What will a Strike achieve?

[postslippete]

I hope you guys don’t mind me posting on your message board, but it will hopefully give a perspective from ‘the other side of the fence’ and help me understand a few points. I am the owner of an eCommerce company and we ship approximately 50k parcels per month. 90% of our parcels are sent by Royal Mail. I joined this forum, when industrial action (IA) looked possible before the four pillars agreement was made, so that I could keep abreast of what was happening in order to protect my business against the disruption that IA would create for us.

Firstly, I’m trying to understand why people are against the business evolving to become first and foremost a parcel business, given that Royal Mail have guaranteed any cuts will come from Voluntary Redundancy?

Secondly, given the rate of change in the industry, what do you hope to get out of the threat of IA, or indeed IA itself. I have asked with sincerity the guys that do our collections what would be a good outcome for them, and they can't give me an answer. It seems that they are leaving everything in the hands of the CWU and will accept whatever they achieve on their behalf? However, to my knowledge, the CWU has't made clear what they would agree to?

As the dispute grew and the ballot last year achieved a mandate for IA we HAD to start looking elsewhere otherwise our business would very likely have been adversely affected had it gone ahead. Fortunately for us it didn’t, and we delayed the implementation and integration of Hermes until after Christmas to get an idea of which way things were going to go.

Of course, my preferred choice of supplier is Royal Mail, but as soon as the re-ballot was announced we were effectively forced to move a large portion of our shipments to Hermes so that IF IA is taken, we can simply channel all of our business through them. We are now in contract with Hermes for 12 months, so no matter what happens Royal Mail have lost a large portion of our business. If IA does go ahead then we will move the rest.

Please understand that my questions and comments are genuine. Perhaps there is some things that I have missed or not privy too. I also understand that ultimately, we look out for number 1, just as we have had too do. But I'm really interested to understand what people consider a win, and how IA will achieve it?

Thanks, Lee

Strikes are always a last resort. I've no qualms about us moving towards a parcel business but we don't like the way our CEO is forcing everything through executive action and diktak. Surely it's best to involve your workers through change rather than just ploughing through regardless?? There are Chinese whispers coming from our union but it's not good when the bosses of the company renege on a previous agreement which isnt even 2 years old. They say they can't afford to grant an hour off the working week because it will cost Royal mail around £100 million yet they somehow have £1.8 billion to invest in parcel hubs??

This dispute isn't about money though and what I would like to see, that would benefit businesses like yours, is a universal service obligation imposed on our parcels instead of just our letters. The business keeps banging on about how we are now a parcel business that delivers a few letters,and I've often seen managers in our depot telling postie's to leave the parcels, that aren't tracked, to be delivered for the next working day at the expense of getting all the letters delivered. So what would be the point of processing all these parcels using new machines and half the labour if you haven't got the postie's nor regulation to get them delivered any more quicker or efficient??

[Phantom]

You all got a copy of the 4 pillars agreement delivered to your door, so read it! It's no fault of the union if you don't.
There have been lots and lots of videos, live chats etc. on facebook, youtube, twitter etc. discussing what the dispute is about.
You've even got the RM propaganda on RMTV to get their vague spin on the issues.
I think the term "you can lead a horse to water" springs to mind.

The truth is, is that the board, even when Moya Greene was there and now Rico Back has no intention on growing the business otherwise we would have seen it by now.
They only see profit in cuts and that's it.

So you have to vote YES, the status quo is not an option.

[Phantom]

I hope you guys don’t mind me posting on your message board, but it will hopefully give a perspective from ‘the other side of the fence’ and help me understand a few points. I am the owner of an eCommerce company and we ship approximately 50k parcels per month. 90% of our parcels are sent by Royal Mail. I joined this forum, when industrial action (IA) looked possible before the four pillars agreement was made, so that I could keep abreast of what was happening in order to protect my business against the disruption that IA would create for us.

Firstly, I’m trying to understand why people are against the business evolving to become first and foremost a parcel business, given that Royal Mail have guaranteed any cuts will come from Voluntary Redundancy?

Secondly, given the rate of change in the industry, what do you hope to get out of the threat of IA, or indeed IA itself. I have asked with sincerity the guys that do our collections what would be a good outcome for them, and they can't give me an answer. It seems that they are leaving everything in the hands of the CWU and will accept whatever they achieve on their behalf? However, to my knowledge, the CWU has't made clear what they would agree to?

