REPORT ON NATIONAL BRIEFING IN LIVERPOOL

[Woody Guthrie]

REPORT ON NATIONAL BRIEFING IN LIVERPOOL

It's a long read.
Make yourself a cuppa and settle in...

Jane Loftus opened the briefing today explaining the details of the meeting and saying this was the final one of the 3 that were to be held to discuss situation with RMG.

She stressed that we as a Union are in a serious situation with RMG on pay and ultimately, we as members may need to decide our own destiny in terms of action we may need to take.

Jane went onto say that the situation is difficult, and we have a CEO who is trying to muddy the water when he’s attempting to persuade us with their agenda; an agenda where lots of strings would be part of any pay deal.

What we need to recognise is that all workers in all workplaces are in a fight for pay and we are the forefront for all.

We shouldn’t be held accountable and pay the price for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jane then introduced Terry Pullinger (DGS-P).

Terry thanked all for attending & explaining that although there were RMG observers in the meeting no-one should curtail their disappointment and their outrage at what the business are trying to pull in terms of the pay deal.

We must remember that we can’t allow them to set the agenda. The deal we want is a pay only no strings deal. This is what you and the members need to remember when management speak to you in the workplace.

Even today, the 2% deal with no strings is a derisive offer and nowhere near enough to what we want, and you deserve. It may be a step from the 3.5% with all the strings but the deal is still every much unacceptable.

The Pathway to Change Agreement is there to deal with the strings they want to discuss in the pay deal and that’s where they’ll stay.

All have been fantastic in holding conversations in the units and the gate meeting pics being sent are a credit to all of you.

In terms of where we are as negotiators and PEC, we have held discussions amongst ourselves and are furious that the talks have festered since writing to the business in February to raise the matter of the pay deal.

What we want is a pay deal that helps us deal with the cost-of-living crisis and gives our members what they need to survive today.

We are honouring the agreement and it’s a pity we can’t say the same for them. RMG have been and are cynical in their approach to the talks.

As a union we have always defended this great public service and more so in the past 10 years since privatisation.

We again must prepare ourselves and do everything we can for what lies ahead.

We know what’s going on and what’s went before us previously. In the backend of 2020, they projected losses of £600million.

The dynamics changed due to the pandemic as well as the Pathway to Change Agreement.

Online sales, vaccination letters and test kit delivery & collection turned things around, and we delivered a massive profit, £758million profits meaning a massive turnaround in fortunes.

We proved we were the only company out there that could get to every address and did the country and purse proud.

The Pathway to Change Agreement was there for all to see.

Now as we come out of the constraint of the pandemic, we are back to a place where the former CEO’s plan has been dusted off and thrown back on the table.

The agreement, the mutual interest agreement seems to be not fit for purpose now in their eyes. They need to satisfy the greed of the shareholders and that’s clear for all to see. They’re walking away from an agreement that deals with the change needed to rebuild this great public service and move it forward for all to the see success.

Even with all we did during the pandemic, we honoured the PTC & deployed revisions in all functions & business units.

We deployed over 1200 DO revisions, the best before that was 130.

Was it easy? Of course not, be we did it. We honoured and dealt with what the agreement said.

We are people of honour.

We delivered the 50% automation target.

In PFWW, the QoS was through the floor. We argued the tools management wanted to use were hindering what needed to be done. We turned the fortunes of that business unit around and their figures, even during the pandemic period was brilliant.

This is what a pragmatic and progressive union delivers. We don’t walk away when the going’s tough. We get our heads together and we find solutions.

To date in 2021 we had 48 Joint Statements & by May this year a further 37 have been signed off.

All this and the best they can come up with is a 3.5% derisory offer. Shameful.

So, we’re here today time discuss what’s happening and to be honest I hope all in the room are as angry as we are.

What we want you to do is get back into the workplace and make sure we deliver a massive YES vote which backs the negotiators and the PEC so we can deliver a deal, a proper deal that benefits all of you.

Let’s not kid ourselves, we are under attack as never seen before & this harps back to days of a previous CEO.

