Union warns of more strikes and says Royal Mail is 'waging war' on staff

[TrueBlueTerrier]

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... -cwu-talks

Royal Mail is ‘waging war’ on staff

CWU says fresh talks are not heading toward agreement as it prepares to ballot members over further stoppages

Royal Mail has been accused by a union leader of “waging war” on staff and using intimidation tactics, including suspending more than 200 workers, in a protracted dispute over pay and conditions that appears no nearer to being resolved.

The head of the Communications Workers Union (CWU), which is preparing to ballot its more than 100,000 members over further national strikes, said fresh talks were not heading toward an acceptable agreement.

Dave Ward, the CWU general secretary, told MPs on the business select committee on Tuesday that his union was “still not confident we are in a place that we can reach an agreement”, following 18 days of national strikes in 2022.

“The union will be reballoting members [about strike action]. This is the most brutal attack on any group of workers the UK has seen in decades. It is a fight for every postal worker’s job.”

The CWU, which has rejected Royal Mail management’s “best and final” offer of a pay rise of up to 9% over 18 months in exchange for changes to working hours and voluntary Sunday working, will send ballot papers to members next week, with the result due on 16 February.

The crippling strikes, including six days in December, have cost Royal Mail more than £100m and caused delays to the delivery of Christmas cards and parcels.

The company has said it is losing £1m a day and warned in October that up to 10,000 jobs needed to be cut by August 2023 as part of a restructuring programme to refocus the business on the booming parcel delivery sector, as UK letter volumes continue to decline.

“We believe there are thousands and thousands more jobs at risk than the 10,000 the company has put forward,” said Ward. “They are waging war on the current workforce. Psychological warfare to make the job not worth it. To force people out and replace the workforce.”

Ward alleged management had used tactics including staff being “bombarded” with communications aimed at demoralising them, being denied normal levels of overtime when coming back off the picket line, and “threatened” by bosses.

“Over 200 representatives and members have been suspended,” said Ward, claiming that the tactics were being used as a “punishment charter”.

“In our view many of those charges were fitted up to target and intimidate people. I’ve never seen this level of demoralisation, which is why we say it is deliberately being done to force people out.”

Royal Mail said it had received 292 reported allegations including violence, assault, harassment and intimidating behaviour by picketers against staff who had chosen to go to work on strike days.

Police in nine regions of the UK are undertaking investigations into some of the allegations.

The Royal Mail boss, Simon Thompson, in sometimes testy exchanges with MPs at the same business select committee hearing, said the company faced an “urgent situation” and expected the UK business to make an operating loss of £350m to £450m in the year to the end of March.

[DirtyHarry]

It cannot now be just us manning picket lines on freezing cold mornings, losing money hand over fist while the likes of Thompson just grin inanely and ride out any disruption.
A strict work-to-rule, a ban on all overtime, the odd strike day thrown in, has to be the way we now show Royal Mail we will never bow down to them and their lying agenda.
This dispute has all the potential of lasting well into 2023, even quite possibly right up to the cusp of the next Christmas busy period.
We can fight, and only lose the minimum of pay.
Has to be the way to go, now.

[Phantom]

That is what is coming in the next wave of strikes.

[SpacePhoenix]

It cannot now be just us manning picket lines on freezing cold mornings, losing money hand over fist while the likes of Thompson just grin inanely and ride out any disruption.
A strict work-to-rule, a ban on all overtime, the odd strike day thrown in, has to be the way we now show Royal Mail we will never bow down to them and their lying agenda.
This dispute has all the potential of lasting well into 2023, even quite possibly right up to the cusp of the next Christmas busy period.
We can fight, and only lose the minimum of pay.
Has to be the way to go, now.

Would many actually take notice of any OT ban or work to rule, especially in DOs?

