Mrs ESC

Have said before, you wouldnt get post on a Sunday anyway

The general public will never understand how the postal service works, there is 4 in our office and the area is only about 10 foot square so to fit anymore in there would be a joke. with the frames and boxes bags and parcels we fall over each other now lol. and its not even xmas yet.

talk about up dating Royal mail they need to sort our office out thats in the dark ages .

girl-in-a-scoob

Striking didnt do the Miners any good ... they shut the pits

DCI Gene Hunt

1. General Public writes a letter
2. General Public posts said letter
3. Postman collects letter from postbox
4. Sorting office sends said letter to nearest receiving post office
5. Letter posted through letterbox by man in shorts and NO black & white cat
6. Posties go on strike


That about covers it

girl-in-a-scoob

No black and white cat DCI

Ghetto Dude3

after deciphering this post i can now see why some lettered post ends up in the wrong letter box

miff13

Christ, I'm amazed by most of the comments on this thread, most of you have no idea what the postal strike is about, and yet you rush to judge because you might experience some minor inconvience.

Most of you seem to link the strikes to pay rises, well that's because everytime their pay is reviewed, royal mail tries to shoehorn a whole heap of new working conditions in with the measily pay rise.

As I understand it the strike is about the following things (well the main points anyway):

1. Royal Mail want to introduce "flexible working" which as royal mail understand it means you turn up to work at your allotted time (for ease of reference lets say they all work 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday), and they say to you "there's no work for you to do at the moment, come back at 11am and work to your finish time" which then means that you either go home for 2 hours, or sit around at work until you are needed. Oh and by the way you then owe them 2 hours, so after doing this to you for 4 days, they can then say to you "you're coming in Saturday for eight hours to make up the hours you owe us". I know this is unlikely but as royal mail want it, it's perfectly possible.

2. Royal Mail wants to pay their employees monthly instead of weekly, but instead of saying "We know this will be difficult for you initially, so we'll offer you an interest free loan of a months pay to see you through the first month when you'll have no pay" they offer nothing and expect people to simply survive on thin air for a month.

3. As a final kick in the *****, "we want to change the way your pension is calculated, we know you've worked for us for 20 years but we're going to change things so that your pension is worth £10,000.00 less than it would have been". Oh and on the pension front for those of you who have commented on this, royal mail hasn't paid a penny into the pension scheme for years because it's been in surplus. Well what a shock, if you don't pay into a pension for years it will get to a point where it won't meet it's commitments.

Would any of you accept this in your career? I have a quite well paid professional career, and if my employer tried anything like this I would tell them firmly where to insert their job. Just because royal mail employees do a job that most of you apparently think is menial and unchallenging, doesn't mean they deserve to be treated like crap.

Oh and on the competition front, don't make me laugh, without going into the reasons for it ('cos quite frankly I don't understand how it happened), there is no competition, I could set up a postal service tomorrow and charge you 25 pence for a first class letter. What do you think I'll do with the letter? Well I'll take it to the post office where they are obliged by law to accept it, and they charge my delivery company 12 pence per letter, and royal mail have to take it and deliver it, is that competition? If you want competition then lets make it fair, if you want to accept a letter from a customer, you deliver it to its destination, that's fair.

I don't work for Royal Mail, my brother does and he is far from thick!

Sorry I've just come back from a night out, I'm half cut and hopefully some of this rant makes sense!

Matthew

p.s, my brother freely admits that there are lots of work shy a**holes at royal mail but don't tar them all with the same brush, lots of them work hard and get paid the same as the lazy feekers. I also work with a lazy feeker, but then I get paid twice as much, that's free competition!

ethanrob

iTrader: (3)

at last

someone with half a brain and a general idea of what the striking's all about!

i would love to be working today/yesterday etc,but after working all of the previous strike days,im sick and tired of the scab/cold shoulder routine,its got a little tedious now,so made a few quid on ebay last week,so im treating this as a holiday

as per above comments,employing 2 4 hour postie's to do one 8 hour posties work has been tried and failed,years back they trial run a set-up called star drops,where as a minibus full of postie's was dropped off on every round and 8 posties would deliver one duty in order,but soon found out that say 2 postmen would be back at the minibus 1/2 hour/1 hour before the others,this leading to dead work and abuse to the lazy gits on the same duties/rounds etc

personally speaking,i class myself as a worker,i love nothing more then to fly round and get done early,then off home,there are 3 or 4 the same in the office,but the other 15 or so just plod along and cream overtime for doing the same job

if the RM want to save money,then the overtime creamers is where they need to start,get shut of these and employ someone who will and can get the job done in the alloted hours,or just cut all overtime payments full stop,unless the overtime is for covering dutie's with people off sick/holiday shortages etc

agreed with some above,a shake up is needed and the dead wood needs removing for this company to move forward,but companies have no rights to sack people for being a lazy T**T anymore,what ever happened to the days of "my way or the highway" oversight

marcus

logiclee

Flexible working, monthly pay, lower pension.

