Post staff to hold national strikes (22+23 oct)

cyberbob

i've already had 2 or 3 bits of mail (letters that are normally delivered by RM) delivered by couriers.

kevinyork

There are two thing things strike will achieve...a privatised Royal Mail, albeit much reduced, under the Conservatives and the loss of one price nationwide letter delivery. When the tories force through privatisation and jobs are lost then I bet the union leaders will still have their feet under tha table. In a few years time we will look back with fond memories of what was Royal Mail and wonder why the heck the unions destroyed it. It does sound extremely hard to say it but if the bags are too heavy and you are unhappy...maybe its time to look for another job. I used to work with people who moaned every day about their lot but were very happy to keep taking the money.

mazza111

It seems to me the union & it's members are just bullies that bully other people who do not agree with what they want - it makes me wonder how many people actualy want this strike. Who can he get help from - not the union as the union members are the bullies.

He can go to his manager, bullying of non union members or people who don't want to strike isn't tolerated in our office, each to their own. Royal Mail have also sent letters to all staff, encouraging them to work. If they don't want to work in their own office where they would need to cross picket lines, then transport will be arranged for them to work in other local offices. Well that's what they say anyway.


Just for the record, it's today the posties are on strike, was mail centres on Thursday, Sorters (only about 700 of them, could be wrong on numbers tho) yesterday, and posties today.

I wish my husband could afford 5 days off work unpaid (or whatever it is I am past giving a toss now) before Xmas. I bet the Union Leaders are not losing any of their salary each day while they lead their sheep into the pens.

Don't think many posties can afford to lose that just before christmas either.

Just for the record, HCT (high capacity trolleys) are not available in our office. The 16 kg bag I was referring to is before you top up at the grey boxes on the street, well should be 16kg, not 20. Multiply that by 4-6 bags depending on the duty. There are no bikes in our office. Vans are used for parcels and rural duties only. We have 2 HCT that are sitting idle in out office, which were brought in to train staff, then they discovered that they weren't really suitable for the terrain here.

blue_monkey_2

OK, so a bit of it is about heavier sacks you have to carry. You do not want to carry such heavy sacks.

So you go on strike and so there is a backlog of mail.

Which has to be delivered eventually making your sack even heavier every day for the next month while you catch up. If you can be bothered (which is what people have issue with).

So, you yourselves have made your job harder while moaning about the job being too hard in the first place.

But on the bright side, after Xmas once the cards have been sent, a lot of people will be using different methods of communications, communications you have made them think about and start using, because you went on strike. So your mail bags will then be lighter. They might even have to make people redundant because there is not enough mail. So you've won your cause?? And when the redundancies are announced you'll be going on strike again because you've done yourselves out of jobs.

Anyone else get it?? And this is why people have given up bothering. I use the RM for posting parcels at the moment but prices are getting cheaper. I will send as much stuff electronically as I can - invoices, payments, etc... So while it is ony, say, 30 items a week, it only takes another million people to do the same for you to have 30 million items a week less to deliver.

I bet the Union Leaders never told you all of that though did they and you all got swept up in it all.

As for bullying. Do you really think it is that easy - it is hard enough working with bullies as it is but when those bullies have the full backing of the Unions the employers hands are tied.

I' let you strike for as long as you wanted and bring temps in to do the job - temps are needed for Xmas anyway, they have no loyalty to any of you and would probably be happy to do your work for overtime and more money to spend on their kids at Xmas. if the job was that bad there would not have been more applicants than there was jobs. You'd soon come back to work when the morgage or rent needed paying or food needed putting on the table.

mazza111

I' let you strike for as long as you wanted and bring temps in to do the job -

I think you will find that might be illegal.

It's not JUST about heavier bags. *sigh* if only it was, that was just one health and safety reason I was mentioning here because it's one of the things that annoys the hell out of me.

I actually think a work to rule would be 100% more effective than a strike.

I'm just home from the picket line, although I don't want to strike, I would not cross a picket line. We had 5 members of staff went into the office today, they were not harassed in anyway. They were asked politely not to cross the picketline, they chose to cross it, so therefore it's there choice, no bullying, there will be no aftermath either. And by the way, it's Royal Mail who said it's that easy for Posties to go to work

And just for the record, ppl are already losing their job... I will probably be next due to my knee being shot to pieces because of their overweight bags...

custardy

mazza111 wrote: »

I think you will find that might be illegal.

It's not JUST about heavier bags. *sigh* if only it was, that was just one health and safety reason I was mentioning here because it's one of the things that annoys the hell out of me.

I actually think a work to rule would be 100% more effective than a strike.

I'm just home from the picket line, although I don't want to strike, I would not cross a picket line. We had 5 members of staff went into the office today, they were not harassed in anyway. They were asked politely not to cross the picketline, they chose to cross it, so therefore it's there choice, no bullying, there will be no aftermath either. And by the way, it's Royal Mail who said it's that easy for Posties to go to work

i have said the same many times
follow the rules,the weights matrix,take all breaks,start on time etc
then watch it all grind to a halt
too long posties have got used to the carrot of job & finish that it has become indoctrinated into staff to skip breaks,come in early etc
work to rule puts it all at RM's feet to address and make the job achievable
im back at work on Tuesday.anyone local to me is welcome to come along on the walk and show me how its done.just hope you like stairs

wullie

I'm getting pretty bored with it all. In very simple terms expect the post to become very expensive in years to come as the Royal Mail is destroyed and foreign companies start taking over. The Government do not want a postal service and the public are unwilling to support it so the days of cheap postage will soon be over. You only have to look at the cost of your utilty bills to see this as an absolute fact. All run by foreign firms and all expensive. I wouldn't want to live in a rural area once Royal Mail has gone. Believe me, your beloved TnT or whoever will not be interested in leaving the big cities to post a birthday card for 30p. That's where your Postman Pat cartoon is VERY wrong. He delivers to small villages, and i'll tell you a fact.... TnT won't, well not unless you pay a small fortune.

cyberbob

mazza111 wrote: »

I will probably be next due to my knee being shot to pieces because of their overweight bags...

I don't want to get personal but I doubt your knees being shot is totally due to heavy RM bags. If I look at your Signature it says you have lost 4 stone in weight. Congratulations for that. 4 extra stone in weight though puts a lot more pressure on your knees when walking. My Wife weighs about 10 stone so 4 stone would nearly be half her body weight so the effect on her would be enormous as in anyone. I am sure this had a lot to do with any damage in your knees

Also if the bags were over the weight you are allowed to carry you should have refused to carry then or reported them to the HSE. If you continued to carry over weight bags then i'm afraid you only have yourself to blame

custardy

cyberbob wrote: »

I don't want to get personal but I doubt your knees being shot is totally due to heavy RM bags. If I look at your Signature it says you have lost 4 stone in weight. Congratulations for that. 4 extra stone in weight though puts a lot more pressure on your knees when walking. My Wife weighs about 10 stone so 4 stone would nearly be half her body weight so the effect on her would be enormous as in anyone. I am sure this had a lot to do with any damage in your knees

Also if the bags were over the weight you are allowed to carry you should have refused to carry then or reported them to the HSE. If you continued to carry over weight bags then i'm afraid you only have yourself to blame

in my office(and others i believe) they removed the scales
kinda hard to argue your bags are over weight without being able to weigh them
part of RM's H&S is managers should do random weekly(IIRC) checks on bag weights
same goes for the bag weight matrix

cyberbob

custardy wrote: »

in my office(and others i believe) they removed the scales

Well ask them to put them back. Simples eh