As the dispute grew and the ballot last year achieved a mandate for IA we HAD to start looking elsewhere otherwise our business would very likely have been adversely affected had it gone ahead. Fortunately for us it didn’t, and we delayed the implementation and integration of Hermes until after Christmas to get an idea of which way things were going to go.

Of course, my preferred choice of supplier is Royal Mail, but as soon as the re-ballot was announced we were effectively forced to move a large portion of our shipments to Hermes so that IF IA is taken, we can simply channel all of our business through them. We are now in contract with Hermes for 12 months, so no matter what happens Royal Mail have lost a large portion of our business. If IA does go ahead then we will move the rest.

Please understand that my questions and comments are genuine. Perhaps there is some things that I have missed or not privy too. I also understand that ultimately, we look out for number 1, just as we have had too do. But I'm really interested to understand what people consider a win, and how IA will achieve it?

Thanks, Lee

This post is quite selfish, you are not writing this being sincere, you are writing because you are thinking about "YOURSELF"! Hermes drivers work terrible hours for very little pay but that doesn't matter to YOU as long as you get what you want.
Well quite frankly the majority of RM staff don't want these kind of working conditions as they are completely unacceptable in 2020. There is no one to stand up for Hermes drivers as they are very casual and non-unionised, no pension, no sick pay, no holiday pay and therefore can be s**t on at any time.

We are doing this to protect the company, a last resort before greedy millionaires carve it up and sell it off. If you don't believe in that then tough, now let people who have some backbone fight for everybody else.

[Acca Dacca]

I hope you guys don’t mind me posting on your message board, but it will hopefully give a perspective from ‘the other side of the fence’ and help me understand a few points. I am the owner of an eCommerce company and we ship approximately 50k parcels per month. 90% of our parcels are sent by Royal Mail. I joined this forum, when industrial action (IA) looked possible before the four pillars agreement was made, so that I could keep abreast of what was happening in order to protect my business against the disruption that IA would create for us.

Firstly, I’m trying to understand why people are against the business evolving to become first and foremost a parcel business, given that Royal Mail have guaranteed any cuts will come from Voluntary Redundancy?

Secondly, given the rate of change in the industry, what do you hope to get out of the threat of IA, or indeed IA itself. I have asked with sincerity the guys that do our collections what would be a good outcome for them, and they can't give me an answer. It seems that they are leaving everything in the hands of the CWU and will accept whatever they achieve on their behalf? However, to my knowledge, the CWU has't made clear what they would agree to?

As the dispute grew and the ballot last year achieved a mandate for IA we HAD to start looking elsewhere otherwise our business would very likely have been adversely affected had it gone ahead. Fortunately for us it didn’t, and we delayed the implementation and integration of Hermes until after Christmas to get an idea of which way things were going to go.

Of course, my preferred choice of supplier is Royal Mail, but as soon as the re-ballot was announced we were effectively forced to move a large portion of our shipments to Hermes so that IF IA is taken, we can simply channel all of our business through them. We are now in contract with Hermes for 12 months, so no matter what happens Royal Mail have lost a large portion of our business. If IA does go ahead then we will move the rest.

Please understand that my questions and comments are genuine. Perhaps there is some things that I have missed or not privy too. I also understand that ultimately, we look out for number 1, just as we have had too do. But I'm really interested to understand what people consider a win, and how IA will achieve it?

Thanks, Lee

So which is it?

[ssdd]

I hope you guys don’t mind me posting on your message board, but it will hopefully give a perspective from ‘the other side of the fence’ and help me understand a few points. I am the owner of an eCommerce company and we ship approximately 50k parcels per month. 90% of our parcels are sent by Royal Mail. I joined this forum, when industrial action (IA) looked possible before the four pillars agreement was made, so that I could keep abreast of what was happening in order to protect my business against the disruption that IA would create for us.

Firstly, I’m trying to understand why people are against the business evolving to become first and foremost a parcel business, given that Royal Mail have guaranteed any cuts will come from Voluntary Redundancy?

Secondly, given the rate of change in the industry, what do you hope to get out of the threat of IA, or indeed IA itself. I have asked with sincerity the guys that do our collections what would be a good outcome for them, and they can't give me an answer. It seems that they are leaving everything in the hands of the CWU and will accept whatever they achieve on their behalf? However, to my knowledge, the CWU has't made clear what they would agree to?

