True Blue, Tommo and Postman,
Thanks for the welcome.
Because I don't always agree or toe the company line I'm not going to say where I work, it is in the midlands though.
My thoughts on the current dispute are as follows.
Yes we need to change: Later starts, flexibility and modernisation will help the company in the long run and in effect give all of us a better work life, more security better wages and a chance to own shares in the company must of us are proud to work for.
I have many issues with how the CWU have approached this, the business have never said that 40,000 jobs are to go, this is a third of the workforce!!!! The business have until recently only asked the union for Mail Centre reviews, later starts, cease Sunday/Bank Holiday collections etc. The CWU then campaigned for IA saying that this would never result in National Strikes but would give them a bargaining tool and ensure that they got there own way, to be fair to AL/AC they always said that the offer was the offer, the CWU then IMO gave false hope to all their members and now appear to have little option but to either back down and give in to all RM's proposals or to have continuous IA which I believe the majority no longer want or have the stomach for.
Now my issues with RM - They have IMO changed the goal posts since the start of IA, at first it was Later starts, modernisation etc - I am also aware that they were planning on changing the management structure which would have resulted in less managers , none of this phased me as I feel that this makes good business/commercial sense and was most probably long overdue. Since talks broke down it now appears that they have gone and told the union that they want complete flexibility, touch pensions and to make radical changes in working practices that are not needed nor are they practical - I genuinelly hope that they are trying to call the Union's bluff and not really expecting these practices to work!!!!!
Flexibility - Yes we need this but I cannot ever imagine nor do I want to tell a postie that after completing a 4 hour walk that he has got to work an additional two hours to clear the office for no additional pay. The majority of our staff will do overtime to help/for financial reasons if approached in the right manner, USO is a licensing issue and without any IR issues the majority of staff will help complete it. - To me flexibility is asking a skilled worker to undertake a duty that requires his skilll in the case of unexpected absence, this the majority of offices do already and it seems to work.
Banking hours (annualised hours) - this is unpractical in DO's the majority of managers I know struggle to understand the concept of A/L, God knows how they will cope with changes in hours on a daily basis.
Pensions
I have a good working relationship with my Rep, he understands that the business needs to change and has been instrumental in bringing change into our office, on the other hand I am quite pragmatic and understand that when he says that he or the staff do not want to change a system that works it should not change as they know more about the running of the office than I will ever know.
When the IA started I refused to do all the briefs and RTW stuff as I beleived they belittled my staff, I have on numerous occasions told senior management that they should change their approach to staff as the communications they send out are patronising and poorly worded.
jimmy p and thank you for being honest about being a manager. You may get some flack on here for being a manager because of peoples political persuasions. However, I for one am looking forward to honest and polite debate with a manager.
Thanks for your views 
Hope to see some more 