Post Office Strikes

[Sofa]

Do you think the postal workers should be striking? Do you agree that management have gone back on their word and are trying to force unfair conditions on workers? Or do you believe the the CWU members exploiting a weak Labour government, (who they donate lots of money to)? Are workers who strike generally irresponsible people who do not deserve the right to work?

Do you support the Communication Workers' Union decision to strike? You decide!

 

[shoes]

afraid i have to vote against srtiking. striking is too short term, this is a long term problem, although one which may become very short lived if RM goes down the pan as a result.

Bunch of CWUnts.

 

[highguyuk]

No. There are plenty of people would be more than happy to work for the Royal Mail instead of these ungrateful employees.

If people don't like their job, they should leave and find employment elsewhere instead of making the company change for the employee.

 

[My Name is URL]

I was stunned today to find out that if your workforce is on strike, it is ILLEGAL to hire temporary workers to cover them.....

How the hell does that work? IMO if someone has a job and they refuse to do it you get someone else that will do it. Whats wrong with that?

 

[tek-monkey]

Tough one, I'm dead against striking but they've been ass raped by the upper management. The fact is ther are people who'll work in those conditions, and is it fair to deprive them of jobs? I know people will object on this on the grounds that workers get exploited, but I suspect in the current climate exploited to one means a decent christmas for another. I know a family where the bloke just got laid off, and the lass had her hours halfed. If he could replace a striking postman I couldn't begrudge him the money.

 

[Attaboy!]

I can only assume that some of you have never had to make the decision to sacrifice your pay in order protect the working conditions, pay, pension and security of not only yourself but also those of your colleagues ? I have, and it is not a decision that comes easily. I worked for Royal Mail for 10 years, albeit some time ago, and still have friends there. The management of Royal Mail have shed thosands of jobs in recent years, cancelled second deliveries, closed thousands of sub post offices and worked hard in order to make it attractive to the private sector, ever willing to cherry pick the most profitable parts of the business. And they accuse the union of threatening the business. There is a huge pension deficit caused by government interference which could threaten members pensions, routine bullying of the workforce and Mr Mandleson, smarting over his failure to "part privatise" waiting in the wings. Postal workers on short term, temporary contracts, minimum wage. Crozier, £3m salary, would you buy a used car off this man ?

It is illegal for agencies to recruit people to clear work caused as a result of a legal dispute. You might be grateful for such a law one day. Difficult times, dificult decisions.

 

[John Marwood]

Most British people appear to spend their whole lives with their heads buried in the sand and only pop them up when something negative directly affects themselves

Not much sense of community, togetherness, sharing, support or caring left here these days

 

[Trumpet]

It's hard to sympathise when not so long ago the pavement outside the Coach on Mill Bank used to look like the Post Office bike sheds by 11.30 am and our postmen are ripping the p*ss out of people that work 'normal' hours.
Most of my work post consists of cheques going out to clients, we've started making these payments by BACS in this last week and honestly can't see a return to using the post. BACS is quicker, cheaper and as I don't have to write a covering letter it also frees up time for other duties.

 

[tek-monkey]

Maybe its just the end of actual mail, as we knew it? Parcels seem to be the big money now, as so many more people shop online. The only post I get is junk (binned without opening if obvious, binned immediately after opening otherwise), or bills which I pay by DD so don't need the paper to start with.

The only thing I actually want is bank statements, and thats only cos Barclays are so shit that they only store 7 weeks locally and you need to request them otherwise with up to 2 weeks wait!

 

[Sofa]

It does not appear that Royal Mail are having any difficulty in hiring temporary workers. Anyone for parcel basketball?

 

[db]

there seem to be a lot of people on here who don't really understand the concept of striking.. it's not just a handful of people deciding not to work because they've got the hump lol..

the reason it is illegal to hire people to cover the work, and the reason RM can't just sack the striking employees, is because there are strict rules governing how and when a strike takes place.. it is a massive co-ordinated effort, and no-one understands the ramifications more than the workers choosing to go on strike..

i just picked up a parcel from the sorting office today and had a quick chat with the chap who served me.. he's gutted, bless him, because he doesn't want to strike.. but he has to - all for one, and all that..

i don't get why so many people on here are disgruntled by it.. what are you all getting in the mail that is so damn important that this minor disruption to service (and it has been minor - i've only had 2 days in the last few weeks where i've had no mail) is causing you so much grief?? the only exception to this is tek, who i understand is in the process of trying to buy a house and the last thing he needs is yet another excuse for it to fall through - but i would argue that this is the fault of all the other involved parties who are clearly trying to give the poor chap a coronary, and blaming all the problems on each other..

voted in favour of the workers..

