Member Info for OliGarch

Ispy, although employees are legally entitled to annual leave holiday pay there are very few employees that are aware of this including many RM employees. It is also interesting to note that BT employees (also CWU members) have been receiving this payment since it became law.

Finmac, thanks for the update. In my department all new entrants automatically enroll on a 35 hour week and are paid the same as those on a 37.5 hour week. This means that their hourly rate is more than their senior colleagues. Not sure if this flows through to all CWU grades though.
Incidentally, the new hourly pay rates mean that my weekday and Saturday overtime rates are 95% of my basic pay, so "undertime" and my Sunday rate is 1.08 times my basic so I'm fairly reluctant to do more hours unless TOiL is agreed.

Newpostie, if you can't support your union for the terms and conditions that you currently enjoy then "Welcome to the gig economy" because that's where you are headed.
I have served over 40 years with the Post Office and Royal Mail and could easily say "I'm off soon, so what do I care" but I care about the next generation of workers who will be going long after I have left this planet.
When you are younger you work all the hours to raise your family. As you get older you realise that you no longer need to work long hours and learn that quality of life is key.

Newpostie, I could get you a job at our local DPD office. You get paid £51k pa......But there's a catch.
You are "self employed" and have to "lease" the van plus there's deductions for fuel, punctures, damage etc. Then you have to deduct your tax and NI.
At the end of a 60 hour week you are probably left with £400.... if you are lucky.
Is that the sort of employment that you are looking for? It sounds a bit rubbish to me.

We are talking shop again....I can hear Ringo007 saying that "this is NOT RoyalMailChat" whilst gently spinning in his chamber...... Apologies Ringo...

Newpostie, "Then one day said the "business" sorry charity needed to change quickly, so within a week they issued new contracts and gave everybody the opportunity of a job that wanted one. On £3000 a year less and changed our job title and everything stayed the same".
And that's what's gonna happen to you again if uncle Rico gets his way.
Don't they say that "history repeats itself"?

Newpostie, it's a shame that you couldn't have got a full time contract as new entrants automatically enroll on 35 hours and are therefore better off than their senior colleagues as they work 3 hours less for the same pay.
The whole ethos behind the 35 hour week was that staff would benefit from a better work-life balance and also to deal with the need for fewer staff with the potential for creating better work patterns which is Ideal for those with young families.

The latest offering from RMTV reads "New digital tools like Automated Hours Data Capture will deliver better alignment of resources to workload and a data driven approach to people management".
To me this reads 'bye bye Admin, WAMs etc...' but there will be 'a job for everyone who wants it' so how are RM going to redeploy those who lose their jobs?

I was talking to the CMA rep in my mail centre today and he is quite concerned. In his words "after Back has finished with you lot he's gonna be coming for us (managers) even harder".

Shouldn't that read Tiiiimmmbeeeeerrrrrr!
I have just looked at the SP and we're kicking off at -4.99% before we've started the week.
A white knuckle ride today?

Ym43, I guess that would depend upon the contract that RM has with it's fuel supplier although it's worth noting that "fuel surcharge" prices seem to take forever to be removed when fuel prices go up and then fall so perhaps the same logic will happen when oil prices drop?

Wolves, are you deliberately trying to upset Norman/Ringo by bringing the union into the conversation? This is a "share chat" forum dontyaknow....lol

thechancers, I'm sorry to hear that your experience of unions has been a negative one but I would certainly disagree with your viewpoint that they are a "waste of time and don't represent the working people". If they don't represent the views of the workforce then who?
As for being useless? Trade unions have been at the forefront of social reform. I would wager that you have benefited from some of the legislation that the trade union movement has brought about without being aware of it.
As for bullying, I can honestly say that in my 40 years as a member of the CWU I have never witnessed bullying with regards to balloting in my unit although I cannot vouch for other units.

Norman/Ringo, I am fully aware that this is a "share holders board" and I am a member of this board as a shareholder but would you prefer it to be a "non employees shareholder board" or a "non CWU members shareholder" board?
My assumption of this board was that it was a forum for shareholders to glean useful information from others that were "in the know" and frontline employees are more often than not "in the know".
I believe that scampthedog has previously mentioned the historical link between RM and CWU. Clearly this has upset those who want to bury their heads in the sand and pretend that this isn't the case but it's a fact. It's also a fact that the majority of frontline OPGs are members of the CWU and back their union.
At the end of the day, if anyone has recently invested heavily in RMG then I hope that you are in it for the long haul because I think that it will be another 4 to 5 years before your investment bears decent fruit and I hope that no-one has invested beyond their limit.
I wish you all a pleasant weekend.

Ringo, "Sorry Oli lad it isn't legally binding.
Hence no court action !"
I don't know why the CWU haven't brought any action but it definitely states that in the Agenda For Growth Agreement.
Try a Google search for "CWU legally binding agreement" it's the first item on the list.

PP, thanks for the compliment.

JB, as a former employee of Royal Mail you will be all to aware of the level of mistrust that the majority of employees have towards senior management. Some of this mistrust is misplaced but then some is justified, remember "colleague shares"?
Moya Green got privatisation over the line despite huge opposition from the workforce and CWU. Before that she initiated WCM otherwise known as World Class Mail or (Wasting Company Money) however she was willing to engage with the CWU who are after all the collective voice of the majority of the workforce and the only medium for collective bargaining.
We now have a CEO who is not even willing to sit down in the same room with the "collective voice of the majority of the workforce" which is a dereliction of duty. It is his job to steer the ship on the best course however he cannot do this on his own and will rely heavily on the deckhands to pitch in but without their cooperation the ship may sail onto rocks and cause huge damage.
It's easy for people to be pragmatic and say "the employees should be more flexible and bend to the wishes of the CEO" but this is a man who has gone back on the words and agreements of his former boss and most employees are now thinking "what is he going to renege on next"?
I feel that the trust is gone and it will probably never be regained under this CEO so get ready for another 44 months of shareholder agony.
Also, those shareholders that think that their get out clause will be for RM to sell GLS and give them their £3.30 per share back and then leave RM to sink are misguided in my opinion. There is more chance that the government would take back control of RM, sell GLS, trouser the profit and leave the shareholders with nothing. IMHO of course.

Apologies, that last comment should have read German and not Austrian.

Arsenal, when you obtain something under false pretences it is usually called fraud.
RM obtained an agreement (legally binding) with its workforce (brokered by the CWU) and now the business is going back on its word by moving the goalposts, sacking the referee, linesman and forth official and turning off VAR (the joint working group).
This is blatant fraud Austrian style.

Arsenal, are you saying that it is alright for an employer to strike a deal with its workforce and then backtrack?