the public do not support you!

[TrueBlueTerrier]

why dont you give me a reason to support you?

Umm - thats what the rest of the board is about have a look round, join in the discussion and present your views, you never know we may change your mind, and you may change a few minds on here as well.

[bubs656]

i am a member of the public and am fully behind the posities 100 per cent.....if people didnt always belive what is being printed in the papers and asked there postman why they had to go on strike you would see that this is the only option....... :cfo

[TrueBlueTerrier]

i am a member of the public and am fully behind the posities 100 per cent.....if people didnt always belive what is being printed in the papers and asked there postman why they had to go on strike you would see that this is the only option....... :cfo

Thank you very much for the message of support bubs656

[daveyb]

Hi Guys,

I work for a small business, which has been going for 7 years now.

We have just launched a new export business selling into Germany and it HAD been going well. Mail used to get there in about 2 days. Now over the past few weeks we have been getting about three or four e-mails complaining that parcels haven't arrived over a week after being sent. (The advertised time is 3-5 days).

We are now looking at moving this business to Germany which means UK PLC loses the VAT and Royal Mail will lose the postal revenue and we have the hassle of running multiple warehouses and juggling stock.

We were going to also export elsewhere in Europe but we will now consider using Germany or France as the base for the whole of Europe. Ironic really, and I wonder what my dad would think of the UK today, given that he served in the 2nd World War and us moving out of the UK because the service levels have dropped.

My Grandad was a miner and died prematurely from a lung disease, so I'm all against unfair and unsafe working practices. That is why the union movement was started. I'm not opposed to striking for the right reasons where working conditions are truly unbearable and unsafe but I have to say in this case I don't think anyone can put their hand on their heart and truly say this is the case. I dread to think what my Grandad would think of striking over the current demands. The only recompense my Grandma got from the Coal Board was free coal for life. Gratefully received, but I'm sure she would rather have her husband alive.
Anyhow, my point is that in inner London where services seem to have been mostly affected the average salary is 28K. Certainly not massive compared to the "Fat Cat" Bankers but better than a lot of workers who don't even have a job.

We are in the middle of a recession, people have been losing jobs left right and centre and everyone is doing it tough. We all have the option of getting a different job if we don't like the working conditions. This is the reality of a free market.

I think you posties have been led down the garden path by your union bosses and THEIR real agenda is that they need your union dues to pay for their lavish lifestyles. The part time workers affect them, less union dues, less lunches you guys pay for with your hard earned cash. It's not them getting up early each morning to post the mail and having to get by in a recession. Their jobs are guaranteed and well paid.

Also where has the logic gone in this dispute? Is it really worth the sacrifice of even a single day's wages? What return on the forfeited wages invested will you have to get in order to break even. Five days pay at roughly 538 quid a day before tax (based on 28K per year) works out at approx 2% (1.92%) so you now need to get a 2% deal just to break even. Double that to ten days striking and you're talking 4%, 3 weeks, 6% and so on..

The only losers of this will be the UK public and the posties. I don't see how the union bosses are putting your interests first in this case, unless anyone can tell me otherwise.

Surely the real agenda behind the scenes are the union bosses trying to maintain their contributions.

[Tman]

Surely the real agenda behind the scenes are the union bosses trying to maintain their contributions.

That's a good old Tory jibe from way back; meaningless then and now, though. It doesn't stand up to examination.

Why would so many thousands of people vote to strike just to keep some union officials in paid employment?

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Surely the real agenda behind the scenes are the union bosses trying to maintain their contributions.

That's a good old Tory jibe from way back; meaningless then and now, though. It doesn't stand up to examination.

Why would so many thousands of people vote to strike just to keep some union officials in paid employment?

[daveyb]

Surely the real agenda behind the scenes are the union bosses trying to maintain their contributions.

That's a good old Tory jibe from way back; meaningless then and now, though. It doesn't stand up to examination.

Why would so many thousands of people vote to strike just to keep some union officials in paid employment?

I wasn't trying to be political so apologies if that was the inference. My point is I think the posties are being led down a certain path. I feel sorry for you guys because the posties will be the only losers because I can't see any return on investment in this illogical action unless anyone can explain this to me.

