Postal Strike / 30,000

**highlander** · 16-Oct-09, 12:36

I was listening to radio2, some person from parcel force phoned in and said they will not be on strike. It maybe a good time for cadets, scouts etc etc to raise money as they could post local xmas cards. This year i will not have to post parcels to my son in afganistan but feel very sorry for the troops who will miss out on their special gifts from home, how will this postal strike affect you?

**wkgeorge** · 16-Oct-09, 12:41

Why have a postal strike? I posted a card first class on Thursday 8th October and its still not arrived.

**Flashman** · 16-Oct-09, 12:51

I'm sick of the attitude in the Public Sector, us in the private sector are all on pay freezes to get us out this debt ridden recession and when the public sector are told they might have their pay frozen for just a year their first reaction in to threaten the government and the general public with strike action!

Lovely.... what world are they living in!

**Kodiak** · 16-Oct-09, 13:27

The staff of Royal Mail were promised that if they helped Royal Mail to make a Profit and get them out of the Red they would be given a Pay Rise.

This they did by working extra hard and working overtime for no extra money. They were then told by their Bosses that they would have to keep up this for another length of time to proove it was not a flash in the pan but if they continued to keep on making a profit they would then get their pay rise.

This happened yet again and were told that they could not get their Pay Rise but instead the bosses gave themselves 10 Million Pounds as a Bonus for gettting the Royal Mail back into profit.

This is only one thing that Royal Mail are angry about.

Also they want to reduce the amount of full time staff and employ mainly part time staff. The reasoning behind this is this.

At present Postmen sort their own mail for their own delivery round. They then deliver the mail door to door. Royal mail want to bring in to every sorting office a automatic sorting machine to sort the mail for all the different rounds. Then the postman would arrive pick up his bag and then deliver the mail door to door. This then would mean that the postman would not work so many hours and so all that would be required would be Part Time Staff.

This would work possibly for letters but not for packets or Parcels, who would sort these for delivery.

Royal mail say that mail has dropped by 10% and this is quite true for Letters. This is due to more and more people sending e-mail etc.

But Packets and Parcels are up by over 50% and Royal Mail forget to mention this. This also due to the internet as more and more people are buying from places like Amazon.co.uk and Play.com. This means more and more packets and parcels being delivered.

Now I am not saying that the Posties should go on strike, I am not at all as I do not believe this Strike will do any good at all. The CWU should get around the table and Talk and not encourage the Posties to Strike.

As to the Strike it will not effect Thurso as hardly anyone wroking from the Thurso Sorting Office is a member of the CWU and as such will not be on Strike.

**wicker8** · 16-Oct-09, 13:28

totally agree with flashman well said

**Leanne** · 16-Oct-09, 15:24

Originally Posted by Flashman

I'm sick of the attitude in the Public Sector, us in the private sector are all on pay freezes to get us out this debt ridden recession and when the public sector are told they might have their pay frozen for just a year their first reaction in to threaten the government and the general public with strike action!

Lovely.... what world are they living in!

Its not everyone in the public sector its only ever posties and binmen - the rest of us just have to lump it. I think they are being a little bit mean doing it in this current circumstances when some people can't even get a job... I worked for the royal mail for a while when I was a student and the pay is really quite good. There aren't many jobs you can get that pay that well without any formal qualifications...

It does rile me that people strike for when serious things are happening to others all over the country. My old boss ran a laboratory, when the NHS decided they were going to have a review of services they decided to merge two labs and get rid of one of the managers. They downgraded my boss two grades - the equivalent of 8K per year! They put him on protected pay for 2 years but what about when those two years are up? My department got split in two resulting in me losing half of my "skills" to another laboratory. I got forced to retrain in another science or lose my job. I didn't spend 5 years at uni to do that job, I spent it there to do the job I was doing! Its a bit like saying to a doctor that has trained as a heart surgeon to be a brain surgeon instead - of which they have no experience

Oh and we were told as we were "crucial services" we weren't allowed to strike. And there was nothing the unions could do...

**Flashman** · 16-Oct-09, 19:38

I'm not saying posties or public sector workers should not strike, but they should have a little consideration for the tough times everyone is going through.

The last thing we need is strike action to vital public services, some small companys depend on the service Royal Mail provide. Everyone is having to knuckle down at the moment and accept pay feezes and no bonuses just to make sure everyone keeps their jobs so the public sector should be no different

Im quite sure posties have ligitimite issues but the kind of things talked about happens in companies the length the bredth of this country.

The people who really seem to benifit is the fat cat union leaders themselves who like nothing better than flexing political muscle and give the goverment of the day a wee slap.

**Flashman** · 16-Oct-09, 19:49

Originally Posted by Leanne

Its not everyone in the public sector its only ever posties and binmen - the rest of us just have to lump it. I think they are being a little bit mean doing it in this current circumstances when some people can't even get a job... I worked for the royal mail for a while when I was a student and the pay is really quite good. There aren't many jobs you can get that pay that well without any formal qualifications...