As the dispute grew and the ballot last year achieved a mandate for IA we HAD to start looking elsewhere otherwise our business would very likely have been adversely affected had it gone ahead. Fortunately for us it didn’t, and we delayed the implementation and integration of Hermes until after Christmas to get an idea of which way things were going to go.

Of course, my preferred choice of supplier is Royal Mail, but as soon as the re-ballot was announced we were effectively forced to move a large portion of our shipments to Hermes so that IF IA is taken, we can simply channel all of our business through them. We are now in contract with Hermes for 12 months, so no matter what happens Royal Mail have lost a large portion of our business. If IA does go ahead then we will move the rest.

Please understand that my questions and comments are genuine. Perhaps there is some things that I have missed or not privy too. I also understand that ultimately, we look out for number 1, just as we have had too do. But I'm really interested to understand what people consider a win, and how IA will achieve it?

Thanks, Lee

This post is quite selfish, you are not writing this being sincere, you are writing because you are thinking about "YOURSELF"! Hermes drivers work terrible hours for very little pay but that doesn't matter to YOU as long as you get what you want.
Well quite frankly the majority of RM staff don't want these kind of working conditions as they are completely unacceptable in 2020. There is no one to stand up for Hermes drivers as they are very casual and non-unionised, no pension, no sick pay, no holiday pay and therefore can be s**t on at any time.

We are doing this to protect the company, a last resort before greedy millionaires carve it up and sell it off. If you don't believe in that then tough, now let people who have some backbone fight for everybody else.

I don't think that's any way to be talking to what is potentially a high value customer of Royal Mail. In a sense we are all selfish. Do you think about the products you buy and the conditions of the workers who have toiled to bring you them?
I view this as a genuine post by a concerned business owner genuinely wanting to know how this dispute may affect him.
I've already given my thoughts about it above.
Just another point to you Lee, or any other business owners reading this. Why don't you send your thoughts to Royal Mail direct. If enough customers did this it may encourage Royal Mail to get round the table to negotiate with the Union!

[Phantom]

I hope you guys don’t mind me posting on your message board, but it will hopefully give a perspective from ‘the other side of the fence’ and help me understand a few points. I am the owner of an eCommerce company and we ship approximately 50k parcels per month. 90% of our parcels are sent by Royal Mail. I joined this forum, when industrial action (IA) looked possible before the four pillars agreement was made, so that I could keep abreast of what was happening in order to protect my business against the disruption that IA would create for us.

Firstly, I’m trying to understand why people are against the business evolving to become first and foremost a parcel business, given that Royal Mail have guaranteed any cuts will come from Voluntary Redundancy?

Secondly, given the rate of change in the industry, what do you hope to get out of the threat of IA, or indeed IA itself. I have asked with sincerity the guys that do our collections what would be a good outcome for them, and they can't give me an answer. It seems that they are leaving everything in the hands of the CWU and will accept whatever they achieve on their behalf? However, to my knowledge, the CWU has't made clear what they would agree to?

As the dispute grew and the ballot last year achieved a mandate for IA we HAD to start looking elsewhere otherwise our business would very likely have been adversely affected had it gone ahead. Fortunately for us it didn’t, and we delayed the implementation and integration of Hermes until after Christmas to get an idea of which way things were going to go.

Of course, my preferred choice of supplier is Royal Mail, but as soon as the re-ballot was announced we were effectively forced to move a large portion of our shipments to Hermes so that IF IA is taken, we can simply channel all of our business through them. We are now in contract with Hermes for 12 months, so no matter what happens Royal Mail have lost a large portion of our business. If IA does go ahead then we will move the rest.

Please understand that my questions and comments are genuine. Perhaps there is some things that I have missed or not privy too. I also understand that ultimately, we look out for number 1, just as we have had too do. But I'm really interested to understand what people consider a win, and how IA will achieve it?

Thanks, Lee

This post is quite selfish, you are not writing this being sincere, you are writing because you are thinking about "YOURSELF"! Hermes drivers work terrible hours for very little pay but that doesn't matter to YOU as long as you get what you want.
Well quite frankly the majority of RM staff don't want these kind of working conditions as they are completely unacceptable in 2020. There is no one to stand up for Hermes drivers as they are very casual and non-unionised, no pension, no sick pay, no holiday pay and therefore can be s**t on at any time.

We are doing this to protect the company, a last resort before greedy millionaires carve it up and sell it off. If you don't believe in that then tough, now let people who have some backbone fight for everybody else.