 

[tek-monkey]

the only exception to this is tek, who i understand is in the process of trying to buy a house and the last thing he needs is yet another excuse for it to fall through - but i would argue that this is the fault of all the other involved parties who are clearly trying to give the poor chap a coronary, and blaming all the problems on each other..

If only there was paperwork to actually be sent! Got a week today to get it all sorted, and no end in sight. However if the paperwork does come through at the last min but gets delayed by posties, I shall understandably be ever so slightly peeved. Still a ****take though, wont be trying this again in a hurry.

Quick question to the rest of you, when was the last time you posted a letter? Mine was Tuesday, I returned my student loans deferrment form. However I realised at that point I'd not sent a letter in over a year, and didn't even know where to buy stamps from. Is it just used for bills nowadays?

 

[db]

Quick question to the rest of you, when was the last time you posted a letter? Mine was Tuesday, I returned my student loans deferrment form. However I realised at that point I'd not sent a letter in over a year, and didn't even know where to buy stamps from. Is it just used for bills nowadays?

funnily enough, the last time i posted anything was my deferment forms, last week! lol.. prior to that, though, i can't even remember..

i barely even get any bills in the post, as i prefer to work online.. my bank, utilities provider, and mobile phone provider don't send paper bills, it's all online..

 

[Trumpet]

Quick question to the rest of you, when was the last time you posted a letter? Mine was Tuesday, I returned my student loans deferrment form. However I realised at that point I'd not sent a letter in over a year, and didn't even know where to buy stamps from. Is it just used for bills nowadays?

funnily enough, the last time i posted anything was my deferment forms, last week! lol.. prior to that, though, i can't even remember..

i barely even get any bills in the post, as i prefer to work online.. my bank, utilities provider, and mobile phone provider don't send paper bills, it's all online..

My last personal post was last year's Christmas cards.

 

[My Name is URL]

i don't get why so many people on here are disgruntled by it.. what are you all getting in the mail that is so damn important

I work in commercial property... if I don't get signed contracts for certain deals by certain dates than sales are delayed / fall through... this hits my bonuses and consequently my ability to pay my mortgage, but food etc...

It also means that I won't be hitting targets which could result in disciplinary action - obviously worst case scenario but my point is posties are striking because they think its in their best interests... they don't give a (relative) fook about other people and what will happen to them they want to protect their own jobs.

 

[db]

i don't get why so many people on here are disgruntled by it.. what are you all getting in the mail that is so damn important

I work in commercial property... if I don't get signed contracts for certain deals by certain dates than sales are delayed / fall through... this hits my bonuses and consequently my ability to pay my mortgage, but food etc...

It also means that I won't be hitting targets which could result in disciplinary action - obviously worst case scenario but my point is posties are striking because they think its in their best interests... they don't give a (relative) fook about other people and what will happen to them they want to protect their own jobs.

one could argue that, since the entire country is in the same boat, concessions would be expected from businesses operating on snail-mail deadlines, and if they don't that highlights their own shortcomings that should be addressed..

of course the RM workers want to protect their own jobs, in the same way you are disgruntled because you want to protect your own job..

 

[db]

edit: just noticed the poll results are now 50/50, 11 votes each! interesting..

 

[Gramaisc]

Not much sense of community, togetherness, sharing, support or caring left here these days

We had what amounted to a referendum on that in 1979. Very little support for such a policy since then.

 

[tek-monkey]

Am I right in thinking the laws that make the unions give advance notice of strikes, are the same ones that say you can't hire temporary staff to undermine them? In which case, should they hire these people, would the unions be allowed to just strike as and when they please? Quick call about one morning, don't go in today lads.

Then they'd have to hire temporary workers for every day, in case they do strike, but they can't just use the temporary workers regardless as the full time staff have contracts. Could cost RM a fortune having all those on standby.

 

[Sofa]

just noticed the poll results are now 50/50, 11 votes each! interesting..

And now still 50/50 (that's 'fefty/fefty' for anyone from Stoke) at 13 each. Very interesting indeed. I wonder how much this is a reflection on the country as a whole?

I am really delighted that there is such a considerable support for the strike. For anyone wishing to learn more about the dispute from the workers' side, we are hoping to have a guest speaker from the CWU at the next Green Party discussion meeting next Wednesday. It is not quite confirmed yet, but should be soon. I am certainly looking forward to the chance of learning exactly what's what, straight from a union representative.

We do not wish to be one-sided, however. If the meeting goes ahead with the CWU next week we will approach the Royal Mail management to ask for a representative to address a meeting. I really want to hear both sides of the story, even though I have strong expectations as what is going on.

Anyone up for attending the meeting next week if it goes ahead? You don't have to be a member of anything and it is free (and the beer is cheap!).