FNV Bondgenoten is trying to organise self-employed postmen

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.union-network.org/UNIPostal. ... enDocument

Some 27,000 postmen in the Netherlands are forced to work on a self-employed basis for companies such as Sandd, Selekt Mail (a subsidiary of Deutsche Post) and VSP (a subsidiary of TNT). The number of self-employed postmen may increase if the delivery of letters under 50 grammes is liberalised.

FNV Bondgenoten is trying to organise the self-employed postmen and to get them an employment contract. A practical problem is that these postmen work from their homes and do not have a real workplace.

Organisers approached postmen at distribution centres and asked: can we call you back at a suitable moment? They collected telephone numbers and subsequently interviewed 120 postmen (only a few declined). The interviewees appreciated the initiative. “Such a survey is not just a means to collect information, but also a way to show postmen that you care about their situationâ€

[norbert]

RM Senior Mangement have seriously considered similar things in this country , housewives , students etc as the Dutch Model is obviously so good.

Parcelforce have tried the self employed franchise route .

[k979aaa]

For have you seen how royalmail contract's have been getting shorter over the year's 30 hour's then 27 hour's and now 24 hour's in our office!. And i have even heard of one hour contract's!. But their real goal is to get below the magic 16 hour's as it is the same in this country in you have no employment right's below this threshold!.

[norbert]

For have you seen how royalmail contract's have been getting shorter over the year's 30 hour's then 27 hour's and now 24 hour's in our office!. And i have even heard of one hour contract's!. But their real goal is to get below the magic 16 hour's as it is the same in this country in you have no employment right's below this threshold!.

I think ? it's been tightened up a bit recently for less than 16 hours , but RM were very keen to get these people in before the laws changed and I wouldn't put it past them trying to pull the wool over people's eyes and redefining / moving the goalposts at every opportunity .

I think it was the FBU that pushed for extra rights and it had to go to the House of Lords , needless to say it didn't go down well with the CBI .

The other interesting bit is people on incapacity benefit can work up to 16 hours of permitted work , no doubt RM will wheel out all this propaganda about being caring

I smelt a rat when that Propaganda Plant on Hellfail B***ie 40 ,the DUM from hell was parroting all this stuff out about ultra part timers ." People that won't moan like You lot " , translated it means Middle Aged Women and Bits of Kids who won't say boo to a goose , non union and won't give RM any problems (Very ASDA ) and put up with insecurity etc out of ignorance .

.If RM can down grade the job to the status of free papers / pizza leaflets they will in the cynical hope people eventually won't expect anything better .

What exactly do people on less than 16 hrs or is it 14hr 42 minutes now lose out on ?, I can imagine there would be no sick pay , pensions etc, Easy to get rid off unless there's Employment laws on H&S , Working Time Regulations broken and even then they'd have to go Tribunal , Leighton threatened race to the bottom in as many words during the dispute.

[jemima]

Part-time posties at RM may well prove to be a problem for the management. A full-time postie gets all his income from RM and won't want to go on strike for very long. Part-time posties are likely to have other jobs. Posties who are getting half their income from other sources can afford to strike for an indefinite period, until they get exactly what they want.... Increasing the number of part-timers is a risky thing to do.

As for the employment conditions, if there's a contract of employment they'll be the same as for a full-time worker. Holiday pay must be paid pro rata no matter how few hours are worked. Part-timers can choose whether or not to join the pension scheme. They can join the Union. The only thing they might miss out on is the government's tax credits scheme; therefore they're likely to have two jobs to make sure they work enough hours to claim. RM will end up needing them far more than they need RM.

[BELIAL]

Part time workers are RM's stealth weapon, just you watch their numbers rise.
PT will kill the job quicker than any so called competition could dream of

[DGP1]

Part time workers are RM's stealth weapon, just you watch their numbers rise.
PT will kill the job quicker than any so called competition could dream of

It'll kill off the pension fund too.

[norbert]

Part-time posties at RM may well prove to be a problem for the management. A full-time postie gets all his income from RM and won't want to go on strike for very long. Part-time posties are likely to have other jobs. Posties who are getting half their income from other sources can afford to strike for an indefinite period, until they get exactly what they want.... Increasing the number of part-timers is a risky thing to do.

As for the employment conditions, if there's a contract of employment they'll be the same as for a full-time worker. Holiday pay must be paid pro rata no matter how few hours are worked. Part-timers can choose whether or not to join the pension scheme. They can join the Union. The only thing they might miss out on is the government's tax credits scheme; therefore they're likely to have two jobs to make sure they work enough hours to claim. RM will end up needing them far more than they need RM.

Apparently Leighton's favourite company Walmart have a lot of staff on Welfare Benefits so ultimately US Tax Dollars subsidize Walmart .

With Asda ,staff apply for housing benefit etc only declaring their part time hours wage , put the application for benefit in and pile on the overtime , then cut it down to the bare hours when they next get assessed for benefits .

Staff turn up for work when ill as they'd get a fortnights overtime ban if they went sick , Asda are famous for the Huddle Idea at the start of shifts which RM want , they're known as muddles at Asda .

Asda /Walmart have a preoccupation with Time Theft , this might explain RM's neurotic preoccupation with people making time or early darts . Unfortunately for Big Al, RM is not a supermarket so you've got poor morale with this "leadership" as we know only too well.

Yes the two job and Tax Credit problem could backfire on RM , PT staff are less likely to have a service ethos , no loyalty is given and none expected .L&C don't care anyway , they've too many dodgy agendas of their own as we all know .