Nearly every worker who works for private companies or the privatised gas / electric / mines / water etc. etc have already gone through this that's why there is little sympathy.

The modern world is harsh, the Royal Mail provides a poor service but at the moment enjoys a monopoly in some areas, that's the only reason they are still going. Other mail providers do work flexibly, are paid monthly to cut overheads and provide a good service.

Royal Mail workers need to wake up or be out of work.

The company I work for used to have strong union, our workers used to work 5 days a week Mon-Fri, get paid weekly with bonus and the pension was paid at 50. Now they work 24/7, get paid a flat monthly wage and pension at 61. There's no need for bonus, anyone not pulling their weight goes out the door.
That's they way of the modern world, our competitors do the same, if we didn't we would all be out of work.

Lee

Suresh

Going on strike and legging over the general public shows a shocking lack of imagination. How about the bank workers go on strike and delay their pay packets for a while and then see if citizen Pat and his commie mates think striking is such a great idea.

There are other ways to settle a dispute without withdrawing labour. Then again I expect they already did try a ' go slow' but nobody noticed



I'm very much in the fire them and call in the Poles camp

girl-in-a-scoob

Self Employed here....

Point number

1. Flexible working hours - work when the work is there, be it mon - fri sat or sun or ALL 7 ... usually until 8 or 9 each night from 7am in the morning.

2. Paid weekly or monthly - paid when the job is done.. if it rains and the job is delayed.. No pay.

3. Pension - private pension out our own pocket....

Reading back over this now... IM on strike

Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

All I know is that when postal workers are on strike, our clients book more work with us

It's not the Polish that do the majority of our deliveries, its the Brazillians and they are real grafters & get rewarded for it accordingly.

powerman1

To all you to55pots who make sweeping statements about postmens mental ability really have to question your own mental abilitys .In this world there are many jobs that others look down on and believe that the people who do them are lesser people for some strange reason,well let me tell you you are WRONG and you will be the first to scream when its not done and it effect you directly, those that do it deserve a bit more respect as people.I personally have a good job but know that some people lower down the promotion chain are very intelligent but are not career motivated and use there skills etc elsewhere.
I would very much doubt that if 95% of people went on strike on here no one would even notice or give a toss

Bodgit

I may notice, and it did affect me when i lived in another town and one of the very hardworking posties was robbing the post and dumping the rest of it in the canal. I am sure his job was probably saved by the unions and he is on the picket line now claiming how hard done by he is. He probably even used it as an excuse for the theft from Joe public and the theft from his employer.

If you are not happy with your job or the conditions leave, dont stay and moan about it.

logiclee

I know and trust my post man but still nearly half my Royal Mail non tracable post of any value goes missing. If I'm having DVD's etc from Play I have to send them to Mothers house and go and fetch them. It's obvious that someone at the sorting office is taking them but after phone calls, written and email complaints I still get my post stolen. 32 items so far this year and that's just the ones I know about.

The people who work for RM have said on this thread they have layabouts and skivers and we know about all the thefts. Where's the accountability and supervision? It's obvious there isn't any and without their monopoly they would have gone under by now, everyone would be redundant and there would no union or pension to moan about.
Anyone slowtimes in my department knows what to expect so they dont do it, those that constantly did have been replaced. If there was any implication that anyone on my team was stealing then I would 100% find, prosecute and sack.
Stealing is a criminal offence but Royal Mail have nothing in place to prevent or detect and no effective supervision or accountability.
They need to be dragged out of the 70's.

Cheers
Lee

bugeyeandy

Have to say in the industry i'm in i've seen the working conditions slashed, pension costs more than double, hours rise and wages fall. Has it been to keep us in business - no. Has it been to line the pockets of our company directors and shareholders - yes.
I fully support anyone who takes action to retain pay and conditions, suggesting sacking the lot and calling in the poles is crass and shows no imagination.

logiclee

That's OK if the company is making a profit and your conditions are being erroded to increase the share holders bank account.
Many companies operate in a cut throat market and battle to survive especially in the service and manufacturing sector. Our workers accepted the changes to stay in work, the alternative was to go the way of MGR.

Only four years ago Royal mail was loosing a million pound a day. It's now back in profit but mainly due to it's postal monopoly, it's still loosing ground to other parcel and post couriers.

If any other company had stolen items from me I'd be able to call in the Police. RM just don't give a stuff.

Cheers
Lee

pslewis

Well, I think that they should charge an extra 5p a letter ..... it's pretty cheap as it is ......

