POLL:Would you strike against privatisation?

[red 86]

Stood out on picket line when we went on strike last time and what for.A wage cut .The supplement we get now is a joke .The only people who might benefit from this are the mail centres and other indoor duties but no great surprize there.As for striking next time serious second thoughts

[andy2007]

Yes, I'd Strike against Privatisation. But it's not likley to work, if HQ keep issuing those letters to Drivers, giving them official CWU permission to cross Picket Lines!

I was on the Picket Lines (as I always am!) last time, and saw many Drivers show those bloody letters, and cross the lines, as though they weren't doing anything wrong! It's sickening, when our OWN Union, is undermining our Strikes in this way! And I'd also like to take this opportunity to thanks those Drivers who DID turn back. Particularly the one who actually got suspended for refusing to cross our lines. That took guts! He's an example to all of us. Putting his principles, and our Union, ahead of himself. I'll not name him on here (against the rules). But if he's on here, he'll know I mean him. I take my hat off to you mate!

[Martin Walsh]

Andy I think most agreed last year the most effective strike the one which built the backlog was if the VOC ( drivers ) went out first the mail centre on the next day and then deliveries on the final day. So if that is the strike which is the most effective why would you then want to make it unofficial by stopping the drivers crossing your picket line on the day they were not on strike ?

All that does is allow Royal Mail to take off pay those drivers which in the end threatens to make that office go unofficial. That then means Royal Mail can go and get an injunction which stops any further action on the ballot.

Now of course its frustrating to see drivers crossing the picket line but they have been out on another day. The tactic is about putting pressure on Royal Mail and it worked. Remember last year a lot of vocs decided to ballot ahead of the national dispute over Royal Mails executive action on network 2010. Not ever VOC balloted as we know not every delivery office or Mail centre balloted ahead of the national dispute.

It hurt Royal Mail more by having the functional rolling strikes rather than a straight 24 hour or 48 hour strike. However this requires discpline from all as it can easily lead to bringing the ballot into jeopardy and open to Royal Mail applying for an injuction. What is more unacceptable is other mail centres doing the work of those out on strike on overtime and weekend overtime at that which is shameful and we know this happened by far to many mail centres last year in June , July , August , September and October.

[Ernie Shoe]

Unlike you I did not sit on the sides lines and wait for the national union to ballot we took to the streets and fought back against what Royal Mail was doing and their intentions. I and the London members and those other brave workers who took strike action outside the national dispute earned our right to comment on things.

Congratulations on doing what you're paid to do!!!!
Respect to the sanctimonious one.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Andy I think most agreed last year the most effective strike the one which built the backlog was if the VOC ( drivers ) went out first the mail centre on the next day and then deliveries on the final day. So if that is the strike which is the most effective why would you then want to make it unofficial by stopping the drivers crossing your picket line on the day they were not on strike ?

All that does is allow Royal Mail to take off pay those drivers which in the end threatens to make that office go unofficial. That then means Royal Mail can go and get an injunction which stops any further action on the ballot.

Now of course its frustrating to see drivers crossing the picket line but they have been out on another day. The tactic is about putting pressure on Royal Mail and it worked. Remember last year a lot of vocs decided to ballot ahead of the national dispute over Royal Mails executive action on network 2010. Not ever VOC balloted as we know not every delivery office or Mail centre balloted ahead of the national dispute.

It hurt Royal Mail more by having the functional rolling strikes rather than a straight 24 hour or 48 hour strike. However this requires discpline from all as it can easily lead to bringing the ballot into jeopardy and open to Royal Mail applying for an injuction. What is more unacceptable is other mail centres doing the work of those out on strike on overtime and weekend overtime at that which is shameful and we know this happened by far to many mail centres last year in June , July , August , September and October.

All very good and laudable however it does undermine one of the pillars of Trade Unionism. NEVER CROSS A PICKET LINE. There are members of the CWU that wont cross a picket line for any reason no matter if its been okayed by the CWU or not so the fear you have of an action going unofficial remains the same.

