Postal Action

Sometmes I go a couple of days without watching any news so I have only just realised that there is a postal action going on as I have not received any post other than a couple of letters over the past week, it has really taken effect in Northampton as there must be a backlog as items I sent last Monday have still not arrived.

See, this is where striking becomes pointless. I don't have the first clue what they are striking about, so in my mind, it just won't make much of an impact.

They've been striking for well over a month - looks like they need to do a bit more on their publicity. Maybe they mailed everyone a notification

I hate postmen, but that's from my time as a RM employee, not due to their recent strike action.

Like Drew, I don't know what they're striking about, but I'm certianly not getting sympathetic towards them or whatever their cause is...

See, I know they have been striking - quite a few of my direct mail packs have been delayed by them. But without knowing what they are actually striking about, it's just pointless.

But then perhaps that is deliberate. We have a run of Tube strikes in Glasgow a year or so ago but once we found out that they were striking to get more pay for less hours (the tube drivers are on about £30k pa for a 40 hour week) and that they didn't want more staff employed as this would stop their overtime, the public support waned slightly.

I think its about job cuts and pensions, so if they are striking over that I have every sympathy and back them up 100%

You would back strike action with just that limited amount of info?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6251932.stm

I shouldn't have had to go looking. But I have to say, I am not sure I now agree with it.

Yes my mates a postman - he works fecking hard. Adam Crozier the chief exec gets 8 million a year whilst RM are intent on cutting jobs down the line (even though they wont admit it). Also I think RM are targeting pensions as a way of cutting costs. I would have to ask my mate the ins and outs, he has told me but I wasnt listening properly.

Just because you mate works hard doesn't mean a job should be automatically safe. If the Royal Mail cannot compete, it will needs to change the way it works or they will ALL end up without jobs.

WormThatTurned wrote:

Also I think RM are targeting pensions as a way of cutting costs.

That maybe the case, but then so is pretty much every other large organisation. Current final salary pension schemes are far far to expensive for them to maintain. Most are changing them.

A pretty pointless strike as most people will just now use the phone, send an email/ text or use another company.

spoilt_little_brat wrote:

A pretty pointless strike as most people will just now use the phone, send an email/ text or use another company.

Except for small business' who rely on the royal mail to get their payment cheques through. It will be them that suffer....

Jobs MIGHT be lost, yes...

RM has been in dire need of modernisation for years across the board and the unions have been partly responsible in holding them back.

It's survival of the fittest and RM are currently looking like a couch potato, 40-a-day smoker... with asthma and a bad heart.

As SLB says... people will source alternatives if RM/posties are going to down tools, and there are plenty out there!

They always strike in the summer..

Ziggy! wrote:

They always strike in the summer..

That's funny, the article I posted above calls it the first national strike in a decade....

lol, nice one Drew

I have a lot more sympathy than you guys. I respect the fact they are fighting this. This is what unions are for - to stick up for the workers. Even an all party committee has critisized RM's leadership over their actions. And despite RM's position and it's failings the amount of post RM deliver is at record levels. Theyve gone from 0% to 2.5% pay increase with conditions, all the men are asking for is an unconditional 2.5%. Considering Crozier gets 8 Million a year with a pay increase looming, I can quite see why the workers are striking. Good on em.

I hope the Royal Mail / Post Office goes bust and they all lose their jobs. It gets right on my tits when I want to post a parcel and stand behind endless people sodding around with car tax (can be done online) passports (send them in by post) and benefits (get a bloody bank account.)

Who actually strikes in this day and age? They're just helping everyone to find an alternative to using their services.

plipplop wrote:

I hope the Royal Mail / Post Office goes bust and they all lose their jobs. It gets right on my tits when I want to post a parcel and stand behind endless people sodding around with car tax (can be done online) passports (send them in by post) and benefits (get a bloody bank account.)

Who actually strikes in this day and age? They're just helping everyone to find an alternative to using their services.

Mr Compassionate is stirred from his slumber

WormThatTurned wrote:

I have a lot more sympathy than you guys. I respect the fact they are fighting this. This is what unions are for - to stick up for the workers. Even an all party committee has critisized RM's leadership over their actions. And despite RM's position and it's failings the amount of post RM deliver is at record levels. Theyve gone from 0% to 2.5% pay increase with conditions, all the men are asking for is an unconditional 2.5%. Considering Crozier gets 8 Million a year with a pay increase looming, I can quite see why the workers are striking. Good on em.

I don't know who Crozier is, but if he is in charge of a company that size, that is likely not anywhere near what other comparable people earn.

The problem with companies such as this that used to be in the public control, is that they enjoyed conditionless pay increases for YEARS which make a lot of them on salaries that are far beyond what the market value for their role. Yet, they expect pay rises anyway.

I really, really hate this idea that a payrise is a god given right, across the board, no matter how you perform your job. It grinds my gears....

plipplop wrote:

I hope the Royal Mail / Post Office goes bust and they all lose their jobs. It gets right on my tits when I want to post a parcel and stand behind endless people sodding around with car tax (can be done online) passports (send them in by post) and benefits (get a bloody bank account.)

Who actually strikes in this day and age? They're just helping everyone to find an alternative to using their services.

Interestingly (or maybe not) TNT are considering offerring a fully complete postal service to rival RM so if they do not modernise to compete it will be academic about the pension bcause non of them will get a full pension anyway if they are redundant.

My mate gets £230 quid a week - is it any wonder they want a pay rise ? Considering they work 48 hour weeks and have to be up at 3 am. And considering they are having extra work foisted upon them for a conditional 2.5% plus the job cuts plus the pension hits. Its all in favour of the management and *Bad word* the workers. This is what the unions are for. If this was happening to me, Id be *Bad word* off too.

Then it would seem the union are NOT doing their job properly. From my understanding, they are trying to get a payrise across the board. They would be better negotiating a better pay rise for people who actually need it, rather than including the others I mentioned who will be on higher.

Actually, that's just short of £12k (if that figure up there is before tax - if after, he's on more like £14k) per year. Thats what I started out earning in my industry (in fact a lot more than I got), and is pretty much still that starting salary of most customer service people up here.

If he want's more money, why not find a different job?