royal mail strike

[jug]

all industry is regulated, some industries have seperate regulatory bodies, others simply depend on the monopolies & mergers commission, in either case if there is healthy & fair competition there will be no restriction on any organisation. in the case of postal services, there will never be healthy competition until RM is privatised because no one will be willing to offer a true alternative until that happens, which means RM will always have to operate with restrictions in place to allow competitors to survive. that hurts RM, it cant go on forever, hence the privatise or die situation, but CWU refuse to accept that, they seem to think a virtual RM monopoly is maintainable, every economist on earth knows it isnt.

 

[thefishdude]

oooh great they have just said going to be more strikes starting next week. a series of 24 hour strike acros svarious departments.

just deliver my god dam post.

 

[ChrisUK]

f**ks sake. The only people that suffer are the people trying to use the goddamn postal service! :bang: .

 

[jug]

i'm going to try using someone else, if i like the experience i'll never use RM again. if the radio is telling the truth it will cost less.

 

[twincamms]

Actually jug, the CWU is not at all opposed to modernisation or privatisation, they are however, seeking to find the best solution for the employees, they want voluntary redundancy terms, 40,000 will quite happily go, if they are paid off for their years of service and given a Jobshop Workshop. For the remaining employees, they want an honest living wage in return for modernisation and productivity, and the biggest stumbling block is pensions, we've had a final salary pension that you pick up as any other civil servant at 60, they want to change it to 65, RM also took a contribution break for 13 years, in other words, raided our pension fund, they now want us to fund that mistake by putting up our weekly contributions from 6% of our wages to 10%. Why should we pay for their fook ups? And finally, the CWU want the changes made at a sustainable rate, over a period of 3 maybe four years, not in 6 months which is what RM want.

 

[twincamms]

i'm going to try using someone else, if i like the experience i'll never use RM again. if the radio is telling the truth it will cost less.

Use whoever you like, it won't go anywhere as they all dump it in our system.

Example: I've seen a DHL Guaranteed Next Day Delivery parcel go through our system, they collected the parcel from the customers home, charged them £25 then put it through our sytem using Special Delivery at £15.40, there you go, that's your alternative, that's how our competitors operate!

 

[Hellcat]

Final Salary pensions...


Can't realy expect to keep them. Nurses don't get final salary pensions even though they've been paying for them for their whole careers - and they haven't gone on strike.

 

[custard]

f**ks sake. The only people that suffer are the people trying to use the goddamn postal service! :bang: .

you realise there are 2 sides at the negotiations? you think posties want to drop (i guess so far) £400 in lost wages?
strikes the last resort.
TBH i would happily go work to rule.people go in early,use their own cars on delivery and other stuff that RM now take for granted.
a work to rule would cause less agro but be more 'public friendly' however the mail would still grind to a halt.
interestingly RM has stated working to rule as being unofficial industrial action.
so coming in on time and not using your own car is against RM's rules

end of the day regardless of your opinion that is all you have.you can use whoever you want but thats where you influence ends.

RM brought in the 1 delivery system,RM brought in the longer walks,RM said it was job & finish,rm reneged on the previous wage agreement over a fixed timescale and more and more.

 

[faster4_tec]

any UK based instances where a privatised company HAS actually done better since, both from a customers and a employee's point of view?

 

[sledge]

Its a tough one, there are always two sides to an argument. Years ago when I was on the tools I was as bolshy and as militant as everyone else on the shop floor but after moving into the office I have come to realize and indeed see the long term damage that issues like this can cause. My own company have this week decided to ditch Parcel force after some 20 years ago and will never use them again due to the problems this strike has caused to our buisness.
Everyone Englishman loves a good underdog story and when someone does go on strike and it makes the front page the initial reaction is to cheer and say "********" to the management......but public support does not last forever. Remember the Fireman and the Tanker drivers, once the public started to become "inconvenienced" the support was rapidly lost. The postal union have today announced more industrial action to last weeks. It will harm the country, company profits will drop, jobs will be lost, companies will go under, peoples health will suffer, possibly even loose their lives.........The postmen have made their point, its been a few days and you have made your point but its time to go back guys before you harm the long term prospects of RM and compromise not just your jobs but those of many others.

 

[custard]

the problem i see is the last time the CWU called off the strikes to go back to negotiations when RM agreed to sit down.
rm used this time to implemnt casual workers,back up plans and when it was sorted they called off the talks.
so im guessing the CWU now want results.
i agree theres issues on both sides and as ive said i prefer a work to rule.
infact work to rule is a strong phrase when what i mean is doing the job.
leighton is trying to spin it with reports of the average wage being £440/week for a postie

how are you having problems with parcelforce?

 

[twincamms]

Sledge, I'm constantly in contact with CWU HQ and it seems that they have pretty much agreed on all issues except flexible working and pensions, Royal Mail have said there is no compromise on this and the CWU won't compromise because it thinks it's members will suffer.

What RM are suggesting is annualised hours to work like this:

Monday you work from 0600 to 1400, however, there are low volumes of mail or the job in hand is complete, they send you home at 1200.

Tuesday, bulk postings mean heavy workload, the job cannot be finished by your set finish time of 1400, you owe them two hours from Monday, so you stay until 1600 to pay them back the time and finish the task.

This continues throughout the week over six days until you complete your 40 hours.

It's not good for family life to have your start/finish times altered daily according to workload. You can't plan anything, make any commitments to clubs, courses, leisure activities, etc.

