dingo wrote:Cut off king do you really think that during negotiations Royal Mail don't know weeks if not months where this is going. The talks this week in Windsor will not resolve the issues we are miles apart.
The union has to be sure of a yes vote and Branch's and divisions have to hold members meetings and we have to give formal notice of at least 7 days that we will ballot , we have to show the ballot paper to Royal Mail 4 days before we ballot. It is normal for a national ballot to be open for around 3 weeks and then we have to give Royal Mail at least 7 days notice of a strike.
So how are we ever going to surprise Royal Mail with a ballot ?
Of course we could unofficially but that is risky as no one controls an unofficial dispute as someone who has been in a few it is effective if it works and spreads but not so effective if other offices don't come out or worse still do your work !
Firstly unofficial action is wrong and would play into RM's hands.
I understand that it can't be an instant strike, but we have been chatting about a strike in sept./ oct. time for 6+ months now
This large time gap gives RM plenty of time to train managers in HGV driving / opperating machines etc. so as to be better prepaired.
It also gives RM time to feed the media with anti union stories about how much we need to be privatised.
Why not go into negotiations and set a 1 week limit with NO extention time.( that would help concentrate both sides on the task )
If no agreement within the week, ballot the membership
Continue talks while the ballot is being run, and if there is still no agreement then give 7 days notice of rolling function strikes from day 8 ( a 5 week total time span )
RM loves to string out the talks for months and months, getting close to an agreement, then adding conditions which they know would be unacceptable. They play for time and it always end up in a strike anyway.
Better to give RM as little time as possible to prepare.
CWU legal position & membership list accuracy could all be checked in secret prior to the 5 week period. Branch / local meetings could be prepared early, then held during the 7 day negotiations. Make the members understand that its a back us or die situation, their future T&C'S, job security are on the line.
Nobody wants to strike, but if we have to, I'd rather get it over with sooner than later.
We need to stop always reacting to what RM are doing, we need to be setting the adjenda and have RM on the back foot playing catch-up for once.
Maybe if RM took us seriously for once, knowing that we wern't going to be strung along with endless, going nowhere talks. they'd negotiate a deal a lot quicker.
At the end of the day, we all want to avoid a strike, we all just want to do our job as best as we can with as few hassles as possible. But RM need to give little too.
RM was founded on SERVICE not on GREED, lets return RM to a public service ethos. Profit Yes, But Not At The Expence Of Service.