Post a letter in a red box in a Cornwall village - it is posted in a house in a Scottish Highland village 3 days later.

For 24p!!!!

24p!!!!

By paying 30p we could end this strike and give the Postal Workers a living wage, a decent Pension Scheme and give them sensible working hours and holidays.

David Lock

Even though it was addressed to a place in Wales .........

Mrs ESC

Oh well soon be xmas and getting letters with.

To Dave ??

Main road

3 doors up on the left

Oppisite the pub,

Cold Norton

Essex.

Good job I know him lol.

mickywrx

iTrader: (29)

Thats a perfectly fine address.

At work, City Link, I get that near enough every other day. Had some amazing ones.

Had one yesterday,

Emma something,
31 New York Way,
North Shields

It's a bloody small industrial estate that goes upto number 5 a,b....

Needless to say, she didn't get her tat from Gems TV delivered.

Had one a couple of months ago,

John surname
Low Fell
Gateshead
Tyne and Wear
NE9 6##

Hmmm, like I know everyone that lives in Low Fell That was sent by EBuyer IIRC

logiclee

I'd glady pay an extra 5p if it meant I actually got my stuff.

Bodgit

Couldnt agree more. What the organisation does is pretty amazing. However, the management in the place are often made up of the staff who are too lazy to do the work anymore (I know I have worked in RM). Essentially the workers are being let down by these managers not the ones on high.

Striking will not solve this failing. A shake up and true modernisation, not the poor attempts they make will resolve issues. Also perhaps a work exchange with external and private companies for the RM workers may help them see they are not as hard done by as they are being told they are by their over militant union reps.

mart360

Shame you dont understand the true story.......and the restrictions they have had placed on them!!!

The pay issue, is the bottom of the pile, compared to the other conditions that have been tabled.

So closure of post offices and reductions in collection and delivery times isnt really important, and wont have much of an effect on you will it????

And the reason the argument looks so one sided, is that the postal workers are prevented from airing there side of the story by legislation, yet there management isnt, Thats hardly fair is it??

I,m not one to support the unions and strikes, but i,m behind this one


Mart

jaya

HEY its been GREAT the last few days..Havent had any JUNK MAIL shoved through the letter box..WE have had three different postmen now.cuz the previous two got attacked by HOODIES.. A HAPPY WORKFORCE,IS A PRODUCTIVE WORKFORCE..people only strike because nobody is listening to them,or they being ****ed upon.and feel is the only way they can make themselves HEARD thats all...OMG im turning into a right VICTOR MILDREW..I DONT BELIVEEEEEE IT..GO GO POSTY

Albert47

There is more than one way to skin a cat!

I feel strike action is a childish way of getting an argument across!! The only way to get managentment to listen to yr argument is too punish the public, where is the logic in that and not to mention the postal workers will have to work twice as hard to clear the back log.

Thats why you have a union/union rep so they do the talking for you. If their talks arent working, change your union rep for a decent one!!!!

As mentioned in a previous post i would quite happy pay an extra 5p on a postage stamp which would slove a lot of problems. Then royal mail can regulate there pay/pension schemes to prevent this happening again.

I know they only strike to provoke a reaction from the public/goverment etc and im pissed that ive just order some ram and a new toy for my daughter and will have wait untill next milenium to get it, i think ill read the papers bit more from now on.

Im a big believer in loyalty turning your back on a company that pays your wage is a big no no. I would sack the main instigators to set an example

By the way i will never tip my postman/women ever again at christmas, like i have all the previous years.

Scoob99

iTrader: (1)

Just to let you know we will be out next Mon&Tues as well, you think we do this for fun, you blokes pi55 me off I'd like to see some of you try and get up at 4am in all weathers and try and deliver 6, 7, or even 8 bags of heavy mail oh and to be told we are going to decrease your pension and you will now have to work till you 65 because postmen have to retire at 60 but most of them carry on because they have too, their is something like a £2.5 billion deficent in our pension fund because Royal Mail FAILED to take care of it properly and you wonder why we are pi55ed off
Cheers
Colin

P.S. The mangement are now being balloted for strike action too because Royal Mail have messed up their pension fund too so of the managers in my office will lose 20K

Scoob99

iTrader: (1)

Well said that man BTW all mangers are going to be balloted for strike action too because of the way Royal Mail have ballsed up their pension too, some of you non here do NOT have a clue

girl-in-a-scoob

Do people get paid whilst out on strike?

PeteBrant

Nope

Dracoro

You missed:
stage 4b - Check to see if letter has cash/card or anything else worth nicking
stage 4c - Check quota to ensure not nicked more than fair share to prevent whistleblowing from fellow colleagues.