Page 1 of Yet More Postal Strikes...Bloody Marvelous!

No more waking up to bills :D

www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content1?catId=1000002&mediaId=51600692

They`ve even cancelled the money back guarantee on next day 9am special delivery for items posted from today "until further notice" so don`t expect any urgent stuff to get through too soon either, talk about holding the nation to ransom....greedy bastards.

It annoys me all of this childish behaviour because i dont often get a pay rise, certainly not every year and when you accept a job you accept the wage for what it is and what it pays, if i went on strike i`d be out of a job for sure. I do however feel sorry for those RM employees bullied into taking strike action because of peer pressure. I bet that the employees that have only been in the job for 7 days are all jumping on the bandwagon despite the ink on their contract being barely dry...

It cost a few quid but i reckon the fish i poorly wrapped and posted to an inaccesible address will be humming pretty bad by the time they get through their backlog next week, scant consolation for the post I was expecting for next Thursday before I leave the country though i believe. >:( >:( >:(

M.

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This item was edited on Thursday, 4th October 2007, 14:56

Quote:
talk about holding the nation to ransom....greedy bastards.

It annoys me all of this childish behaviour because i dont often get a pay rise, certainly not every year and when you accept a job you accept the wage for what it is and what it pays,

From everything I hear from the workers themselves i;d say that you are being very misled in what you;ve heard and in what you;ve written

What the workers are saying, as opposed to what most of the media is reporting, is that they are happy with the pay rise on offer and would accept it but for one thing - the bosses are saying they only get that pay rise if they agree that when colleagues are off sick or away on holiday they have to cover the shifts of those missing but will NOT be paid any overtime for doing so

On top of that the bosses (Crozier et al) apparently promised when they took over to make a contribution to the RM pension scheme to help reduce the deficit in the scheme (as a lot of employers have had to do) however, they have now said that contribution will not be made and that the workers will have to fund the deficit themselves by working an extra 5 years (apparently the RM used to pension people of at 60 and now they will have to work til 65 - or something similar to that, this bit i didnt hear in full)


From what you hear from the mouths of those actually striking the media arent doing them much favours, and the comments from the OP reflect this seemingly misguided view of why they are striking ie its simply coz they want more dosh



Chris

A.C.C. Member
LFC
YNWA

Still a huge f***ing pain in the arse, and the timing of it (two strikes in quick succession) isn`t going to do them any favours with the public. Mind you, they can barely manage to deliver things properly when they aren`t on strike...

Oh the other thing that they have said they dont like is that the bosses expect them to use their own cars to ensure the mail is delivered when it shoudl be but do not recompense them for doing so

All of these things ive heard today and at the previous strike and to be honest I can understand why they are totally hacked off with the suits runing the place (if its all true).




Chris

A.C.C. Member
LFC
YNWA

This item was edited on Thursday, 4th October 2007, 16:25

My agency won`t pay me without an original timesheet, so that`s me f***ed for this week. This is why strike action p***es me off. Fair enough they`re annoyed, but they start affecting a lot of other people. Same thing happened during that `fuel crisis` - I lost a very good (and lucrative) contract at Intel in Swindon because I couldn`t get there all because of a pointless (and fruitless) demonstration.

I just don`t agree with Strikes to an end whatsoever, if you don`t like the job anymore because the goal posts have moved start to look for another one just like I and millions of others have to everyday. It`s called staff turnover around here....I`d never make millions suffer because i`m not happy with my job anymore...but I agree with you in respect that the media can twist the truth, however there`s no denying that the workers are striking and we as a nation are suffering as a result.

M.

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Quote:
I just don`t agree with Strikes to an end whatsoever, if you don`t like the job anymore because the goal posts have moved start to look for another one just like I and millions of others have to everyday. It`s called staff turnover around here....I`d never make millions suffer because i`m not happy with my job anymore...but I agree with you in respect that the media can twist the truth, however there`s no denying that the workers are striking and we as a nation are suffering as a result.

what complete and utter bollox, all workers have rights that people have fought long and hard for over the years.

If the only option is to take strike action because management refuse to discuss issues then so be it.

You could atleast have ensured you find out all the information concerning the postal issues before moaning and belittling thier fight for working conditions.

Have you by any chance undertaken management trainning by the likes of McD`s lol:P

rant mode off



mmm chocolate

Any boss who is happy about a high staff turnover won`t be in business for long. Most of RM`s woes are down to hiring casual and agency staff in preference to permanent staff. None of this surprises me, of course. RM management are textbook examples of bad management - regarding staff as a liability; cutting staff to cover their mistakes; using intimidation and coercion to get their way. They`ve been like this since 1971 and the big postal strike.

In the 1980s, RM management found out that the Post Office Superannuation Scheme was in quite decent profit. They couldn`t raid the scheme like Robert Maxwell because of the way it was set up, but they could go to the Government (the PM`s name escapes me) and ask for a holiday from contributing to the scheme. They were granted the holiday, and were only forced to start contributing again once the scheme started - like most pension schemes - to show a deficit.

However, I don`t think the Union is completely blameless in this matter although there`s some question whether their viewpoint is being accurately reported by the press. Are they striking for better pay, restitution to the pension scheme or overtime? Are they changing the goalposts as if they`re hell-bent on having a strike for any reason they can think about, or do they have a number of genuine grievances which the media are very selective about reporting?

What angers me is there are two parties who will suffer in this strike - firstly the customers who will be inconvenienced, and secondly the good, hard-working postal workers who will have to take the flak for the strike.

RM management and the Union bosses will get paid whatever happens and it is their pig-headedness that has allowed this whole argument to get completely out of hand.

I wonder who`ll be getting cushy jobs and brown-paper-bag backhanders from the competitors when Royal Mail gets sold off cheap by the next Government.

J Mark Oates

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well said Mark, its all part of the plan to get rid of the post office.



mmm chocolate

I was mid job 3 years ago and agency called me up to go into sorting office, got there was asked if i rode a bike (dumbass that I am) said aye got handed a bke older than I was a bag of mail a map of my route and of the post office that held the other 2 bags I was to deliver!! I was still delivering at 5pm and didnt get a single screwy look from anyone and actually felt quite good that I had been upto the job, paid from memory around a fiver an hour and walked like John Wayne the next day and put it down to experience. Point is there wasnt a worker there who gave a toss and most were temps, the ones that had been there years quite rightly had the cushy jobs and van runs etc. PO has been on its knees for years and wont be here in 10 years imo