We will deliver on that you can depend on that, but we can only deliver if you maximise the turnout and the YES vote.

We will win this because if we’re in position where it looks like they’re winning, well better we smash it to bits than let them hand it all over to the shareholders.

Mark Baulch. Mark opened by saying it was a pleasure to see all face to face but had hoped for better circumstances for our first National Briefing in a long time.

What you heard from Terry & what you’ll hear from all the officers has a common theme where RMG has or is attempting to put an unacceptable offer on the table in hope you’ll accept it because of the cost-of-living crisis.

What we have achieved in the past 2 years is remarkable. Excuse the pun but delivery has delivered.

What we demonstrated was we are part of fabric in society and our customers seen us and still do as key workers.

The RMG brand has been re-established in society and it’s down to us and what we did. We delivered unprecedent volumes during the pandemic and when shops closed and customers moved to online, we were there to pick up the orders and get them delivered.

The vaccine letters, the test kits, all of it we got the job done & on top of this delivered massive change in DO’s.

We took on the Sunday work and we proved that the work was there & our members would deliver it if the terms could be agreed. We had the foresight of 7-day delivery because of the changing landscape in shopping.

We recognised where the growth market was, and we went after it.

1286 revisions deployed with 17 remaining.

Outstanding.

Even during the height of the pandemic, we signed up to innovations to help grow the business.

Customer Collect, Safeplace, Image Capture. We delivered all of this.

What where the comments of senior managers regarding delivery?

“Delivery are the problem child of the business”.

We are seeing the reality of 10 years in privatisation with shareholders lust & greed for dividends at the forefront of what RMG wants.

Even in the presentations given to the PEC, the mantra is Shareholders come first.

They’ve made the decision & the choice of putting shareholders before their workers, our members.

They are well aware we’re in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis and to come to the table with a derisory offer is nothing short of contemptible.

They want to change or pushback the network citing their green agenda.

Rubbish.

What they want to do is push the Network back because of the cost savings it’ll give up.

Airmail out of the sky and put more traffic (mail) onto roads & rail.

Delaying the network could and would have massive implications on delivery where basically all AM traffic will be pushers back to possibly a PM model. Best case scenario could mean a later start time in some units of up to 3 hours.

The delivery director (present but that may change) wants 346 Hubs for parcel delivery. He basically wants parcels (DPR’s & LAT traffic) delivered from these sites attacking core duties and workload. We’ve reigned him back on this, but you can see their mindset.

They want to advance the flightpath on revision activity.

The Above & Beyond “bonus” scheme is a one-off payment for continuous improvement. We have an agreement on productivity but it’s still not enough for the shareholders and the board.

They now claim the 304 “failed” revisions are down to us.

They’re not failed revisions, they’re revisions where investment is required.

They seem to believe there’s a massive amount of “ghost hours” in many units, people not working their contractual hours. This leads to the annualised hours debate where when the traffics low, you go home and get paid your contractual hours but when it’s above you complete with no OT reducing their costs. Total flexibility!!!!

They want the Sunday premium rate removed and all Sunday work to be seen as core and performed at a flat, standard rate.

We are willing to discuss innovative duties and duty patterns but not at a time when we’re in dispute over a pay only no strings matter.

They want to drive through a two-tier workplace initiative and reduce the T&Cs of the new starts than come into the business in the future.

All this for pittance of an offer, 3.5%.

This is insulting at best, outrageous at worst.

They are ridiculous in their strategy thinking, they must look at the long-term and the big picture.

The members are feeling the effects of the cost-of-living crisis and the business is insulting them with such poor treatment.

The CEO has already stated that he feels that the business is normalising itself coming out of the pandemic.

Clearly not seeing the big picture and recognising what the members are having to deal with in their everyday life both in and out if the workplace.

We appreciated the clapping hands of the public for key workers and the recognition the public has for us and what we did during the height of the pandemic but what we really need is recognition in the form of a decent inflation-based pay rise.

Davie Robertson then addressed the forum.

