments , in addition it is a 4 hour delivery span without replinishment time and the indoor element is based on the indoor workload tool (100BSi)

In an ideal situration London Branch`s would love to wait for the national ballot but sadly strikes are not ideal siturations and if we took a pause on action then Royal Mail will simply implement the revisons quicker and bully more people.

It is a fact that come September the traffic picks up and very senior managment have indicated that it will bite much more then plus if we are all honest unless the executive action is removed on Network 2009 in September then the chances of this dispute staying legal is slim .

Members who have taken strike action in all parts of the UK should be proud of themselves for supporting themselves and the CWU. I realise in any dispute there are going to be criticisms that is life and us in the union are used to it. Plus when you have been out seven times you will undoubltly see a small drift but in all honesty that has not been the case in this dispute. Yes we have one or two problems offices, not bad out of 140 .

Up the road if you feel so pissed off with the CWU why dont you attend your Branch`s emergency meeting on Wednesday to question the dispute , and if you have 3 who have gone in then email me and we can set up a meeting with your members.

However it is incorrect to say the strike is not hurting Royal Mail and you really should not believe anything you hear at WTL. Fact is that everytime Royal Mail send a diversion around the country they have to pay that mail centre or RDC to perform that work. Every time a manager gets bought into assist the strike Royal Mail have to pay for the cost including hotels and transport. Quality is down , collections have been cancelled. mail centres in particluar East London are failing on a dialy basis. the percentage of sick leave for managers has dramatically increased plus Royal Mail have had to put on hold their most important new product Track Plus. We have also seen deliveries cut off and both 1st and 2nd class quality is down as well as door to door.

So as we move towards September we have taken everything that Royal Mail can throw at us and are still punching back and still hurting. However we not underestimate the scarfice our members are making but we are content with the knowledge that our cause is right and that our only option is to contiue to fight.

We know that any settlement will not only have to settle the future but also settle the issue where management have taken executive action. In that we are not stating every job has to be returned but there must be solutions for four day weeks , payment for change , solutions for nightworkers , a remedy for failed revisions , an joint IR/ER review into the bullying climate and industrail relations.

I hope this helps explain to all why we must contiue the strikes , anything else will simply allow Royal Mail to continue their attacks without resistance and will be a betrayal to those offices who have been strong up to now.

[pizz_flap]

A few comments have been posted on here recently asking why London and others are still striking when a national ballot is due within two weeks.

Hopefully the following will explain why we cannot take a backward step and certainly cannot wait until the end of September for National Action.

The current position in London is this.

We now have over 80 offices out of 140 where management have either taken strike action or have notified us of their intent to take action.

These range from whole scale revisons to the normal 5% savings within an office.

EC deliveries was the first office in London who had executive action introduced , they have a further revision planned for october based on best pratice and last week all their night duties which are currently 4 night weeks were told that they will be reverted to 5 day weeks from later this month , meaning indivduals will have to work an extra 46 nights per year and lose money from overtime up to £6000 per year. Intresting enough a number of night duties decided not to support the strike last week and now they have all said that they will be on strike on Wednesday. Another own goal by Royal Mail.

We have Royal Mail stating that they will be removing 4 day weeks every where regardless of the fact they were only agreed by Royal Mail under phase 2 and signed off. Royal Mail will off course not give back the savings offices made as a result of cutting extra duties to fund 4 day weeks. Instead they expect staff to complete deliveries in 8 hours which they previously had 10 hours to complete.

in addition all collection staff are going to be instructed to only perform one collection per day apart from high streeets and the rest of their duties will be used to plug the gaps in delivery offices as a result of the failed revisons. In North West London last week the DSM who planned the revsions was removed from his post due to the fact that the imposed revisons are not working. However true to form bullying management are intent on removing people from pay if they cannot complete their deliveries.

At Wimbledon on Friday 4 postal workers were taken off pay and some more today as a result of them refusing to be trained to drive the car derived vans. Management said to staff unless you accept to drive these vans you will have to move offices , plus walks will be selected for car derived vans regardless of whether it is currently your walk or not.

In mail centres we have work being dirverted out on non strike days around the country , all overtime being scapped and with revisons which will mean that members in processing will be complusory transfered.