I think the biggest problem in 2007 and 2009 was the Unions pirennal problem -- lack of communication which frankly continues to astound me. They know we are geographically widespread and range from Units in single figures up to 1000s, yet they still have no communication strategy that I can see.

Nationally the CWU could do he same as CWU Bristol, CWU NE Division, CWU Leath etc - Have a facebook page and a twitter account - Twitter itself would be excellent during a strike as nearly all units will have someone on the picket line with a smart phone and a twitter account. Using twitter could allow information to be cascaded from local to national and back again in a matter of minutes if not seconds. Best of all its FREE and it would be a good avenue for the press to get our side of the story as well.

Come on CWU get your communication in gear.

[dvbuk55]

There is communication, it's left to "those in the know" and "those who see the big picture" to inform the lesser mortals of the unions antics, and of course put their own spin on the situation.

[andy2007]

Dingo, I agree with the theory of rolling Strikes. But as Teebs pointed out: There are many of us, who won't cross ANY Picket Line, ever! Regardless of who's it is, or why they're on Strike. Which means that when you have Drivers arriving at a Picket Line, who simply can't bring themselves to do anything, but wave to us, and go back the way they came (most of those who turned back, didn't even come off the island. They saw us, beeped their horns, waved, and went back the way they came. Why one particular Driver was singled out the way he was, I don't know. The rest (as far as I know) weren't suspended. Perhaps he's particularly vocal, I don't know.

As you'll have noticed, when there was a risk of the Managers going out. I stated on here (and at work too), that there was no way, I'd even cross theirs. A Picket Line, is a Picket Line. NO exceptions! And I'm by no means unique in my attitude (instilled by generations of Union Activists in my Family). So all you're doing by having these letters. Is singling out the very people we NEED, for harsh treatment from Managers. Because others are crossing the lines.

Either have us all out at once, or stop giving out the letters, so that the Drivers will have some safety in numbers, rather than leaving the dedicated Union men and women out in the cold.

[2old4this]

Although I would still strike I think the union would be hard pushed to get a yes vote out of our office now.

All faith in the union to do the right thing by those paying it's wages was lost in 2009.

[Martin Walsh]

TBT and Andy , we all dont like crossing picket lines , but sometimes the tactic is correct. During the 2007 dispute we had numerous national briefings where from the floor Branch"s and reps said that straight 24 hours were not having the desired effect as managers and casuals could be flooded to mail centres and the next day deliveries could still be delivered. It was than decided and proposed that we could have 3 days of action where the VOCs could go out on the first day where they would struggle to get the skilled drivers and then mail centres and then delivery staff apart from those who worked in joint sites and then hit them again so our member lost just one days pay but Royal Mail were hit on 3 days.

Now in terms of communications yes facebook is a good site , twitter etc. But most branch"s have a text message system where they hit at least 10 people in everysite asking them to forward that to another 10 etc. But ltbs or a letter direct to the unit rep etc are all good messages.

Certainly during the London Dispute last year we had no problems communicating with the members we attended members meetings in the yard or before work or in a club or pub after work. Everyone understood the tactic and it worked the backlog was there we had a lot of media coverage.

Now the question we should all ask do we want to cause the maximum effect on the employer and the least effect on our members or do we all want to go out on the same day and mean we dont cross picket lines as surely when you go into a strike you do to win. You only win if you cause the employer problems one day strikes were being cleared up within 2 or 3 days whereas the rolling stikes caused huge backlogs and the managers they were bussing in had to work for 3 days per week rather than one and the levels of sickness in managers were increasing and the morale was rock bottom.

You either went for glorious defeat or you went for maximum impact thats why the only times we all were out together was when we were going to have a march or to lobby Croziers office on the embankment. However the fact is rolling strikes only work if you have displine and know that for the greater good of the strike you are letting them cross today as they would be our on strike tomorrow. Tactics win disputes and the CWU with the support of Branch"s ensure that functional disputes was the right thing to do to get the interim agreement. Remember up to the national dispute only those Branch"s who were striking had the right to choose the tactics.

