Dear union

[CamPostie]

I agree this one day strike here and there is nothing to royal mail, there probably laughing at us thinking they fools are losing a day a week and causing no affect to us, better off going at least 3 days a week, even 14 days in a row would soon get them round the table, can't see much talking happening with a day a week they wont take us seriously with that

I’m not so sure - sounds like some of the mail centres are struggling (see Bristol MC post on here) and a quick flick through tweets to Royal Mail Help on Twitter and other areas leads me to believe the two strikes are certainly having an impact.

Additionally, I bet management were caught with their pants down thinking volumes would continue at the summer lull level, but of course schools are back and kiddies needed new shoes etc!

[k979aaa]

the two days next week will be telling but rm could agree terms before then if they can extract their heads from their anuses probably extracting the piss.

[Zicomurphy]

We cannot keep striking for more pay without talks because whatever we end up securing will not make up what what we would have lost



This is just not true as even 1% extra with say 20 years service left will give you a minimum of £4800 extra in your wages and that 1% will always keep pushing up your wages.

And it’s not just the pay increase you have to think about. I had a health issue a few years ago that required three operations in a 12 month period with a week off work after each one. Under their new sick pay proposals I would only have been paid SSP for the second and third absence and been hundreds of pounds worse off. Overtime is bound to be vastly reduced if they bring in banking of hours, scrapping of allowances, reduced London weighting, all ways we could be worse off if we accept their proposals for a couple per cent more on basic pay.

[k979aaa]

We cannot keep striking for more pay without talks because whatever we end up securing will not make up what what we would have lost



This is just not true as even 1% extra with say 20 years service left will give you a minimum of £4800 extra in your wages and that 1% will always keep pushing up your wages.

And it’s not just the pay increase you have to think about. I had a health issue a few years ago that required three operations in a 12 month period with a week off work after each one. Under their new sick pay proposals I would only have been paid SSP for the second and third absence and been hundreds of pounds worse off. Overtime is bound to be vastly reduced if they bring in banking of hours, scrapping of allowances, reduced London weighting, all ways we could be worse off if we accept their proposals for a couple per cent more on basic pay.

we go on strike as collective and vote on an agreement.

[POSTPERSON50]

Dear Union.

The less militant members dont want and cant afford any more strikes and just want to go to work and get through winter as best they can.
Please get round the table and get the best deal you can on both issues, let us vote on it and then we can focus on more important issues.

Ta muchly.

Def not militant been on strike more times than i care to remember. but will never ever be a STRIKE BREAKER.

Amen.

[shaunman]

I think we should announce a 1 month strike in October! I know this is known as a nuclear option but I think it may focus minds! My wife is a nurse and she doesn’t want to strike but knows she has to vote for it.

Unfortunately times have moved on and people feel like they no longer rely on Royal Mail, hence we need to show how much the country rely on us.

Btw I can’t afford to lose money, but if we settle for what these fat cats want I’ll change jobs anyway

[Mickeybrowneyes]

I think we should announce a 1 month strike in October! I know this is known as a nuclear option but I think it may focus minds! My wife is a nurse and she doesn’t want to strike but knows she has to vote for it.

Unfortunately times have moved on and people feel like they no longer rely on Royal Mail, hence we need to show how much the country rely on us.

Btw I can’t afford to lose money, but if we settle for what these fat cats want I’ll change jobs anyway

This is a little extreme shall we say. Bull in a China shop springs to mind.
I'm all in on this dispute but think the union's approach is spot on so far.
I'm not sure how all the country is getting on but there is huge backlogs in some areas...
I also heard that they are back around the table...
You have to be careful to not turn the public against the strikes and disable the operations too much that we simply lose work in the long run....
However the level of disruption on a weekly or fortnightly basis that these strikes have caused is not sustainable for the business especially leading up to Christmas.
Another caveat is you have to keep people on side. What is the point in completely crippling half the workforce with a week or month long strike during this cost of living crisis...
Not only is it ethically wrong for the heads of the unions to expect this, it is also counter intuitive. Many people with young children will crack sooner.
Cool heads and steady hands will win this dispute.
Hopefully way before Christmas we will have a deal that rewards and protects our future and gives the company enough to leave us be for the next decade.
Best we can hope for...

