I'd be interested to hear some opinions on this. I think their grievances are justified but going out on strike is taking it too far.

I didn't even know they were striking until our grumpy receptionist just told me.

Is it pay they are striking over this time?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6239686.stm

This explains it.

pff yer scab. strike FTW

(p.s you've come to the wrong place if you wantan informed opinion on the running of the post office )

boovidge wrote:(p.s you've come to the wrong place if you wantan informed opinion on the running of the post office )

Why?

Pay and job cuts. Might have guessed (but didn't).

The only problem with the union calling a strike is that the Royal Mail will just get people in to do the jobs that aren't in the union. Students or something like that, people who are desperate for the money and don't mind breaking the strike. So they probably won't really achieve much.

and also the royal mail may lose the business it gets from private parcel companies and such, so even more losses!

Don't a few people on he work for them? I have to take the middle ground with this one, they no doubt deserve the pay rise but it appears that royal mail is in the shit.. So they can't afford it, perhaps they should negotiate a smaller pay rise and have better benefits or something.

terrorizer wrote:

boovidge wrote:(p.s you've come to the wrong place if you wantan informed opinion on the running of the post office )

Why?

This is a thrash forum where most of the threads are about getting pissed or The Office

Can't you all quote a different comedy now? How about Garth Marenghi's Darkplace?

Blood, blood, blood, blood, and bits of sick.

boovidge wrote:

terrorizer wrote:

boovidge wrote:(p.s you've come to the wrong place if you wantan informed opinion on the running of the post office )

Why?

This is a thrash forum where most of the threads are about getting pissed or The Office

True. We even had one a few weeks ago about Thrash Metal. Jeez, whatever next?

Dian Wei wrote:Can't you all quote a different comedy now? How about Garth Marenghi's Darkplace?

Blood, blood, blood, blood, and bits of sick.

and piss

Support your local postal workers.
The chief executive pockets a HUGE bonus and the workers get stiffed.

Workers of the world unite !!!!!!!!

Just wish OUR UNION would let all the train drivers come out in sympathy.

I am a postman, and yes, i am going to work tomorrow!!! There are probably only going to be 6 of us, and maybe a picket when i get there, but there is no-one there that bothers me in the slightest so fuck em!

As for the reasoning for the strike, yes Royal Mail is loosing revenue and fast, but this is due to the fact that in principle, nothing is done much different there to what it was 50 years ago, we get there early in the morning and hand sort the mail, then we take it out and deliver it. However, due to the monopolies commision forcing the market to be opened up to other companies, about 40% of all the mail recieved by every household is not now royal mail post (if you look at the top right hand corner, you will see logos for companies such as TNT, DHL, deutche post, etc etc). These are pieces of mail that RM makes no profit on, and have to be delivered as our own mail, because the regulator has deemed it so. This decision was made because when the market was opened up, no other company has the infa-structure to deliver to every address in the british isles like RM does. This is predominately the lucrative customers (banks, power companies, mailing agencies and as anounced last week, amazon).
These companies pay us 11p for a standard piece of post, and we are not allowed to charge them more, also, they can name their price to the customer, but RM cant. we have to abide by the prices set by the regulator. Due to this, RM has finally decided to drag the company out of the victorian era and invest millions of ££££s on new automation that will read addresses and then sort them into bundles, so that they will arrive to us ready for delivering. This will create a vacuum from the hours that we are currntly contracted for and the time it will take us to do our rounds, so RM has been toying with ideas like giving us all extra post but no more money, and changing working hours so we start later (and after a 3 year period) loosing early shift bonuses. Other cost saving ideas are already being looked at such as ending the company pension scheme for new starters etc.
While this obviously isnt good news for me, i understand that the business has to streamline to compete in what is becoming a very competitve market, and i also undrstand that if a postie is contracted for 6 hours a day, then it is understandable that RM should expect posties to work for 6 hours a day!!
That is why i am not going on strike! Too many of them who have been there for years now have the easy walks and get paid regularly 2 or more hours per day for work they dont do! Idle bastards a lot of em to be honest.
To fund the modernisation, RM has said it now cant afford to offer us a rise of more than the 2.5% offered, as it has major expenditure on the new automation mentioned above. Yes 2.5% is shit and less than inflation, but we still get £8.12 per hour for an unskilled job where i walk around and listen to music all day

Most of em have never done a proper hard job like i have always done till now.

the end.

Dian Wei wrote:Can't you all quote a different comedy now? How about Garth Marenghi's Darkplace?

Blood, blood, blood, blood, and bits of sick.

referencing merenghi??

TOO FAR