All have sent the the volume of comms being sent out by the officers and all say the same, we are upset, unhappy and extremely disappointed by the behaviour of RMG.

It’s now clear to see that the company is being run from a standpoint of external commercialisation and are looking for the fast buck.

Even when we engaged with RMG negotiating team, they had no remit on how to proceed in the negotiations on pay. They awaited the instruction of the board and basically and are no more than puppets.

The board seemed to be enthused by the behaviours involved by the board of P&O and their horrendous actions.

We delivered their biggest ever profit this year and the presentation given to us by RMG projected a future of doom and gloom.

We have done no more than ask for a pay rise without any strings attached.

We attended work during the height of the pandemic, we delivered as best we could under the strain of tremendous volume and high sick absence.

We put the customer before our own health concerns and that of our families.

This is what we did.

Shops closed, businesses closed but we continued to deliver where others couldn’t or wouldn’t. We performed and carried out the work magnificently.

They should recognise this and do the right thing, giving the pay rise you all deserve.

Initially the offer was 0%. That’s what they put on the table.

The add-on’s, the 2% and increase came later, and this was to surrender our hard fought for terms and conditions.

For a poultry sum of around £8 they wanted to attack T&C’s, allowances, and supplements.

They said we’ll buy out the allowances, but this is basically offering a self funding pay deal.

Annualised hours, total flexibility including Sunday working as compulsory at a flat pay rate.

They would monitor this using PDA OA’s.

No work sent home, bank hours. Lots of work, work til you’re finished no matter the time and no additional payment in the form of OT.

An absolute assault own T&Cs fought for over many, many decades.

Rip up National Agreements including the right to guaranteed earnings.

They want to pull up the ladder on the next generation and with what’s left, it’ll become legacy payments and those that follow will have nothing. All that’s been won over many years would be lost.

A race to the bottom.

On PFWW, initially not part of the deal. We were told the deal we would get in PF would be totally different.

A day later, the same deal appeared on our table. Rid PF of SA and have total flexibility, rid the function of guaranteed earnings, and drive a future agenda of only employing owner drivers.

This is the biggest attack on the function we’ve ever seen.

The push on the green agenda is a white elephant. It’s nothing more than pushing back the early work, to shrink the window of opportunity on delivery and push everything back.

This has been their agenda for many, many years.

At a time where we could have done no more in securing work and profit for the business, it’s outrageous we’re having to defend T&Cs and our National Agreements.

The behaviour of the business is an indicator that they plan a full attack on the CWU.

We recognise there may be issues we need to address but we’ll address them in talks using the relevant agreement, the PTC.

We only want and we deserve a no strings pay deal.

We’re not up for negotiating the surrendering of anything we have had to fight for.

We know your doing the work & you’re pulling out all the stops but when the ballot is announced, the papers are delivered to our members home address, we must make sure they back us with a massive YES vote and we must make sure all fill the ballot papers in. We can’t wait for others to do the work; we all have to get it done.

Carl Maden was then introduced. He thanked all for the work that’s already been done and wants all to recognise there’s still a massive amount to be done.

It is difficult not to repeat all that’s already been said but their plan is clearly to divide and conquer.

Their plan was to keep fleet & engineers out of the pay talks.

We recognise that both are separate pay talks normally, but we have recently included a he engineers in all OPG pay talks.

Even though they may be separate bargaining functions we have informed the business that all employed by RML are part of our dispute.

This has been part of both The 4 Pillar Agreement & the PTC Agreement.

They raised the issues of attendance and sick pay and have stated that people only go sick because we pay them when they’re off.

They want to remove the 6 months full pay & 6 months half pay over the 4-year reference period and replace it with straight SSP.

The CEO had the audacity to hold a poll on Workplace on cutting sick pay. They removed it from Workplace extremely quickly once we found out and addressed the matter.

I wrote a 7-page letter to the business outlining many reasons for sick pay.

Culture in the workplace is at an all time low.
Grievances not being heard or dealt with in line with timescale.
B&H cases not being heard or dealt with in a timely manner.
Suspended people seemingly kept away from work indefinitely without conduct hearing.
Appeals (FTF) only being heard on 16 sites.

