Postal workers vote for national strike

LeeSouthEast

Can't say I'll notice much difference. Mail has been trickling in for months rather than at full pelt. I only recieved the PIN for my barclaycard a month ago.

It was mailed in JANUARY!

chja

Whilst I can live without all the junk that gets put through my letter box, this is going to be a real pain for eBay buyers.

More seriously though, this will cause massive damage to small businesses who need all the help they can get.

This spineless Governement usually gives in to a protest, so hopefully will sort something out. This needs to stop though - remove the monopoly now !

custardy

chja wrote: »

Whilst I can live without all the junk that gets put through my letter box, this is going to be a real pain for eBay buyers.

More seriously though, this will cause massive damage to small businesses who need all the help they can get.

This spineless Governement usually gives in to a protest, so hopefully will sort something out. This needs to stop though - remove the monopoly now !

they already have just no company is interested in delivery

mystic_trev

Let them strike and let them lose their jobs as well, who do they think they are, and who cares?

Here we are in the middle of a worst recession seen in decades and they think they're a special case. They haven't kept up with the times and act like they're back in the 70's. Most day to day mail can be transacted electronically, and what can't can be sent using other services.

markj113

Hi, im a postie and thought I would post here to answer any questions and take some abuse

I can honestly say the decisson to strike wasnt taken lightly, how many of us in reality do you think can afford to lose quite a large sum of pay over the dispute period.

Royal Mail has backed us into a corner through bullying and harassment and have left us with no other alternative. I have to say their propoganda campaign has worked well and many of the public believe the posties only actually work a couple of hours a day where in reality they work in the office for around 4 hours before even getting out to deliver. Jobs are constantly being cut and more work load is being added onto other delivery rounds and postmen are expected to complete the work through forced overtime (flexablilty).

There are so many facts that the public are unaware of its easy to see how opinion is against us, for example the union asked royal mail for independant assesors to come in and asses delivery jobs for a fair, reasonable amount of workload - Royal mail refused and prefer to continually add workload and bully and harrass the staff into doing it.

Royal Mail also claim poverty yet have made the largest profit in a decade at almost £400 million. Also with regard to the pension mess, would it be in that state if Royal Mail had not taked a 13 year payment break with the governments blessing just to boost profits. Also to rub salt into the wounds Adam crozier earnd around 3.5 million last year and local managers have just received between £4000 - £12,000 bonuses for hitting budget targets even though the people who actually do the work were told they havent made any savings and did not receive a penny and also there's no money in the pot for even a token pay rise this year.

Seaxwyn

Hi Mark, thanks for posting on this thread, it is really good to hear the 'other side' of the story which certainly hasn't come across in the media.

markj113

Seaxwyn wrote: »

Hi Mark, thanks for posting on this thread, it is really good to hear the 'other side' of the story which certainly hasn't come across in the media.

I think the union could do a far better job informing the public of some of the issues we face. A lot of coments by the public in response to the strike have involved privatisation. The true fact of the matter is that no other mail operator wants to be burdened with the non-profitable universal service. they just cherry pick the bulk business mail and merely collect it and then deliver it to us for processing and delivery at a much reduced cost thanks to government tying our hands behind our backs through regulation so we cannot compete fairly.

If the mail service is ever privatised I honesly think you can kiss goodbye to a 1 price to deliver anywhere service and rural areas will pay dearly.

I also honesly believe that this confrontation between the union and royal mail has been orcastrated by the government to help justifying breaking up and selling off Royal Mail to earn a quick buck.

mystic_trev

Speaking yesterday after the group announced a pre-tax loss of £279 million for last year, Allan Leighton, the chairman, said that Royal Mail would need to know what funding would be possible for its next business plan.

The expectation that Royal Mail will seek more money from the Government - its sole shareholder - comes only a year after it received a £3.9 billion rescue package. Seeking more public money will stir calls from critics that Royal Mail should undergo a radical overhaul.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/6270039/Royal-Mail-strike-set-to-see-postal-services-grind-to-a-halt.html

markj113

"Business secretary attacks critics of plan after postal service doubles annual profit to £321m"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/may/14/royal-mail-profits-pension-deficit

Also the 3.9 billion rescue package was actually a loan for mechanisation, most of which still hasnt been invested into the business.

Also with regard to Royal Mail claims that traffic is dropping by 10% a year, this figure is down to the fact that they are fiddling the figures and have changes the way the calcualte traffic. From 250 letters per tray now down to 168 letters for some reason, they also refuse to discuss how they arrived at that figure.

I actually run the machinery in the office and have an exact figure of items run through the shift and I can tell you my workload has not significanty dropped.

LeeSouthEast

I SUPPORT MY POSTIES.

I do not support RM, or not getting my mail. Catch-22 for the public and the workers it seems.