Member Info for madasaballoon

@oneshare at last someone who bets it although I dont agree with all of your points. PDA actuals are the way forward you wouldnt need efficiency savings or to cut staff close or merge offices. PDA actuals are the way forward no doubt about that.

@ Trough No it isn't you are so incorrect. You see you too are making the mistake of trying to make cuts which will in turn lead to quality loss and failure. Its an idea that was totally and I mean totally ruled out some years ago. Yes there are some wayside duties but there are usually very good reasons for these duties but it certainly will not take this industry in the direction it needs to go and it wont support a growth agenda.

@Trough so you once sorted bagged up etcetera you would then have the additional time of getting the mail out to the delivery offices and then to the first point of delivery. Quite how is that a saving when you then have to transport this mail I dont get it. Secondly you have to employ additional staff to sort and prep the mail in Worcester, if you can tell me where the savings are in this proposal then please do because I think you have added to the bill. As Beat said you haven't thought this through

@Comrieman you have fallen into the trap of down talking the industry and shrinking the employment model. That would just lead the industry into a downfall which we wouldnt survive because of the opposition. So you talk about the USO being flawed. I agree the USO is flawed very delivery compnay should have to follow the same USO as Royal Mail that would put the industry on a level playing field. You see companies like Amazon deliver seven days a week you are suggesting that Royal Mail should reduce their delivery model furhter than at present. That is is just ludicrous and would open the door for competitors to pick us off. The Dutch model was ruled out in the early noughties it is a model which may work in Holland but simply wouldnt work in this country because of the demography of the mail types we deliver it simply would be ridiculous given we have 66000 employees delivering mail. The CWU are attempting to expand the delivery model and the employer is for once listening and doing something about it. Thats called working together despite the fact that some on here deem the unions as dinosaurs and marxists because they are very naive about what is happening in the industry shrinking the industry reducing the headcount is not the way to do this and will lead to the total demise of Royal Mail

@Red so you penalise them then they have to make financial savings to accommodate the penalty or put their prices up. Yup that is Capitalism for you you reap what you sow. Secondly if they were to outsource distribution that would lead to whatever company it became paying VAT. Royal Mail do not pay VAT so that would be an added cost.

@Red what happens when the distribution company go on strike?

@Derek there are some strange people on here with some weird ideas which would simply be a disaster. They dont know or understand the industry that is quite clear, I completely agree with your comments, being short sighted has cost this industry in the past. You cannot continue to shrink an industry and expect it to be successful because it wont be and that is quite simple. So reducing deliveries through the USO or getting rid of frontline employees simply will not work. You have hit the nail on the head you have to take the opposition on head on and it is beginning albeit tentatively. .

@Red you didn't prove me wrong at all you know nothing about the industry an industry I have spent four decades in. Dont even begin to tell me about this industry I have forgotten more than you know.

Well thanks for this Prince...quite frankly I dont care if we stay or leave I am sick to death of the whole thing this country is sinking faster than this share. I honestly dont care what you think or dont think about any of my political views but I am a Socialist and hate Tories. I hate them because of they what they are doing to this country when young girls are sleeping in wheelie bins and people are dying outside the palace of Westminster and he had a job. They are without a shadow of a doubt the worst Government in history they have completely split this country asunder they cannot agree with themselves they have ,made a dogs dinner of Brexit the economy on its uppers and people in work are claiming benefits because work doesn't pay. And yeah maybe I did the get the figures incorrect they are probably much higher its not manipulation but a fact. Corbyn is anti EU always has been so what? Anti Capitalist yeah good so am I I hate vultures raping the profits from a company they have never worked a day in. Anti Israel WTF have Israel ever done for us? All they do is invade Palestine murdering women and children. Anti prosperity only for the rich and those that dont want to pay their taxes you know the greedy rich who offshore their money to avoid tax. May and the Tories are destroying your beloved country take the rose coloured glasses off. And yes he can renationalise RM he can and he will and it is on the top of his agenda trust me on that the CWU were one of the principal proponents in getting him elected leader.

Utter Rubbish

I hear what your saying and there are a percentage of walks in my own area in the same boat on the outdoor element. But IMO the savings are on the Indoor element although arguably from about April to October on the outdoor. Whilst I accept your office is probably short on hours there are plenty where this is not the case and when you multiply that throughout Great Britain that is a lot of hours. You said yourself earlier that there are some in your office who finish way early so there is a clear disparity in the hours for the deliveries in your office which needs a revision. Also IMO I think MC's have the ability to absorb at least another two hours maybe 3. I think the hours are their without actually doing anything. In the case of your office it would be easy for the Area Rep to see through the PDA Actuals exactly what is happening and then to do something about it.