These are the real issues that lead to sickness & this is what we need to talk about.

They have introduced PCM where the faceless and unaccountable deal with matters many of them don’t understand. These people seem to be taking over the role of 2nd line managers.

We all attended the Policy Forum in Liverpool not so long ago where we reaffirmed our commitment to the PTC Agreement.

A 103-page document and they don’t want to discuss it. Shambles and shameful all at once.

RMPFS- while we recognise, they are a separate company, they have had no official pay offer. We discussed matters last November and to date nothing has happened.

They assured us the deal we discussed would have cleared and been paid by April this year.

We have now informed management in that business centre we are in dispute.

When ballot paper hit the doormat, get them filled in and get them returned ASAP.

Don’t leave it to others, we’ll all need to be responsible in getting a massive return and a massive YES vote. We must show RMG that we mean business and that we will defend ourselves against this aggressive employer.

Andy Furey then came to the rostrum and updated the audience on the ongoing dispute in POL, Cash Supply & Admin members. Counters took Industrial Action on the Saturday past and Cash Supply & Admin were taken action today.

The support from the membership has been unprecedented.

As key workers, our members were putting themselves at risk by dealing with members of the public in confined spaces, having to walk through crowds of customers to deliver the cash to the post offices and the deal they have offered is nothing, zero.

They came back with a derisory offer of 2% and a £500 lumpsum payment for last years pay deal. Not acceptable.

A business that made a £35million profit (it may seem small in terms of RMG but big in terms of this business unit) and are basically turning their backs on us.

If the business won’t come back to the table with a much better offer, further action is inevitable.

All options are now on the table, and we will check the legalities of simultaneous action alongside the members in RMG.

I’m here because I want all to remember this is a groupwide dispute and we must remember our Admin & minority grades. They too are part of this dispute. They may not be OPG grade, but they are also under attack.

There were contributions from the floor and the officers made further statements in closing.

Terry closed the briefing by stating that this is and will be a huge dispute. Whatever we do we must expect challenges from the business to stop what we need to do.

We must ensure we get the paperwork right (membership lists) and have that all in order.

We’ll look to have everything in place to ballot in mid-June.

We see this as an attack on all unionised workforces judging by the attacks by employers in other industries seemingly enthused by the behaviour of P&O board. We see these attacks as RM management in P&O sheep clothing.

The narrative in all these disputes is the same at present. Every employer wants to shrink the pay rise deserved to employees and attack T&Cs.

We have an agreement to deal with anything other than the pay deal, so we’ll get the pay deal you deserve.

Royal Mail negotiate and agree agreements with us and then always attempt to turn them on us, external mediation is a prime example and now the Dispute Resolution Process (DRP).

They must recognise the strings they want to discuss do not form any part of the pay deal. Pay was dealt with for two years in the PTC Agreement. This falls outside that agreement.

They’re even attempted to use the DRP citing the strings as an issue.

This being the case, we may need to hold an IA Ballot on that matter.

I couldn’t be prouder of all the members during the pandemic and the lengths you all went to, to get the job done. We showed all what we are made of during that two-year period.

We’ve shown we have and are part of the social fabric of society. We’ve kept the USO alive for every home and community across the country, that’s done to all of you.

The youth of the union are massively important in this dispute. We’ll do what’s required to be done and not pull the ladder up on them and those that follow.

The youth stand on our shoulders, as we stood on theirs that went before us. We stood on the shoulder of giants who fought for what we have today.

What the business has done has underestimated the integrity of all postal workers; no matter the crisis we always & always will deliver.

Looking at the pics sent into the comms department, never has so much anger been seen in so many workplaces. From the smallest SPDO to the largest MC, all are furious with the business and rightly so.

We’ve pushed growth, we’ve pushed our agenda on making the business successful and all they’ve done is remained silent on the important matters.

The board, they’re only there to satisfy the greed of the shareholders.