Royal Mail will still continue to make profits, albeit maybe a bit less with the loss of those customers that choose to go elsewhere, but they can always put the price of mail up so long as the public can't go elsewhere.

You could argue that the union is using this to show their power and may come off better because the government will think twice about privatising the mail so their dues will be unaffected.

Talking politically, another government may now stand a chance of getting in because people will think this is all the fault of the labour government disrupting the whole country and not stepping in to resolve it, and if they do step in people will say it's back to the way things used to be with Labour and the unions - no win situation for them.

Courier companies will benefit as people switch carriers.

I for one would really love to see the Royal Mail competing as a major player in Europe with Europe wide delivery. Why not have next day reasonably priced next day letter and small packet delivery and compete with existing country players. I think we're too focussed in Europe on being individual countries rather than being a single entity in Europe and too focussed on just the UK marketplace.

Can anyone explain from a logical perspective why to carry on this strike? Any union leaders please. I wrote an e-mail a while back to the CWU but haven't had the decency of a reply... Could insert a joke here about it's stuck in the post, but I'll refrain ;)

Seriously, love the Royal Mail service usually but what are you guys doing this for? I really don't think we the public understand (and I've read the reasons stated on the home page) but still don't see any logical reasons for striking.

All the best,

Dave

[Anonperson]

youlazysods,

I am a customer and I fully support the workers. I save all my vitriol for the RM management because it's their unreasonable targets and cost cutting exercises that have led to the unfair conditions under which their staff are expected to work. It's time RM management start treating their staff like human beings, not robots and if a strike is what it takes for the workers' concerns to be heard and addressed, then so be it.

[POSTMAN]

Surely the real agenda behind the scenes are the union bosses trying to maintain their contributions.

That's a good old Tory jibe from way back; meaningless then and now, though. It doesn't stand up to examination.

Why would so many thousands of people vote to strike just to keep some union officials in paid employment?

[Tman]

[BELIAL]

I've had three or four e - mails so I'm considering of going to the vast expense of completely relocating my pan European business empire

[sonofuberman]

So by swithching to citylink you think you are protecting your business??!!
So once we get shafted by management, privatised and all the workers sacked, in your postal utopia you will have your pick of flybynights to choose to post your parcels and packets with!!!
The only trouble is, you won't be able to afford them!

[looneytoon]

alot of my firms on my delivery actually support us keep it up boys and girls :cfo :cfo :cfo

[baldrick]

Our drivers also saying small firms are supporting us, saying we know you
guys don't get paid much so if you are prepared to lose a day's money every
week there must be something badly wrong.

[northlewferret]

Welcome to RMC youlazysods The reason we are striking is to protect and improve the service we give to you,our customers.If we dont then management will go ahead with there plans and destroy the service If thats ok with you then fine if not then SUPPORT US and help us to IMPROVE the business.

You have failed! The management at RMC have failed! If you and they think there are winners and losers in this situation you are wrong. There are in fact only losers! You, Them and the country in general! Do you recall the Miners? Did they win? No! Dockers? Did they win? No! Will you win? No! What you and others in this dispute are nor seeing is that we are all in it together. You are all workers in the industry whether you are on the shop floor or part of management. As such you need to be working togetherto ensure that what you are working at survives for us.
It matters not two hoots who delivers my mail. What does matter is that it is delivered! Like most I do not care if our mail arrives at 8-9-10-11 or twelve o'clock, just that it does arrive daily!
Having an interest in RMCs survival it seems to me that failure in this dispute is down to the failure on the part of those on the shop-floor and in part by those in management.
If the CWU feel that they are fulfilling their role then they are wrong also. The picket- lines are evidence of that I would say! It would appear to me that when people are losing money on the lines they are the only one's that are worse off than when this dispute started. The CWU officials are still receiving their salaries, management are still collecting their moneys. The only one's that will suffer in the long term are those that can afford it the least!
Go back to work and let management carry out their role and get your representatives to negotiate the set up of an independent panel to oversee the perceived problems in a constructive and worthwhile way that should benefit everyone concerned. Striking is not and never has been conducive to good working conditions. Management and unions both have their place. As do you!