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postal strike

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strapping young lad:
i dont think tradition works anymore, times have changed, management methods have changed.


i hear another strike is happening

lovely....

L90OOK:

--- Quote from: "mike142sl" ---
--- Quote from: "L90OOK" ---The very few important docs I do have to send go by doc post with TNT or a another courier...at least it gets where it's going...eventually!
--- End quote ---
Only works for business post - anything residential and TNT etc use 'guess who' to make the delivery - yes the Post Office.
--- End quote ---


Not if you address it correctly  :wink: ...play the system  :D

Drift:
The strike is still on in alot of areas.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7037052.stm

strapping young lad:

--- Quote from: "L90OOK" ---
--- Quote from: "mike142sl" ---
--- Quote from: "L90OOK" ---The very few important docs I do have to send go by doc post with TNT or a another courier...at least it gets where it's going...eventually!
--- End quote ---
Only works for business post - anything residential and TNT etc use 'guess who' to make the delivery - yes the Post Office.
--- End quote ---


Not if you address it correctly  :wink: ...play the system  :D
--- End quote ---


i always get stuff thats of any value delivered to work ;)

SteveGoodz:
I've been reading nothing but anti-strike comments in this thread so thought it might be time to respond to some of the comments being made. Before I start I must declare that I do, on occasion, work for Parcel Force which is part of Royal Mail but operated as a separate business.

The workforce within Royal Mail (RM) have been implementing a series of "service improvements" ~ read cost cutting exercises ~ for the past 5 years. As customers of RM you will have seen the effects of these improvements as single daily deliveries, 2nd class letters taking up to 3 days for delivery, single daily collections from post boxes, not being able to purchase television licences from Post Offices, changes to the way letters are charged and an increase in the price of stamps. The quick-minded amongst you will see that not one of these changes has actually been an improvement ~ but it has saved millions. Each time a new improvement has been implemented the staff have raised objections on the grounds that it detracts from the service already provided and management have told them to "shut up and get on with it".

In addition to the improvements mentioned above, management have imposed changes to staff working times and practices without consultation. Imagine your own situation; you have a job which you've been doing for x years, you've built-up a routine around that job (taking the kids to school, caring for relatives, helping out with the local youth group, etc.). You go into work one morning and your manager says "oh, we've changed your hours, instead of 9 til 5 you're now working 12 til 8; starting today". Can't be done? Well it happened this week to several thousand RM employees (hence the wildcat strikes).

In common with many civil servants (which RM employees are) they work for low wages (typically less than 20k/yr when the national average is close to 25k). They know that when they sign up but there is a long-term benefit for them and that is a good pension scheme. Or at least it WAS until Gordon Brown raided it a few years ago and more recently management have announced they are going to a) raise the retirement age, b) reduce the pension payout and c) make employees contribute. The rights and wrongs of c) are irrelevant ~ it's the way in which the employees are being rail-roaded that sticks in their craw. How would you feel if 2 months from retirement you're told that the pension you were expecting is going to be reduced by 22% ~ not only have you suffered low wages for the past 30 years but now you're going to get a reduced pension too!

RM don't just collect and deliver letters. Much of their business is based around small parcels collected from businesses and delivered to private homes. One company I know ships about 1000 small packages each day via RM ~ you can't send those via email. As a business you can get a number of other postal companies to collect your mail (letters or parcels) BUT it's RM that does the delivery of these so if the posties are on strike they don't get delivered either.

No other company has the infrastructure to make house to house deliveries in each and every city, town, village, hamlet and farming community in the UK. If RM's management has it's way nor will RM in 5 years time. They want to bring in more automation but can only do that by making savings in other places and they haven't yet developed a robot that can deliver mail. They've already squeezed the business to the verge of breaking point and all that's left to cut now is wages. The union's estimate of 40,000 jobs (about 1/3 of the workforce) may be a bit high but can you imagine how much worse the service will be with even 20,000 less posties out there popping your bills, cheques and passports through the letter box each and every day?

I don't advocate or support the strike action and would never take part myself but I do understand the employees frustration. Their morale is pretty much at rock bottom. Believe it, or not, they actually want to provide a good service to the public. They see themselves as the whipping boys who are being forced to stand back whilst Adam Crosier (the highest paid civil servant in the UK) turns what was once the best postal service in the world into a third rate skeleton of its former self.

Feel free to disagree with any or all of the above, as you see fit, it's just an honest appraisal from someone who occasionally works in the business.

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