Plus in Network 2009 we have the planned executive action on September 7th which will have massive implications for all functions not just network. Managment have allocated duties out of a hat and have left senior people without jobs.

This is in addition to outdoor absorbtion and the bullying managment which is currently operating in Royal Mail.

On top of all this we now have a London region management best pratice sheet for which Royal Mail want implemented in all delivery offices across London but in the end across the UK.

It is a standard 8 hour 5 day week with start times 0600 -1400 Monday to Saturday which will mean the lost of shift payments , in addition it is a 4 hour delivery span without replinishment time and the indoor element is based on the indoor workload tool (100BSi)

In an ideal situration London Branch`s would love to wait for the national ballot but sadly strikes are not ideal siturations and if we took a pause on action then Royal Mail will simply implement the revisons quicker and bully more people.

It is a fact that come September the traffic picks up and very senior managment have indicated that it will bite much more then plus if we are all honest unless the executive action is removed on Network 2009 in September then the chances of this dispute staying legal is slim .

Members who have taken strike action in all parts of the UK should be proud of themselves for supporting themselves and the CWU. I realise in any dispute there are going to be criticisms that is life and us in the union are used to it. Plus when you have been out seven times you will undoubltly see a small drift but in all honesty that has not been the case in this dispute. Yes we have one or two problems offices, not bad out of 140 .

Up the road if you feel so pissed off with the CWU why dont you attend your Branch`s emergency meeting on Wednesday to question the dispute , and if you have 3 who have gone in then email me and we can set up a meeting with your members.

However it is incorrect to say the strike is not hurting Royal Mail and you really should not believe anything you hear at WTL. Fact is that everytime Royal Mail send a diversion around the country they have to pay that mail centre or RDC to perform that work. Every time a manager gets bought into assist the strike Royal Mail have to pay for the cost including hotels and transport. Quality is down , collections have been cancelled. mail centres in particluar East London are failing on a dialy basis. the percentage of sick leave for managers has dramatically increased plus Royal Mail have had to put on hold their most important new product Track Plus. We have also seen deliveries cut off and both 1st and 2nd class quality is down as well as door to door.

So as we move towards September we have taken everything that Royal Mail can throw at us and are still punching back and still hurting. However we not underestimate the scarfice our members are making but we are content with the knowledge that our cause is right and that our only option is to contiue to fight.

We know that any settlement will not only have to settle the future but also settle the issue where management have taken executive action. In that we are not stating every job has to be returned but there must be solutions for four day weeks , payment for change , solutions for nightworkers , a remedy for failed revisions , an joint IR/ER review into the bullying climate and industrail relations.

I hope this helps explain to all why we must contiue the strikes , anything else will simply allow Royal Mail to continue their attacks without resistance and will be a betrayal to those offices who have been strong up to now.

[upmyroad]

I think whats pissing people off dingo is that we strike while the rest work on as usual. Not only are we now a weeks pay short the workload is now being spread over 5 days instead of 6 making the walks that much heavier. People like me are more then willing to support the strike we know why we're striking and what it is we're fighting for.
What we don't like is this union is the reason we're in this mess, how can anyone trust a union that can't even sort out a national ballot what chance do we have of the union getting us a fair deal on the way forward when it's the union that landed us in the sh*t. we're in.

[pinstripe]

how can anyone trust a union that can't even sort out a national ballot what chance do we have of the union getting us a fair deal on the way forward when it's the union that landed us in the sh*t. we're in."

I agree that the Union Executive let us down last time, but we must face it, WE VOTED TO ACCEPT IT.
This time round anyone who just accepts what they are told to tick on the ballot paper is a fool. We each have a vote and should use it, but please think about the consequences about how you decide to vote, either for or against.

[Phantom]

The majority of postmen/women don't know what RM are trying to do, head in sand situation thats why we had a YES vote to go back to work in 2007. Local level CWU reps were telling staff to vote NO while HQ said vote YES and if people don't have a clear understanding about whats going on then they are voting blind like fools. Knowledge is power!

[dubdaz]

Thanks dingo for a very informative post,will make sure everyone knows in my office exactly whats coming.At the moment we're doing phase 3 very peace meal,but most of them still wont take their breaks .

[dvbuk55]

"plus Royal Mail have had to put on hold their most important new product Track Plus."