It does rile me that people strike for when serious things are happening to others all over the country. My old boss ran a laboratory, when the NHS decided they were going to have a review of services they decided to merge two labs and get rid of one of the managers. They downgraded my boss two grades - the equivalent of 8K per year! They put him on protected pay for 2 years but what about when those two years are up? My department got split in two resulting in me losing half of my "skills" to another laboratory. I got forced to retrain in another science or lose my job. I didn't spend 5 years at uni to do that job, I spent it there to do the job I was doing! Its a bit like saying to a doctor that has trained as a heart surgeon to be a brain surgeon instead - of which they have no experience

Oh and we were told as we were "crucial services" we weren't allowed to strike. And there was nothing the unions could do...

I can understand that and im sorry to hear it, but it is all about money in western society and maybe they were doing their best to try and keep everyone employed as best they could. There is always a bean counter higher up dishing the edicts.

The days of going to Uni and getting to pick your job are long gone... learning another Science will surely be good for you personally in the longrun though?...nice for the CV

**Leanne** · 16-Oct-09, 20:00

Originally Posted by Flashman

The days of going to Uni and getting to pick your job are long gone... learning another Science will surely be good for you personally in the longrun though?...nice for the CV

I do enjoy my new job but it's not my first love

I used to love going to breast clinics and telling women not to worry as the cells weren't cancer, it was just a cyst. Or holding their hands if it were bad news and reassuring them that it was caught early and its not the killer it once was. I enjoyed the emotional aspect of the job. My new job is all about drama

**Loch not Lock** · 18-Oct-09, 12:33

The Royal Mail are recruiting 30,000 part time workers to help clear the backlog due to the strike. Surely this is a hideous error for several reasons. It will cost a fortune, the incomers will be treated as "scabs" and how can these short term workers be trusted with our mail.

**unicorn** · 18-Oct-09, 12:35

Well someone has to deliver it I suppose. The amount of mail that must be processed daily would cause a huge backlog.

**ShelleyCowie** · 18-Oct-09, 12:54

I dont blame them to be honest, the back log will be huge. Which means when the people come back from the strike then they will have to work harder and longer which obviously they will not want. I know i would not.

Posties work hard enough as it is. Working in extreme weather conditions. Trying to deliver as fast as possible. I know it would not be something i could do easily! And yet some people still gurn if their post is delivered later than usual.

**balto** · 18-Oct-09, 13:30

i personally think royal mail are right to recruit these extra people to help out, why should all the postmen be allowed to bring the country to a standstill, especially at christmas time, this coutry is trying to recover from a recission yet you have these people demanding more money, when so many other firms and companys have had to slash jobs , workers have to have pay cuts to save their jobs others have had to have their pay frozen , these postmen should think hard about what they are doing and be glad they are still employed.

**golach** · 18-Oct-09, 14:37

Originally Posted by Loch not Lock

The Royal Mail are recruiting 30,000 part time workers to help clear the backlog due to the strike. Surely this is a hideous error for several reasons. It will cost a fortune, the incomers will be treated as "scabs" and how can these short term workers be trusted with our mail.

I totally agree, was a postman for 8 years. Who are going to train these part timers? All my training was from experienced postmen, not managers.
Just another Bully Boy tactic of the Royal Mail Management, they will not even sit down with the postal workers to thrash out their grievances

**BINBOB** · 18-Oct-09, 15:19

Originally Posted by ShelleyBain

I dont blame them to be honest, the back log will be huge. Which means when the people come back from the strike then they will have to work harder and longer which obviously they will not want. I know i would not.

Posties work hard enough as it is. Working in extreme weather conditions. Trying to deliver as fast as possible. I know it would not be something i could do easily! And yet some people still gurn if their post is delivered later than usual.

Agree with u ,Shelley...

**Stavro** · 18-Oct-09, 18:34

Originally Posted by balto

... this coutry is trying to recover from a recission yet you have these people demanding more money, when so many other firms and companys have had to slash jobs , workers have to have pay cuts to save their jobs others have had to have their pay frozen , these postmen should think hard about what they are doing and be glad they are still employed.

Posties are infinitely more useful and productive than are members of parliament, yet these "right honourable" clowns are setting a fine example in how to charge thousands upon thousands of pounds, each, for houses that do not exist, family members (not) doing any work, stationery charges, travel, hospitality, foreign "fact finding" trips, entertaining genocidal maniacs, etc., etc.

No, balto, it is WE who should be glad that the posties are still employed, not them. They do an excellent job, in all weathers.

Boot out the MPs, MSPs, MEPs and replace THEM with part-timers. Then things might really improve in this country.

**Loch not Lock** · 18-Oct-09, 22:41

85,000 have applied for these part time "jobs". Why??? They are scabs looking for ill-gotten gains. Do not accept this or you will end up getting missing mail or should I say not getting important mail.

**upolian** · 19-Oct-09, 08:21

this is complete madness,ive ordered a big order of products for work,no products=no work=no money,resulting in some very annoyed customers,me being deemed as unreliable+letting people down,lets hope i receive my order or i will not be a happy cookie!!

**Bobinovich** · 19-Oct-09, 12:15

If stuff is urgent then it's better at times like this to specify your suppliers to use couriers instead of Royal Mail. Yes it costs more but you won't lose work or annoy customers then.

**William** · 19-Oct-09, 12:18

Originally Posted by upolian

this is complete madness,ive ordered a big order of products for work,no products=no work=no money,resulting in some very annoyed customers,me being deemed as unreliable+letting people down,lets hope i receive my order or i will not be a happy cookie!!

That'll be the leaset of your worries very soon lol, your transportation is only days from bein MOT less lol