Royal Mail staff upset over pay

[POSTMAN]

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TEMPORARY Royal Mail workers have become frustrated that their payroll problems still have not been sorted, with some even told they owe the firm money.

A handful of Christmas casuals who worked at the Dorcan and Groundwell Industrial Estate sites say they are still owed wages for hours worked over the festive period.

But, following a pay review by Angard Staffing, who organised the hiring and payroll for the temporary staff, those who were waiting to see if they would get their money have now received letters claiming they have been paid too much.

Royal Mail has said the majority of pay disputes have been settled and it wants to work with those who still have issues to resolve them as quickly as possible.

Among those affected is Richard Smith, 63, of Rodbourne, who worked at the Groundwell Industrial Estate depot.

He received a letter from Angard on Tuesday which claimed he had been overpaid by £100, which he disputes.

He said: ”I’m frustrated. You try hard to get work and then when you get it, you don’t get paid. It’s silly.

“They owe me more than £90 and what they say – that I have been paid – is not right. I have never seen that £202 they said they’ve paid me.

“I was given £350 in cash and then £294.18 into my bank account, followed by 1p last week.”

Another worker, Laura Moreland, 19, of Grange Park, said she was still owed her final payment for the week before Christmas and was only paid 1p on Friday.

She said: “I am not happy with Angard as, like several people, I still haven’t been paid my last payment – all I have received is one penny.

“Me and other Royal Mail workers have worked hard to earn that money, and the question is are any of us even going to get paid what we are owed in the first place?.”

When the Adver tried to contact Angard it received a generic acknowledgement email and the query was never answered.

Royal Mail spokesman Nick Martens said: “The majority of our Christmas workers have been paid on time.

“We are committed to resolving outstanding pay issues as quickly as possible.

“Royal Mail is grateful to our temporary Christmas workers. They have played an important role in delivering the nation’s festive mailbag. We apologise if any individual has experienced difficulties and will resolve these as quickly as possible.”

[POSTMAN]

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Mail staff fury over festive pay delays

HUNDREDS of workers have been caught up in payment problems with Royal Mail, with dozens having gone weeks without wages, union bosses claimed today.

The Communication Workers Union said those who were employed by Royal Mail’s in-house employment agency, Angard, over the festive period at its South Gyle and Bathgate sorting offices were affected.

A union spokesman said it was believed 700 workers had been affected, with as many as 70 still waiting on payments.

Royal Mail today fiercely denied the claims.

Simon Jones, 32, who lives in Stenhouse with wife Gemma and five-year-old son Daniel, said he is still owed £900.

He said: “The whole thing is an absolute farce. All I have had from them is £99. I phone them every couple of days and I give them the same story every time, and each time they say someone will call you back in a couple of days and they never do.

“We’re relying on that money to pay our bills and rent. The other day I was struggling to get the money for my son’s lunch.

“It’s disgusting the way they have treated us. The Royal Mail managers have just washed their hands of it.”

Alan Brown, 56, from Mayfield near Dalkeith, began work at the Sighthill depot as a general employee on December 5.

He said he is still out of pocket to the tune of £1940.

“I’m sitting here with no gas and no electricity – it’s not nice, I can tell you,” he said.

“I worked there seven days a week, 12 hours a day. I still haven’t been paid and I haven’t had any correspondence from the company concerned.”

Mr Brown also claimed that on January 9 – just ten minutes before the end of a shift – dozens of workers were told their contracts had been terminated.

He said: “The other day, Angard told me they were going to pay me an emergency cheque of £200, but I didn’t receive anything.”

A Communication Workers Union spokesman said: “The situation is diabolical. We have had people coming to us and saying they have only been paid once in the past eight weeks.”

The spokesman added the union was aware of problems across the country.

However, a Royal Mail spokeswoman claimed the cases were exceptions.

Ian McKay, director of Scottish affairs for Royal Mail, said: “We do not recognise these claims for the number of our seasonal workers in Edinburgh affected by payroll issues over Christmas.

“We do not accept that 700 of the 700-plus seasonal staff were affected in this way.

“We have checked the position of seasonal staff involved and refute that some ten per cent of those staff have not been paid for their work.

“We did have payroll issues over the Christmas period for seasonal workers and we have worked hard to resolve those issues, and apologised to those colleagues affected.

“The overwhelming majority of our Christmas workers have been paid on time.”

dawn.morrison@edinburghnews.com

[NotReallyRM]

Such a pity we don't know how many people have really been affected (and can't find out?).

[clum]

Ten percent my arse, Ian McKay. I worked at the Edin center and know for a fact that every single person on my shift was effected at some point.

[joker1]

i would estimate 85% or more been screwed pay wise

[lnort986]

We only have/had 4 Angard workers in the Ely branch. All of us were affected. I was paid for 3 weeks, my colleagues 4, we then received the vouchers and then took turns between us in getting a 0.01p week.

[csm]

Such a pity we don't know how many people have really been affected (and can't find out?).

We could always try a Freedom of Information request asking them to confirm the approximate number or proportion of Christmas Casuals that had problems with pay