As for the pension, well I think we'll lose on this, RM took an employer contributions break for 13 years, now there is a £6.2billion defecit in the fund, this hole has to be plugged, so we will have to increase our contributions and work longer for their incompetence.

This £6.2billion defecit also makes the company unattractive to potential purchasers, hence RM will stay public property for some time to come.......................................

 

[custard]

Sledge, I'm constantly in contact with CWU HQ and it seems that they have pretty much agreed on all issues except flexible working and pensions, Royal Mail have said there is no compromise on this and the CWU won't compromise because it thinks it's members will suffer.

What RM are suggesting is annualised hours to work like this:

Monday you work from 0600 to 1400, however, there are low volumes of mail or the job in hand is complete, they send you home at 1200.

Tuesday, bulk postings mean heavy workload, the job cannot be finished by your set finish time of 1400, you owe them two hours from Monday, so you stay until 1600 to pay them back the time and finish the task.

This continues throughout the week over six days until you complete your 40 hours.

It's not good for family life to have your start/finish times altered daily according to workload. You can't plan anything, make any commitments to clubs, courses, leisure activities, etc.

As for the pension, well I think we'll lose on this, RM took an employer contributions break for 13 years, now there is a £6.2billion defecit in the fund, this hole has to be plugged, so we will have to increase our contributions and work longer for their incompetence.

This £6.2billion defecit also makes the company unattractive to potential purchasers, hence RM will stay public property for some time to come.......................................

also to add,i work out on the street so going by RM's logic a manager will judge/guess when i finsih i assume and dock me hours accordingly

 

[Helz]

What RM are suggesting is annualised hours to work like this:

Monday you work from 0600 to 1400, however, there are low volumes of mail or the job in hand is complete, they send you home at 1200.

Tuesday, bulk postings mean heavy workload, the job cannot be finished by your set finish time of 1400, you owe them two hours from Monday, so you stay until 1600 to pay them back the time and finish the task.

This continues throughout the week over six days until you complete your 40 hours.

It's not good for family life to have your start/finish times altered daily according to workload. You can't plan anything, make any commitments to clubs, courses, leisure activities, etc.

As for the pension, well I think we'll lose on this, RM took an employer contributions break for 13 years, now there is a £6.2billion defecit in the fund, this hole has to be plugged, so we will have to increase our contributions and work longer for their incompetence.
.

On your first point, that's life. Most Mon-Fri 9-5 jobs are very poorly paid and are pretty rare in this day and age. I often have to stay later at work to get things done or bring it home with me. The reality is that a lot of people do the same. I also struggle to commit to things and with a rolling rota when I never know what day I have off, it further complicates things.

With pensions, not sure of the ins and outs but the government's own rules have stated for many years that a pension fund can only have a certain excess before they have to stop contributions. The situation is no different to many other private companies. And as above, final salary is long gone in most of the private sector.

Now maybe some people joined RM for a cushty public sector life, but that doesn't wash any more, it's ridiculous to have a two-tier workforce.

My argument against other companies delivering mail isn't just long-term cost but the short term cost and time involved in recruiting and training loads of staff and investing in new equipment. I'm sure it could be done but due to the massive investment, no-one is willing to stick their neckout and do it, can't say I blame them.

 

[Puntoboy]

I actually received some mail today and finally my new CPU!

A pleasant surprise.

 

[sledge]

Custard?
I can accept that for your union to be forced to take such action your concerns and issues are worthwhile. However and please excuse my sarcasm its all "me me me" and your answers are typical of a brainwashed and bullied union member. You claim to have lost some £400 as a result of this action. I have in the last hour found out the house sale chain my brother was in has today collapsed owing to documents being delayed in the post. In addition to him loosing the house and having to now go back to the start he is now about £2.2k out of pocket, all due to circumstances beyond his and his solicitors control.

The way I see it your issues are between the RM, your union and the Government, please explain why my brother and the many thousands of other members of the public who have no connection with your dispute and who have so far been affected by your actions should be forced to suffer in this way.

 

[custard]

Custard?
I can accept that for your union to be forced to take such action your concerns and issues are worthwhile. However and please excuse my sarcasm its all "me me me" and your answers are typical of a brainwashed and bullied union member. You claim to have lost some £400 as a result of this action. I have in the last hour found out the house sale chain my brother was in has today collapsed owing to documents being delayed in the post. In addition to him loosing the house and having to now go back to the start he is now about £2.2k out of pocket, all due to circumstances beyond his and his solicitors control.

The way I see it your issues are between the RM, your union and the Government, please explain why my brother and the many thousands of other members of the public who have no connection with your dispute and who have so far been affected by your actions should be forced to suffer in this way.

read it again,i didnt say i was £400 out of pocket
again perhaps the strike is out of my control,dont make assumptions

unfortunatly a strike by its very nature causes disruption

 

[Puntoboy]

Kind of like a terrorist threat, without the loss of life.

"Give us what we want or we won't post anything"

Instead of a thread to kill, a thread to ruin the economy.

 

[twincamms]

Blame the Government, not the CWU, it's their company, their responsibility and ultimately their public service, so why have they put eggheads like Leighton and Crozier in charge, not to serve you, the public, that's for sure...................................

 

[sledge]

I am afraid that last statement does not hold water. Its the Governments fault is it? The Government want to make changes to improve the economic viability of the Royal Mail, be competitive, and improve the service offered to the public. The fact the union oppose these changes are what the dispute is all about isnt it? The way I see it the Government are trying to do something about it but the union wont accept them.

The Royal Mail is being dragged under, not by the Government but by its workers. You are cutting your own throats in the same way the Miners did back in the 80s.