I don't think that's any way to be talking to what is potentially a high value customer of Royal Mail. In a sense we are all selfish. Do you think about the products you buy and the conditions of the workers who have toiled to bring you them?
I view this as a genuine post by a concerned business owner genuinely wanting to know how this dispute may affect him.
I've already given my thoughts about it above.
Just another point to you Lee, or any other business owners reading this. Why don't you send your thoughts to Royal Mail direct. If enough customers did this it may encourage Royal Mail to get round the table to negotiate with the Union!

Acutally I am concerned about products and wouldn't mind at all if they took industrial action to fight for better terms and conditions.
RM staff cannot worry about what other people think. This is literally do or die.

[ssdd]

Acutally I am concerned about products and wouldn't mind at all if they took industrial action to fight for better terms and conditions.
RM staff cannot worry about what other people think. This is literally do or die.

I hear you Phantom. I figured you would be concerned, given your concern for your fellow workers. The question wasn't aimed at you specifically.
I don't want customers to be hurt by Industrial Action. If we don't have any customers we don't have any business! It's up to Royal Mail. Ultimately it's THEM who would be responsible for any loss of custom during IA.

[iainwilson]

I hope you guys don’t mind me posting on your message board, but it will hopefully give a perspective from ‘the other side of the fence’ and help me understand a few points. I am the owner of an eCommerce company and we ship approximately 50k parcels per month. 90% of our parcels are sent by Royal Mail. I joined this forum, when industrial action (IA) looked possible before the four pillars agreement was made, so that I could keep abreast of what was happening in order to protect my business against the disruption that IA would create for us.

Firstly, I’m trying to understand why people are against the business evolving to become first and foremost a parcel business, given that Royal Mail have guaranteed any cuts will come from Voluntary Redundancy?

Secondly, given the rate of change in the industry, what do you hope to get out of the threat of IA, or indeed IA itself. I have asked with sincerity the guys that do our collections what would be a good outcome for them, and they can't give me an answer. It seems that they are leaving everything in the hands of the CWU and will accept whatever they achieve on their behalf? However, to my knowledge, the CWU has't made clear what they would agree to?

As the dispute grew and the ballot last year achieved a mandate for IA we HAD to start looking elsewhere otherwise our business would very likely have been adversely affected had it gone ahead. Fortunately for us it didn’t, and we delayed the implementation and integration of Hermes until after Christmas to get an idea of which way things were going to go.

Of course, my preferred choice of supplier is Royal Mail, but as soon as the re-ballot was announced we were effectively forced to move a large portion of our shipments to Hermes so that IF IA is taken, we can simply channel all of our business through them. We are now in contract with Hermes for 12 months, so no matter what happens Royal Mail have lost a large portion of our business. If IA does go ahead then we will move the rest.

Please understand that my questions and comments are genuine. Perhaps there is some things that I have missed or not privy too. I also understand that ultimately, we look out for number 1, just as we have had too do. But I'm really interested to understand what people consider a win, and how IA will achieve it?

Thanks, Lee

Just Rico our. That’s all

[ssdd]

Just Rico out?

[iainwilson]

Just Rico out?

As a Share holder myself he’s broke the share price. As an employee what he is making us do working harder for same or less money makes me sick every day.

Yes RICO OUT is all.

Thank you

[hero22]

Just Rico out?

As a Share holder myself he’s broke the share price. As an employee what he is making us do working harder for same or less money makes me sick every day.

Yes RICO OUT is all.

Thank you

[leemg]

I hope you guys don’t mind me posting on your message board, but it will hopefully give a perspective from ‘the other side of the fence’ and help me understand a few points. I am the owner of an eCommerce company and we ship approximately 50k parcels per month. 90% of our parcels are sent by Royal Mail. I joined this forum, when industrial action (IA) looked possible before the four pillars agreement was made, so that I could keep abreast of what was happening in order to protect my business against the disruption that IA would create for us.

Firstly, I’m trying to understand why people are against the business evolving to become first and foremost a parcel business, given that Royal Mail have guaranteed any cuts will come from Voluntary Redundancy?

Secondly, given the rate of change in the industry, what do you hope to get out of the threat of IA, or indeed IA itself. I have asked with sincerity the guys that do our collections what would be a good outcome for them, and they can't give me an answer. It seems that they are leaving everything in the hands of the CWU and will accept whatever they achieve on their behalf? However, to my knowledge, the CWU has't made clear what they would agree to?