But I’ll tell you what we’ll do, we find out who they are, we’ll research them, we’ll find out how many boards they’re on, we’ll find out how many hours they do in terms of RMG work, we’ll find out how much money they take from the business & we’ll expose them to all, that’s what we’ll do.

So, get back to the workplaces, tell them what you’ve heard, go back, and prepare for what’s to come, this is a fight, a massive fight and it’s a fight we will win.


UNITY IS STRENGTH

[postslippete]

We have CEOs, not just in the right position!!


Simon is clearly not fit for purpose. Just to clarify because I'm not a mouthpiece on Workspace


1. The 2 or even 3.5% increase is PATHETIC! And that is WITHOUT the strings
2. Later start times of up to 3 hours might provide a catalyst for some IA in some offices. They have just put the price of stamps up. People still go on holidays on planes and are prepared to pay the extra cost required.
3. The Revision's likely failed because they were rushed through at the wrong time. Simon was quick to rush them through before Xmas and claim it as a resounding success. As a result I suspect that they have now had to put duties back in just like when our office had a revision and the planners had cocked it up.
4. Annualised hours just won't work. You force staff to work their contractual hours in this way and you WILL get walks that the business lapse for a profit in the summer that are going to fail. I will personally guarantee this.
5. If people want to work on a Sunday then it should be voluntary and at a premium. If not, then at the very least they should offer a whole lot more than £5-10 extra a week!! lol

[britwrit]

4. Annualised hours just won't work. You force staff to work their contractual hours in this way and you WILL get walks that the business lapse for a profit in the summer that are going to fail. I will personally guarantee this.

Anyone who could make annualised hours work would be a Bill Gates-level genius - and thus not working for Royal Mail.

Delivery is "a problem" because one of the main issues hasn't been effectively dealt with. Sure, mail volumes are down but the points of call on hand have either remained static or expanded. I have no idea how you deal with this. But taking out parcels (or a good portion) only reduces the average revenue per point of call.

(....Wishing that letters would just go away probably isn't helpful either.)

[jackthecube]

Attacking and undervaluing the final cog in your machine, the staff that make your business actually work, is not the way to run a system.

[portadown]

Why don't royalmail inploy weekend staff and let the posties have the weekend off

[TopperGas]

4. Annualised hours just won't work. You force staff to work their contractual hours in this way and you WILL get walks that the business lapse for a profit in the summer that are going to fail. I will personally guarantee this.

Anyone who could make annualised hours work would be a Bill Gates-level genius - and thus not working for Royal Mail.

Delivery is "a problem" because one of the main issues hasn't been effectively dealt with. Sure, mail volumes are down but the points of call on hand have either remained static or expanded. I have no idea how you deal with this. But taking out parcels (or a good portion) only reduces the average revenue per point of call.

(....Wishing that letters would just go away probably isn't helpful either.)

The only way to cut down on the time spent on deliveries is reduce the number of days mail is delivered.

[wazer]

Must admit read the statement ,totaly agree wot CWU are saying.Simon needs to go ,he's had enough jobs over the yrs ,that tells u something.The way the country going at mo its going to be strike year across UK.
After what everybody done through covid it's just a kick in the face.We kept UK going .This needs to get in the news.

[WASD]

Is there not a short digestible version available? This is insanely long.

[clashcityrocker]

Is there not a short digestible version available? This is insanely long.

We've been brilliant.
They're all bastards.
If you see any cheap sausages (plant based preferably) buy them now because you will be cooking them on the picket line.

[Woody Guthrie]

Is there not a short digestible version available? This is insanely long.

No War and Peace and Crime and Punishment are insanely long.
This is just insanely dull and repetitive.

I blame social media for this lack of patience or shortened attention span.

Apparently it's called "opportunity cost". Presumably the price in minutes that you'll never get back after reading this.
Go figure.

[daveyeff]

:

Is there not a short digestible version available? This is insanely long.

We've been brilliant.
They're all bastards.
If you see any cheap sausages (plant based preferably) buy them now because you will be cooking them on the picket line.

(not up for the plant based shite tho,...like chewing on a suede coat )