Gordon Stein, CFO of CleanTech Lithium, explains why CTL acquired the 23 Laguna Verde licenses. Watch the video here.
And here in lies arguably RMs biggest obstacle dare I say even more so than sick leave. Anyone of any grade in deliveries knows that IPS and the indoor element makes or breaks your day. You can have the lightest or heaviest day in RMs history but if you’re not out the door early enough to deliver it then it’s just going to be returned to the office or sit there. While each case should be judged on its merits to blanket say every office needs more staff is incorrect, it just needs staff to perform at the agreed and achievable standards starting with indoors.
It’s true there are tools to aid mangers on how long sorting and preparing walks should take but the standards agreed with the CWU are never achieved en mass with most offices performing well well below it’s agreed indoor target EP as it’s not in the employees or CWU interest to do so, not now job and knock is evaporating. To do so would just simply mean performing more work (absorption etc) in the same amount of time and why should anyone if there’s no consequence or accountability if they don’t? ‘ You can only work to your time’ is a popular comment from the frontline, how efficiently you work that time is still very much an individual’s decision. As a manager to challenge this is corporate or career suicide, you will not be thanked from above or below. Even HR will tell you the non-culpable inefficiency policy, designed in the 70’s, is useless.
Challenge it at the local resource meeting and see how much support and ‘working together’ you get from the office rep. Challenge it above and you’ll get told don’t rock the boat. Formally mention unofficial industrial action and pray you win the lottery that week. Better to go round, ignore it and be perceived as a useless, path of least resistance manager.
In my experience the above is a huge factor in why revisions fail, not the only one but still a major factor. The staffs simply want it to, it’s very tearful in their interest to make it work.
Example.. someone has a walk he was completing and making on average 30-40 minutes a day on. Given an extra 80 delivery points by a revision then all of a sudden not only is he returning those 80 delivery points he returns an additional 150 of the ones he was getting done comfortably without any reasonable explanation as to why. Done en mass there’s nothing a com can do and everyone knows it. If things were franchised and people got paid for what they do not paid regardless things would be different. Bout then I suppose you wouldn’t need do many managers!!
I appreciate everything you’ve said regarding the good will of posties. I have previously posted the company has some outstanding workers who really do care but have been ground down over time, become institutionalised and deflated by the sick, lame and lazy of which there are many of all grades. Their time is well and truly up and they’ve shafted it for everyone. Royal Mail now, it would seem, has a free hand to do whatever it wants by executive action for the next 10 months or so. The CWU last hope is government involvement and I don’t think that’s going to happen. The biggest test is going to be the CWU re ballot mid January more so than any financial statement due in February. This will give a true reflection of the average posties resolve. This Christmas has been the CWU’s swan song. I’m not saying I necessarily agree with it and do think Thompson has behaved totally inappropriately for a ceo. It's blindingly obvious to all but the most militant of its members.
It’s stance being royal mails stance
Wolves regrettably it’s comments like this from union leadership that I believe have shaped it’s stance today. If CWU are on record stating they would smash the company to bits and therefore all it’s employees, including it’s very own members, livelihoods then I do not think it’s unreasonable for Royal Mail to want to smash the CWU to bits to secure its own survival. Let’s hope a deal is reached but unfortunately I think now Christmas will soon be over the CWU has shot it’s load already.
Everything Paul 70 said in his post about being in a delivery office is, in my opinion, absolutely spot on. There’s a lot of brilliant and I mean brilliant people, of all grades, that work for Royal Mail but have become despondent over time. The opg on the IPS that sorts box after box of mail while the blokes sitting next to him sort virtually nothing in comparison but the same pay. ‘Weak’ and ‘rubbish’ managers that have been ground down over a period of time and found out the hard way their efforts are ultimately futile. Rico the companies ex ceo never cosied up to the unions and look what happened to him, what chance do DLMs, DOMs or OMs have?