[dvbuk55]

The goods are up for sale to the highest bidder and I ain't just talking RM..................

[La Poste]

Well if there is a strike against privatisation let's hope everyone gets involved including drivers, none of this silly different parts of the Royal mail striking and others not.
Let's hope that because everyone will be affected then everyone is up for it.
You never know, it could be the big one.

[andy2007]

As I said earlier Dingo: I agree, that in theory. The rolling Strikes are a good idea. But the problem comes, when you start issuing official instructions (usually letters), giving people official CWU permission to cross the Lines. What's wrong with giving the Drivers instructions to drop their trailers off outside, and drive off. Leaving the Managers and Strike Breakers, to collect them?
Now obviously, we don't just use Artics. So a system would have to be found, for providing transport back, for those with vans, and rigid lorries. But something like giving them Train fair back, or getting an account with a Cab company in each area, for example, would work. Let's face it: The long haul journeys are mostly done in Artics anyway.

Now there's no doubt flaws in what I'm suggesting. But my point is, that there are other ways of causing disruption, than trying to force dedicated Union men and women, to abandon their principles. And cross Picket Lines, isn't there?

[Martin Walsh]

Andy there are a lot of flaws in your suggustion , if someone stops there van before a picket line and therefore does not fufil in the eyes of the law his term of contract then he is taking action without the protection of the legal ballot. This is why Royal Mail took a number of people off pay last year , the problem then become that those who were legally taking strike return to work when their strike finished whilst the person who did not cross the picket line was still taken off pay.

The Law is an ass and in terms of employment law it is heavily slated in terms of the employer and they know if someone decides to not cross a picket line and it is followed by loads more not doing so without either a legal ballot or notification 7 days in advance then they are taking unlawful , unballoted action which then can mean Royal Mail can apply for an injunction which possibly could mean that you cannot take any further action on your ballot until you have a hearing or that an injunction means you have to reballot or even mean that you cannot take any further action until a full hearing.

Look no one thinks it ideal that some are given letters but the law means you have to take those percautions if you want to protect the legal ballot. Believe me as someone who had to visit our employment law solictors on countless times , there are so many loopholes and case law in which the employer can catch you out and stop you from taking action hence the fact some offices had to re-ballot and that the CWU won a hugely significant court case where Royal Mail were trying to stop the London Ballot.

[andy2007]

Dingo, before I start. These are meant as serious questions, not digs at what you just told us:
1) How can stopping near the gates (wherever it's safe to park), rather than driving into the grounds, mean that they haven't fulfilled their contract?
2) As there are always Managers, Agency, and sadly, in some cases Strike Breakers. Who are qualified to drive the vehicles, and would only need to drive them from the gates to the Bays, and back, I fail to understand the problem. This was done regularly in the '90's. One particular Manager spent the whole shift, running trailers in and out, with the shunter. Has the Law changed since the mid '90's?
3) One thing I didn't think of earlier. Is that the Drivers will need to return with their vehicle/trailer afterwards anyway, so they wouldn't need transport. So they could go off somewhere 'till they're scheduled to set off. Obviously, that would mean that effectively, they'd done the same job. But the hassle of someone having to come out of the gates, collect it, and drop it off outside the gates afterwards will create a lot of extra work for the Managers, Agency, or whatever. So it's all extra disruption. If that's still considered to be unofficial action, then I see the flaw. But I can't see how it could. As they'd only be neglecting one small part of their duty (compared to the actual journey).

[fishtank]

From a personal point of view i would rather see an all out 4 or 5 day total stoppage fri sat,mon,tue and wed.
Hit them hard and they can't recover especially with the revisions where offices can't clear daily anyway.
The rolling strikes were only partially effective last year because managers and agency staff could also roll with the strikes from function to function.
Members have to play their part as well...to see CWU members working O/T and their day/off clearing the backlog last year was particularly sickening.