[DirtyHarry]

It cannot now be just us manning picket lines on freezing cold mornings, losing money hand over fist while the likes of Thompson just grin inanely and ride out any disruption.
A strict work-to-rule, a ban on all overtime, the odd strike day thrown in, has to be the way we now show Royal Mail we will never bow down to them and their lying agenda.
This dispute has all the potential of lasting well into 2023, even quite possibly right up to the cusp of the next Christmas busy period.
We can fight, and only lose the minimum of pay.
Has to be the way to go, now.

Would many actually take notice of any OT ban or work to rule, especially in DOs?

Would depend if they thought the massive nosedive in terms and conditions would be worth it.

[Phantom]

At the end of the day people have got to realise and make a choice, you either want to be stripped of everything and be on minimum wage or you keep fighting to retain or better, what you've got now. People can slag the union off as much as they want, it will not change a thing with what RM want to do, so fight and keep fighting or lose the lot.

[GoosyGoosy]

If you are one of the many unhappy Royal Mail ‘workers’, will you please answer 2 simple questions.
1. Do you think you could easily find an alternative job - with a different employer - which offers better pay, or better terms and conditions, or whatever else it is that you’re demanding?
2. If you answered ‘yes’ to question 1, why don’t you change to that job?

There’s been much criticism of the RM Chairman evading questions, so hopefully you will give me straight answers.

Thank you.

[world class male]

so we're expected just to roll over and give up all those t&c that have been fought for over decades that made the job appealing?
i dare say new entrants will be on a pretty much crap income and we'll see an even bigger turnover off staff,
new jobs within rmg were like rocking horse crap, now it's whoever just turns up

[Constance]

What a nasty snide way of speaking to decent people.

That aside, the answer to your question is
1. Yes.
2. Because this work is worth doing , society wants it doing and wants it doing well.

Unless you believe that an unequal, unfair and unsafe and unrewarding society is worth living in (& I suggest from your attitude that you do), then work and workers should never be undervalued and uncompensated.

I do not buy into the value of a society where people work for less and less.

Unless you want people to live in favelas, on a hand to mouth existence perhaps?

Any one can work for less. I mean why work for money right...

[richietns]

If you are one of the many unhappy Royal Mail ‘workers’, will you please answer 2 simple questions.
1. Do you think you could easily find an alternative job - with a different employer - which offers better pay, or better terms and conditions, or whatever else it is that you’re demanding?
2. If you answered ‘yes’ to question 1, why don’t you change to that job?

There’s been much criticism of the RM Chairman evading questions, so hopefully you will give me straight answers.

Thank you.

Thats the whole point were trying to save what was a good job from being a dime a dozen gig job.

[pieoftheday]

If you are one of the many unhappy Royal Mail ‘workers’, will you please answer 2 simple questions.
1. Do you think you could easily find an alternative job - with a different employer - which offers better pay, or better terms and conditions, or whatever else it is that you’re demanding?
2. If you answered ‘yes’ to question 1, why don’t you change to that
There’s been much criticism of the RM Chairman evading questions, so hopefully you will give me straight answers.

Thank you.

May ask what roll , role.even in Royal Mail do you fulfil? Stoopid fone...

[GoosyGoosy]

(a) My 2 questions were asked clearly and politely. Interesting that some see that as being ‘snide and nasty’!
(b) My role within RM is on the shop floor in a distribution centre.

[Constance]

Snide and nasty refers to your opening paragraph in which you refer workers in inverted commas.

The use of commas around a noun in the English language directly and quite obviously emphasises that you do not value the attributes and definitions normally associated with that noun.

So to be clear; referring to the decent royal mail workers as 'workers' is indeed snide and nasty.

[pieoftheday]

(a) My 2 questions were asked clearly and politely. Interesting that some see that as being ‘snide and nasty’!
(b) My role within RM is on the shop floor in a distribution centre.

Try a few years in delivery and come back to this thread

[SpacePhoenix]

(a) My 2 questions were asked clearly and politely. Interesting that some see that as being ‘snide and nasty’!
(b) My role within RM is on the shop floor in a distribution centre.

Try a few years in delivery and come back to this thread

I think that like MCs, deliveries in a few years will be nothing like they are today