Stay Beautiful
Well-Known Member
By the way, if you do get in, in the long, consult the union on anything you're unsure of. Your office might not have a rep but will have people who can advice at a local level. Don't just take managers word for things as many will just take the piss or attempt to bully you into complying, something which is at the heart of this dispute. Even the guy who wrote that piece appears to be suffering in that respect, given he is saying things like:
The weight guidelines are in place by law to protect you. Managers are meant to be monitoring bag weights but, like with the unofficial use of private cars and people not taking meal breaks etc, they turn a blind eye because it makes life easy for them. People have died because of this. Some older fellas in my office have all sorts of back and knee problems because they used to carry huge weights. If you need 10 bags dropped off to you, so be it (and yes, some do have to take that many!) If it means you have you wait for some and then are unable to complete your duty... not your problem. In fact, the longer you do this the more the managers will start to make life easier for you. Do the opposite and you make life harder for yourself.
I had to laugh at The Telegraph last week talking about this procedure (cutting off) as a 'Spanish practice': http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/new...ish-practices-revealed-at-the-Royal-Mail.html It isn't. You don't have to work anymore than your contract hours, if you don't want to. You don't have to work more than a 48 hour week if you've not opted out. If these are Spanish practices then so are health and safety regulations etc.
.....
Again, this isn't true and his managers are lying to him or this has become custom and practice where no one has thought to question it anymore. You don't have to do unpaid overtime and Door to Door items (junk mail to you and me) are to be delivered and prepared in Royal Mail time. It is probably become common in his office for people to take these items home to prepare them as they don't have the time to do them and complete their delivery. Some still do this in my office. Little do these people realise that if the Royal Mail investigation branch turned up and found these items, they would be out of the job and possibly prosecuted.
And this chap seems relatively politicised and is aware of the bigger picture and yet is saying things like this. He's breaking his back, working for hours on end without a break, doing unpaid overtime etc etc .... we're giving them the rope to hang us with!
The weight guidelines are in place by law to protect you. Managers are meant to be monitoring bag weights but, like with the unofficial use of private cars and people not taking meal breaks etc, they turn a blind eye because it makes life easy for them. People have died because of this. Some older fellas in my office have all sorts of back and knee problems because they used to carry huge weights. If you need 10 bags dropped off to you, so be it (and yes, some do have to take that many!) If it means you have you wait for some and then are unable to complete your duty... not your problem. In fact, the longer you do this the more the managers will start to make life easier for you. Do the opposite and you make life harder for yourself.
I had to laugh at The Telegraph last week talking about this procedure (cutting off) as a 'Spanish practice': http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/new...ish-practices-revealed-at-the-Royal-Mail.html It isn't. You don't have to work anymore than your contract hours, if you don't want to. You don't have to work more than a 48 hour week if you've not opted out. If these are Spanish practices then so are health and safety regulations etc.
.....
Again, this isn't true and his managers are lying to him or this has become custom and practice where no one has thought to question it anymore. You don't have to do unpaid overtime and Door to Door items (junk mail to you and me) are to be delivered and prepared in Royal Mail time. It is probably become common in his office for people to take these items home to prepare them as they don't have the time to do them and complete their delivery. Some still do this in my office. Little do these people realise that if the Royal Mail investigation branch turned up and found these items, they would be out of the job and possibly prosecuted.
And this chap seems relatively politicised and is aware of the bigger picture and yet is saying things like this. He's breaking his back, working for hours on end without a break, doing unpaid overtime etc etc .... we're giving them the rope to hang us with!