As the dispute grew and the ballot last year achieved a mandate for IA we HAD to start looking elsewhere otherwise our business would very likely have been adversely affected had it gone ahead. Fortunately for us it didn’t, and we delayed the implementation and integration of Hermes until after Christmas to get an idea of which way things were going to go.

Of course, my preferred choice of supplier is Royal Mail, but as soon as the re-ballot was announced we were effectively forced to move a large portion of our shipments to Hermes so that IF IA is taken, we can simply channel all of our business through them. We are now in contract with Hermes for 12 months, so no matter what happens Royal Mail have lost a large portion of our business. If IA does go ahead then we will move the rest.

Please understand that my questions and comments are genuine. Perhaps there is some things that I have missed or not privy too. I also understand that ultimately, we look out for number 1, just as we have had too do. But I'm really interested to understand what people consider a win, and how IA will achieve it?

Thanks, Lee

This post is quite selfish, you are not writing this being sincere, you are writing because you are thinking about "YOURSELF"! Hermes drivers work terrible hours for very little pay but that doesn't matter to YOU as long as you get what you want.
Well quite frankly the majority of RM staff don't want these kind of working conditions as they are completely unacceptable in 2020. There is no one to stand up for Hermes drivers as they are very casual and non-unionised, no pension, no sick pay, no holiday pay and therefore can be s**t on at any time.

We are doing this to protect the company, a last resort before greedy millionaires carve it up and sell it off. If you don't believe in that then tough, now let people who have some backbone fight for everybody else.

My post was sincere. Of course, your actions affect my business, and therefore they also affect my 30 members of staff who I am responsible for. If our parcels aren't collected and delivered to our customers for a prolonged period of time our business will suffer, it's as simple as that. Hence my desire to understand, why it appears that many are against the change that is needed. My father was a miner in Nottinghamshire in the 80's, so I know first hand how prolonged industrial action can affect a family and community like no other. it's not just the loss of earnings and the affect that has it's the disdane hatred that it instills in to otherwise good people. The course of my life was changed by that dispute, not because of what happened to me directly, but what happened to me indirectly. What's ironic is that both sides of the dispute were so close to an agreement several times, and had it not been for Scargil's last minute list of unreasonable demands things might have been much easier for those communities that were decimated. The writing was on the wall for the coal industry but it didn't have to end so horribly.

The writing is not on the wall for Royal Mail, it provides a great service that is far better than any courier we have used, including DPD. But like the NUM/Miners, my fear is that the Unions agenda is not necessarily aligned with the best interests of the postal workers (just my opinion). That said I respect any pragmatic person that stands up for their rights and their future in a dignified and respectful manner. Never hate as life is too short to spend time hating, and try and look at things from the other side of the table.

I really wish you all good fortune, and thanks for delivering my parcels, at a bloody good rate!

[TrueBlueTerrier]

I'll post a tweet I posted in response to a similar question aimed at the CWU

[postslippete]

The writing is not on the wall for Royal Mail, it provides a great service that is far better than any courier we have used, including DPD. Never hate as life is too short to spend time hating, and try and look at things from the other side of the table.

I really wish you all good fortune, and thanks for delivering my parcels, at a bloody good rate!

If it ain't broke, why fix it?? Royal Mail still have a bigger network than other couriers as we deliver everywhere in the UK and at a decent price like you said. We still profit largely from parcels as a company but its the letters side that is struggling and I question why the company seem to be more than prepared to let this slide rather than increase its business. Our D2Ds are a massive growth area and we have gone from regularly delivering 4 or 5 lots of leaflets in our office to barely more than 1 lot per week. The company also keeps putting up the price of stamps year on year and I believe that its to further discourage the sending of letters. We used to have collections staff that used to collect letters from postboxes a few times a day from the hours of 9 till 5.30pm but now we have the postie emptying the box on his round just once a day. There is no point in 1st class letters anymore.

But like the NUM/Miners, my fear is that the Unions agenda is not necessarily aligned with the best interests of the postal workers (just my opinion). That said I respect any pragmatic person that stands up for their rights and their future in a dignified and respectful manner.

The Union and most of us can see the wider picture. Investing billions into parcel hubs and new machinery, technology and equipment comes at a cost. Short-time that might be the processing guys on the shop floor losing their jobs or us posties having to cover a bigger area. But long term it could actually mean Royal Mail putting their prices up. What guarantee have Royal Mail given that they will be offering a better service for their customers as a result of this investment? Big companies have a tendency to cut costs and that usually has a knock on effect to the service that they provide.