Well I don't want to be the harbinger of doom but Track Plus is up and running - we've been getting signatures for Track Plus for a few weeks - not that we were told, nor were the managers informed, all that happened was a dot appeared on the tracked number on the PDA and when the item was tracked at the delivery point it came up as requiring a signature - it may not be publicised but it is up and running.

I have to say that there doesn't appear to be any disruption to the flow of mail in the North, everything seems to be arriving as usual. Mind not that I know a helluva lot about the movement of mail and maybe it's normal because nothing is normally done through the south.

[poopongjockmcploop]

"Plus in Network 2009 we have the planned executive action on September 7th which will have massive implications for all functions not just network. Managment have allocated duties out of a hat and have left senior people without jobs."

This will have been implemented by the final outcome of the ballot and will have been in for a couple of weeks already. The union would have known about this massive wholesale change so why have a national ballot for action which will happen once the "horse has bolted"?

All the Weekend SA will have gone, new duties on everyone so we'll go through another pain barrier to get it back to the way it was????

[pizz_flap]

how can anyone trust a union that can't even sort out a national ballot what chance do we have of the union getting us a fair deal on the way forward when it's the union that landed us in the sh*t. we're in."

I agree that the Union Executive let us down last time, but we must face it, WE VOTED TO ACCEPT IT.
This time round anyone who just accepts what they are told to tick on the ballot paper is a fool. We each have a vote and should use it, but please think about the consequences about how you decide to vote, either for or against.

Sorry but I DID READ the paperwork last time and Voted NO. But only two of us at our gaff did it. Most said the CWU reccomends a YES vote so thats what we are doing. I asked some of them "If CWU Said jump over a cliff would you do it?" They still voted YES. Pissed me right off as it took 5 mins to read the damm paperwork. I heard 40000 did not even bother to ticka box and put it in a pre paid envelope so u reap what you sow.

Maybe this time postie's will READ ALL PAPERWORK BEFORE SIGNING ANYTHING AND MAKING OWN MIND UP and we will WIN

VOITE YES and stop the rot

My FUTURE predictions are: Twice yearly aprassials
Monthly Pay
Non dedicated rounds
More FREE work

IF WE LET THEM DO IT

Vote YES in Sep and phuqem!!! :cfo :cfo :cfo :cfo

[norfolk n chance]

My FUTURE predictions are: Twice yearly aprassials
Monthly Pay
Non dedicated rounds
More FREE work

IF WE LET THEM DO IT

Vote YES in Sep and phuqem!!! :cfo :cfo :cfo :cfo

Couple more predictions from me :
sick pay stopped
pay cut to save money
and seniority out the window

WE HAVE TO VOTE YES

[baldrick]

BBC London Evening News has just done a piece about the London postal strikes.
It quoted the London Chamber of Commerce as saying that the strikes are
affecting London businesses more than Swine Flu. It's not online yet, but I'll
put link on here when it is.
This is a piece they did two weeks ago:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8205844.stm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[pizz_flap]

My FUTURE predictions are: Twice yearly aprassials
Monthly Pay
Non dedicated rounds
More FREE work

IF WE LET THEM DO IT

Vote YES in Sep and phuqem!!! :cfo :cfo :cfo :cfo

Couple more predictions from me :
sick pay stopped
pay cut to save money
and seniority out the window

WE HAVE TO VOTE YES

Yep
And no posties over 40 cos they wont be able to cope with the workload. Knees gone, backs gone, cant go fast enough etc. Thats why so many now work in Tescos (pile em high and pay em cheap) on the checkout round here . All those skilled men now working a bloddy till!!! Disgrace.

The Unions years ago got us all these perks now they are all slowly being taken back since the anti union laws came in. The rich get richer and we starve. I have never been so worse off.

Why has La BORE never recinded those laws?

Working class party my arris. Look at old Tony last week on his mates yatchet in the med somewhere.
Whats Alan Johnson the ex postie gonna do for us all?

Still never mind Prince Arry got his wings this week. Amazing how you get that as a part timer inbetween night clubs.


READ THE PAPERWORK AND MAKE YOUR OWN MIND UP THIS TIME AND VOTE YES or stop whinging

Grumpy old man signing out!

[baldrick]

BBC London News item today is now online:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8205844.stm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The pickets are outside Mount Pleasant. The guy in the red polo shirt is our Branch Secretary.