Fighting for jobs and opposing racism at Royal Mail

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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by Lee Barron, secretary of Midlands Communication Workers Union

Hundreds of people from across the Midlands are set to join with trade unionists on Saturday as part of a fight for jobs in Stoke-on-Trent.

The protest is in response to a threat by Royal Mail to close the customer service centre in the city.

The centre, which employs 400 workers, was opened nine years ago with Royal Mail receiving a public subsidy to build it.

In return the company gave a commitment to stay at the site for a minimum of ten years.

Royal Mail is currently “reviewing” its customer service centres nationally. While there is an agreement not to close any more centres this year, many fear that the company will use the tenth anniversary of the Stoke site to walk away.

Slashed

Over the past decade Royal Mail have slashed services in the area. So far nearly 1,000 jobs have gone.

As well as demanding a fight for jobs, the demonstration is also about communities standing together.

For too long the far-right have used job losses, insecurity and the vacuum created by people not seeing Labour stand up for them, as an opportunity to win electoral support in the area.

This demonstration is our opportunity to break the link the far-right uses against us—and reclaim Stoke for working people and a united labour movement.

Protest on Saturday 30 April. Assemble 1pm, Cannon Place, Hanley ST1 4EP

Management culture

Two stories this week illustrate the brutal management culture at Royal Mail, and why the CWU union is right to vigorously defend its members.

In Staffordshire, bosses have suspended a postal worker who clung to the bonnet of her work van for nearly a mile as a thief was driving it.

The company says she will likely lose her job because she left her keys in the ignition for a few seconds to pick up a pen she had dropped while making a delivery.

Supporters are urging residents to write letters of protest to Royal Mail.

Meanwhile, a postal worker from Hampshire who was sacked for poor attendance after 17 years has won £60,000 in compensation for unfair dismissal.

Ian Jennens was dismissed after bosses warned him about absences for two work related injuries.

An employment tribunal upheld his claim for unfair dismissal, and ruled neither of the two accidents should have counted towards his absence record.

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[superteamu10]

Working for RM is just getting so depressing. I've never felt so fed up in 18 years. We had a WTL today and the DOM says she is to 'count' peoples mail and if it's too low she will take them down the disciplinary route which she claims to have union agreement over.

She didn't even know that any prep test is not agreed beyond 1 minute and worse, she thinks the rate is 25 for anything over 1 minute in any case.

We all know she is out to get rid of the handful of us who do the job properly, but the union are just not helping. A few boys rang the area rep up as we don't have an office rep and he just says to put in a grievance if the DOM brings this in.
I have actually already done that the other week as she was counting my mail because I cut off, and now I am awaiting news from a hearing I had last Tuesday.

It will be too late if you are sacked. At the very least the union should be talking to the DOM and saying that nothing over 1 minute is agreed, but we are just left to the slaughter.

[fishtank]

At the very least an instruction should have gone out to all branches and reps not to co-operate with these unagreed throughput tests.
This issue has been flagged up to HQ on a number of occasions since the implementation of the IWT led revisions and still they sit on their hands pushing out LTB's about banning Canadian Asbestos exports.
Senior Royal Mail management know it's going on....Senior Union Officers know it's going on....
Why is it still going on?

[superteamu10]

At the very least an instruction should have gone out to all branches and reps not to co-operate with these unagreed throughput tests.
This issue has been flagged up to HQ on a number of occasions since the implementation of the IWT led revisions and still they sit on their hands pushing out LTB's about banning Canadian Asbestos exports.
Senior Royal Mail management know it's going on....Senior Union Officers know it's going on....
Why is it still going on?

I totally agree with you. I am disgusted that even our Area rep seems too scared to say anything and he even refused to stick on the board a downloaded copy of the Individual Performance Standards which I gave him.

I am starting to wonder what is going on here. Why are the union so toothless over this when they are giving the green light to bullying managers to get rid of so called trouble makers by making up their own unagreed tests and manipulating the figures to suit them?

[worktotime]

At the very least an instruction should have gone out to all branches and reps not to co-operate with these unagreed throughput tests.
This issue has been flagged up to HQ on a number of occasions since the implementation of the IWT led revisions and still they sit on their hands pushing out LTB's about banning Canadian Asbestos exports.
Senior Royal Mail management know it's going on....Senior Union Officers know it's going on....
Why is it still going on?

I totally agree with you. I am disgusted that even our Area rep seems too scared to say anything and he even refused to stick on the board a downloaded copy of the Individual Performance Standards which I gave him.

I am starting to wonder what is going on here. Why are the union so toothless over this when they are giving the green light to bullying managers to get rid of so called trouble makers by making up their own unagreed tests and manipulating the figures to suit them?

that is spot on get rid of the trouble makers, weve had one shifted in our office because of issues with the socalled union area rep , and he actual applied to be the office rep (surprise) , the doms had 4-5 hr1 forms against him nothing been done hes still there trying to throw his weight about and the union are letting this stuff go on without no support to the staff and there are haveing to fight there own corner , did the cwu top knobs take a backhanded to agree with stuff and r/m fail are always going on about bullying and harrasment. but hey will ask for your support about colleague shares but its not all about money its more about working conditions.