What 2 Billion on NO Deal. Do me favour when you can come up with a list anywhere near this then come back and see me. The fact we have a homeless crisis and people dying in the streets hospitals that are on their knees and a non existent police force and armed services is enough in itself no young person would ever accept or vote for this the worst Government in history

Utter drivel they will vote for him in their tens of thousands Why? Ten people a day dying in the streets of this country 320,000 families without their own home. Lowest wage growth since the 1800's. People with cancer being deemed fit for work only to die months later. Council Tax now out of control with worst to come in the next 3 years. The sale of royal Mail a profit making company. Rail prices now out of the reach of a lot of everyday people. Library Closures. People dying in corridors and the back of ambulances waiting to be seen at hospital. Boris Johnson a liar. Millionaire tax havens. Cuts for the disabled. dismantling the NHS. National debt doubled. Corporate tax dodging. A benefit sanctions regime which costs 150 million more to run than what it saves. Tory run Northampton council – Sorry we have run out of money. Removal of school meals for 160.000 of the poorest children in this country. So, what happened to our free school meals? I turned them into bombs and dropped them on Syria. Homeless levels rising. Homeless people dying in the streets. There are now more foodbanks than ever before and more people having to use them. The DUP enough said. Rise in both knife crime up 21% and gun crime up 20% and murder rate up 17%. Police force decimated. Police Budgets cut by 2.3 Billion. Police Community Support Officers cut by 6000. Armed services decimated. An aircraft carrier with no planes. Grenfell never going to be forgotten. 55% of working families are living in poverty. Priti Patel Oh Dear. Austerity. National Debt run up to 1.95 Trillion with £5,180 added to the total each and every second. Zero hours contracts. Mental health services virtually non-existent. Damien Green likes a bit of Babe Station whilst at work. Liz Truss an utter fool. Shady Saudi Arabian arms deals. Nadim Zahawi claiming £5.800 to heat his stables. Russian Oligarch donations to the Tories. Sweet heart tax deals for Corporations. Offshore Trusts scamming money from our NHS. 10 Months after the Syrian Uprising Cameron issues certificates to British firms to export chemicals for weapons – thought that had been forgotten eh! Phillip Hammond stand up comedian. The Windrush children- Thanks for rebuilding the country now jog on back to where you came from. Money for war but none for the poor. Lycamobile Tory Donor tax scandal and laundered money more dodgy goings on even though the Tories were warned. Women turning to prostitution because of Universal Credit. Brexit and absolute shambles. If that isn't enough there is more far more the worst Government in history without a doubt

@ Beat Look we have had a 7% pay deal and a an agreement to get to a 35 hour week what more do you want, it was a fantastic agreement. As for PDA actuals yes you are correct they are using this in the background but I think we always knew they would. Come April they will no doubt want to up the ante on this they haven't spent hundreds of thousands on this technology not to benefit from it. IMO this is where the rest of the SWW will come from in deliveries especially we know the hours are there for a shorter working week without really doing anything but doing the job properly. They can threaten you all they want but if the evidence shows that you have worked your hours there is nothing they can do about it and its certainly not something I fear at all. I understand your reticence when it comes to the pension scheme but I am well happy with it and so were the 500 or so Reps who attended the presentations given to us in London. Show me any pension scheme anywhere in the world that make a profit when the financial markets get a kicking? You wont be able to but that aside from what I have seen I am well happy

@REd sufficient progress being that the trial activity taking place was being done so in a spirit of genuinely working together. Not that they had to be successful but that the CWU and royal Mail were actively working with the spirit of the agreement. It was not based on any success criteria. We will be in the pension scheme this summer when the legislation which timetabled in Government is passed and it will be and yeah I agree the pension scheme we are in at the moment is terrible that is why it is important that we get this across the line.

@Beatroot I have seen the Pension scheme explained in great detail twice now. The last time was a couple of months ago in London a joint presentation between Royal mail and the CWU. Forget anything you hear about it being the Dutch model it is not. The explanation and example given to us showed the scheme back as far as 1927 the Great Depression that is how far back they have tested this thing. It wont give us the same rewards as Final Salary although in some years they showed in the example that it would exceed Final Salary but not too often. It is however a far far better scheme than anything in existence at the moment. The only times when it didn't pay out was in 1927 and 2008 for obvious reasons. Trust me on this it is a very good scheme. As for the SWW not proving self funding for part timers there are two parts to this. Firstly if they are paying overtime then there is an argument to increase PT hours. Secondly PT in delivery does not make up anywhere near the scale of hours of FT in Mail Centres and DO's. So it doesn't matter too much that they are not self funding because the benefits are being found from FT employees. Eventually PT will be closer to FT over the next 3 years so it wont matter too much. PDA actuals are the key to the next hour IMO not efficiency as the hours savings are already there we know they are.

Redbaro it is not directly linked to efficiency improvements it is linked to self funding there is a subtle difference.

You have hit the nail on the head JB it has to be self funding it is not directly linked to efficiency improvements per se. As for our Pensions they will be the best in the market without a shodw of adoubt and it will give us a final salary payment.

Your lack of knowledge of the CWU agreement and our Pensions is outstanding. Come back when you know what the hell you are talking because so far you could not be further from truth. For example if you could point me in the direction of the paragraph in the agreement which talks about the agreed productivity being a binding issue on the next hour off of the working week I will sit up and take notice otherwise keep schtuum.

Well I wouldn't want to disappoint! The CWU are fine at the moment, peace has broken out and Rico has stated firmly that he will work to the agreement with the CWU. A 5% pay rise last year and an hour reduction in the working week as of last October. This year a 2% pay rise and a further hour off the working week this coming October. Our new Pension scheme should be up and running in the summer it will be industry leading. That is the power of a Union come and have a pop if you feel your up with it bring your mates if you want I am ready.