Member Info for OliGarch

Minimum Universal Service requirements
The Postal Services Act 2011 sets out the minimum requirements the Universal Service Provider must deliver. These are statutory. They can only be altered with the consent of the UK Parliament. The minimum requirements for all postal items not subject to exemption (including those whose weight does not exceed 20 kilograms or whose dimensions fall outside minimum and maximum dimensions):
1. Delivery of letters or parcels (including those posted outside the UK)
At least one delivery of letters every Monday to Saturday to every address in the UK.
At least one delivery of other parcels every Monday to Friday to every address in the UK.
2. Collection of letters or parcels (including those for onward transmission outside the UK)
At least one collection of letters every Monday to Saturday from every access point in the UK used for receiving letters and parcels for onward transmission
At least one collection of other parcels every Monday to Friday from every access point in the UK used for that purpose.
3. Service at affordable prices at a uniform public tariff
Postal services – (including conveying, receiving, collecting, sorting and delivering) at an affordable, uniform public tariff across the UK; and to places outside the UK.
4. A registered items service at a uniform UK-wide, affordable public tariff.
5. An insured items service at a uniform UK-wide affordable public tariff.
6. A free-of-charge postal service to blind or partially sighted people.
7. Free carriage of legislative petitions and addresses.
8. Redirection, Post restante and Retention services

Teslo, I have just looked at the SP graph for ValiRX. Wow.....what happened between the 8th and 25th of May 2015?

https://www.cwu.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/0555118-royal-mail-national-consultative-ballot-low-res.pdf
10. Measures
Both parties agree that it would be beneficial to have consistently understood and recognised measures of
efficiency, performance and productivity and therefore agree that it is now the right time to jointly review these
measures.
10.2 Efficiency and Productivity
We already have a number of agreed industrially engineered performance standards, but the business efficiency
measure ‘Weighted Items Per Gross Hour’ (WIPGH) is unagreed yet a highly influential measure from both Royal
Mail’s and the regulators’ perspective. Both parties agree that it is imperative that any efficiency measure is jointly
agreed and understood. To this end a joint working group will be established involving operational and work study
expertise from both management and the CWU, involving all functions to fully review all the efficiency measures
currently being used and produce recommendations over a three month period at the start of this agreement.
These recommendations will be taken forward into further National joint discussions in order to jointly agree
the efficiency and productivity measures. Acknowledging throughout these discussions that whilst the business
will seek to influence the view of Ofcom on its measures of efficiency, it will need to use and follow the measures
to ensure alignment with the Regulator, however current national agreements will hold the field for changing
arrangements and resourcing between RMG and the CWU.
It is my understanding that Rico dispensed with the services of all the senior managers that had any input to the Joint Working Group as soon as he took over as CEO. This could be a major factor here?

Arsenal, I agree with that deliveries my have to become more flexible and this would mean a radical overhaul of the network and delivery duties.
Wasn't Rico's plan to create a separate delivery for larger parcels whilst keeping the letters and jiffy bags with the current delivery slot? I could see this working with the tracked items having a delivery timeframe but offering these options to the customer is going to mean a larger workforce as there is only so much ground that you can cover in an 8 hour shift.

Absolutely agree MrG. The RM network is the jewel in our crown and none of our competitors can get close to matching it, however offering delivery options spanning 18 hours a day would require a much larger workforce or mean that postie's would have to take on less work but over a larger area.
As things currently stand between RM and CWU, I can't see that being on the table until the latest issues are resolved.

DerekR, I agree with you regarding late evening delivery if it is customer driven. I have recently noticed Tesco and Sainsbury's delivering at 9:30 in the evening and Waitrose are now offering delivery slots between 05:30 and 11:59!

Normalguy, another issue is that the Amazon couriers are contractors and not employees which changes virtually everything and means that staff costs are vastly reduced.
I also understand that 50% of Parcelforce employees are owner drivers as well.

Normalguy, I agree with your statement "The 4 year plan will still result in the remaining staff still being paid 30% over the average courier rate which means the 4 year plan renders RMG still non competitive" but what are you suggesting? Should RM workers accept a 4 year pay freeze for the mutual benefit of employer and employment?
I don't have the solution to the conundrum but this needs to be addressed and 'sorted' ASAP otherwise it's gonna get messy.

I believe that some DPD workers are members of the GMB Union however DPD refuse to recognise any trade union as it claims that it's delivery staff are contractors.

Wolves, I wasn't suggesting that he should move customers wheelie bins on RM time, but if he is working correctly and getting all his mail delivered and his DOM has the budget and doesn't complain then it shouldn't be an issue?

Wolves, if he gets all of his mail delivered and his DOM can afford the overtime then I can't see an issue really?

200iq, they usually dispense with the casuals first before offering up buy downs. VR is the last resort as it can get costly on current RM terms.

Fruitster, your 17:07 post is spot on. Why pay out on VR when you can have natural attrition for free.

Wolves, I'm not sure which office you are in but they moved our CLLS/XMS machine to North West Midlands a couple of years ago to make way for a PSM but that didn't create enough space so they are now getting rid of some of the CSS machines.

I was using www.gov.uk/staff-redundant/redundancy-pay

Wolves, do you have a link for that. I was using the gov.uk website.

Wolves, to the best of my knowledge, neither VR or compulsory redundancy are on the table.
The irony is that these days VR is usually done on the cheapest option, so last in usually get offered first as it's cheaper. Also the pension fund people grumble if too many in the golden zone are offered as it affects their pot of gold.

There are quite a few in my office that are either in the "golden zone" (between 55 and 59 with 26+ years service) or over 60 and in receipt of their NRA60 who were hoping that the office would close due to not being able to fit a parcel sorting machine in but it looks like we are getting one so quite a few hopes dashed.

Wolves, I wouldn't worry unduly as it was a hypothetical question anyway in reply to Fruitster's 13:01 post.

Scampthedog, in reply to your questions;
My calculations are based on the "making staff redundant: Redundancy Pay - Gov.UK webpage which states that length of service is capped at 20 years and weekly pay is capped at £525 with a maximum of £15,750 per employee.
Given that a high percentage will max out on the 20 years and £525, I would anticipate that most staff would qualify for the maximum amount.
If we are using the very generous Royal Mail terms then I think that the business would go bankrupt.
Either way, it's not an affordable option and would be a bit of a gamble given the amount of time and training required in order to hire a new workforce of 140,000.