[norris9]

So far the 1 day strikes have caused mayhem on my van share as we work to our time, then we had that bank holiday, then we had the Wednesday strike, then they have no cover for our day off and haven't had float cover for over a year. On top of that the management of the situation has been poor by line managers.

They can't even cope with us having 1 day strikes as long as you take breaks and finish on time.


3 days of striking in a row + no float cover...... the mess that it would cause is going to be ridiculous.


We strike.
Then as they don't have any float cover, the company has essentially been striking each week on each round for the past year. They have just about been able to manage that by getting us to take 2 days' of mail out. Now it is revenge time.

[chrisj]

We cannot keep striking for more pay without talks because whatever we end up securing will not make up what what we would have lost



This is just not true as even 1% extra with say 20 years service left will give you a minimum of £4800 extra in your wages and that 1% will always keep pushing up your wages.

It is a bit of an over-reach to project or extrapolate the potential benefit of the strikes over a 20 year period. That is hard to predict!

Anyhow, we just cannot keep striking giving the cost of living crisis we are experiencing right now and the potential of Royal Mail being destroyed or bought out by the likes of Amazon. If that happens, percentage increases will count for very little because we shall become static until the rest of the delivery industry catches up with us.

Nice try! Strikes was the last option but we have started with strikes and still no talks... When we eventually have the talks, the issues will sti have to be trashed out. We don't even know what the CWU want or will settle for...

After these round of strikes, I shall start to think of just getting on with it. The funny thing is that the strike breakers in my office are also among the most senior, they are hard core (untouchable to staff or managers) and no one dares engage them...

One of the strike breaker was funding with the rest in the office on Saturday because most of us work over our time - even lapsed despite the bigger than usual workload.

The CWU is failing in many ways - they are very active with childish antics on social media but nothing on the ground to put pressure locally. People just carrying on as normal after a strike day - lots of overtime, people coming in early and folks cutting deals here and there. We are not all in it together - and I am not taking about the strike breakers!

[Villadaft]

Dear Union.

The less militant members dont want and cant afford any more strikes and just want to go to work and get through winter as best they can.
Please get round the table and get the best deal you can on both issues, let us vote on it and then we can focus on more important issues.

Ta muchly.

What has you lost?
Why vote when you go against the majority
The important issues are what we voted on

[2yearpostie]

Dear Union.

The less militant members dont want and cant afford any more strikes and just want to go to work and get through winter as best they can.
Please get round the table and get the best deal you can on both issues, let us vote on it and then we can focus on more important issues.

Ta muchly.

What has you lost?
Why vote when you go against the majority
The important issues are what we voted on

If contracts starting getting withdrawn we could all loose our jobs (rightly or wrongly from what the company are doing)
Why vote? Because even if it is against a majority people still have the right to be heard in the uk.

[Frankie15]

And then go against the majority........

[Villadaft]

So if Union have another vote and you don't like the answer again you'll just do your own thing still,

[2yearpostie]

So if Union have another vote and you don't like the answer again you'll just do your own thing still,

I work for Royal mail,( they pay me money,so I follow thier instructions) , I employ the union,( I pay them money so they follow my instructions).

[Frankie15]

Then the union fight to get you more money and better work conditions. And when they do you take what they and your colleagues fought for whilst you think you did the right thing by mocking us and being a lap dog for a company that couldn't give 2 Donald Ducks about you!!!! I can't wait to read your posts on here when we eventually bring the bastards to their knees and win the inevitable fight. Just remember WE are Royal Mail and WE are the CWU, not the greedy, lying ratbags who are making money of our hard earned graft! We'll be here long after they take their ill gotten gains and move onto some other company just as loads of their predecessors have!!!