It makes you wonder...

[Glenno]

the union needs to jump on this straight away or they will lose. reassure the members. tell them the score on privatisation now its went through. tell them what they NEED to hear. we are still going for strike action. the sell off is to be completed on THE DAY BEFORE the ballot result. how insulting to the membership is that? come on hq. speak to us!!

This does need addressing, before it it is too late..

[k979aaa]

the union needs to jump on this straight away or they will lose. reassure the members. tell them the score on privatisation now its went through. tell them what they NEED to hear. we are still going for strike action. the sell off is to be completed on THE DAY BEFORE the ballot result. how insulting to the membership is that? come on hq. speak to us!!

This does need addressing, before it it is too late..

They have today on CWU website Industrial Action Ballot - Government Announcement
VOTE YES

[DirtyHarry]

It make's you wonder if the CWU leadership had already decided seceretly not to oppose privatisation and instead concentrate on T&C ?

Why else would they let themselfs be outsmarted by, lets face it, not the brightest bunch of RM upper management.

It's not as if the trick of calling an early privatisation date could not have been seen, we could see by the posts on this site that people were calling for the ballot to be held early to prevent just this situation.

The fact is that RM will be privatised whatever way the vote goes

After this latest gaff, I would call for a change in CWU leadership, but what would be the point ? The time for action has passed.....about 3 years ago.

. Do you think they are working the weekend to get deal of the century or are we screwed?

Another so-called 'deal of the century' will finish a good many of us off, that's for sure.

[DirtyHarry]

Let us get this right I said ages ago that depsite our best efforts we would have a majority share sold. This was even more guaranteed once the Government confirmed that anyone investing in Royal Mail would be guaranteed a dividend in years 1 &2 . How corrupt was that !!

However the dispute was always about the impact to our terms and conditions from a new privitiased Royal Mail. If you want your deliveries , your collection routes , your VOC, RDC or mail centre franchised then vote no. If you want your work outsourced Vote NO. Remember only 47% of the work in your delivery office and mail centre comes under the USO the remainder could be outsourced and be done cheaper then by us. That what a privitiased company chasing profits does. Ask those who work in other industries who have seen their work outsourced and their jobs lost.

Equally if you don't want your pensions , you don't want your annual leave arrangements , your paid meal reliefs , your seniority , your sick pays arrangements then vote NO.

Can you imagine how pleased new owners will be if some vote no ! They will believe that they can rip us your terms and conditions thinking you won't stand up against their plans.

For the result of us and I believe the ballot result will show we are the majiority we will fight and we will make a stand ! You can stand and hold our coats but be in no doubt if we lose you will lose !!

You are absolutely right.
What worries me is this.....Last time you won, we lost.

[NWpostie]

I'm still voting YES to a strike anyway. since they are going ahead with the privatisation we must have a strong hand in getting the best deal possible for our members, at best the threat of a strike will kill share prices or causing buyers to get cold feet, this way we have the strongest hand in the game.

[Shambles]

I doubt in fact I know Arthur Scargill didn't have a forum like this for his members to air their views, so RM won't need to tap phones or find out about secret meetings, cos all they have to do is log on here and read some of the defeatist remarks. We need to start realising, pretty fooking quickly, that now, more than ever before, we need to dig deep and be courageous and shove a YES Vote down their Smug, Gormless, conniving fork tongued throats!

Where's your Gumption! This Strike will go down in history!

[Martin Walsh]

Fish the employment law was always going to mean that The Government and Royal Mail could push thrrough a sell before the end of a ballot. The employment law means you have to give notice of 7 days to ballot , it knows the CWU have to notify Bramchs to meet the members for a yes vote and it knows the ballot timetable. You say they have always been one step ahead I disagree they have made their move after every move we have made.

Now Harry what did you lose last time , you got a 3 year pay deal , you got a £1000 , lump sum , we got a supplement , we stopped Royal Mail from introducing the Dutch Model of a part time job , we stopped much later stats , no negotiations on change. The fact is if we had not had the strike we would have lost a lot lot more. You and other might have not liked the deal but no one can argue that what Royal Mail wanted to introduce in 2009 was a lot worse then what we eventually got.

Now at this time you always get some members looking for an excuse and blaming everyone else. Funny enough these same members normally moan the most when change occurs which they don't like but did not want to fight in the first place.

Well the CWU is fighting to stop the impact from privatisation on your terms. Remember TNT will have a delivery workforce in 40% of urban areas they work on zero hour contracts for the first 3 months , they have no set hours , they are on £7.10 pence an hour. They also operate what is know as a TOP Boy system where if a walk is valued as taking 4 hours and you do it in 5 hours you do not get any more work , if you do it in 3 hours you only get 3 hours pay but you will get more work until someone else does it for less.

Now the fact is that 53% of your work is not covered by the USO and can be outsourced by a new owner to TNT or a parcels carrier who can do it for less then you do it for that's what happens in a privatised company that is why call centres in BT are now done in India. If they outsource your work then it will mean a lot less jobs and and attacks to make your conditions worse.

If you vote NO then be prepared to work for a lot less.

[Shambles]

Dingo

I hope you lot are paying attention to the end game?

[DirtyHarry]

Fish the employment law was always going to mean that The Government and Royal Mail could push thrrough a sell before the end of a ballot. The employment law means you have to give notice of 7 days to ballot , it knows the CWU have to notify Bramchs to meet the members for a yes vote and it knows the ballot timetable. You say they have always been one step ahead I disagree they have made their move after every move we have made.

Now Harry what did you lose last time , you got a 3 year pay deal , you got a £1000 , lump sum , we got a supplement , we stopped Royal Mail from introducing the Dutch Model of a part time job , we stopped much later stats , no negotiations on change. The fact is if we had not had the strike we would have lost a lot lot more. You and other might have not liked the deal but no one can argue that what Royal Mail wanted to introduce in 2009 was a lot worse then what we eventually got.

Now at this time you always get some members looking for an excuse and blaming everyone else. Funny enough these same members normally moan the most when change occurs which they don't like but did not want to fight in the first place.

Well the CWU is fighting to stop the impact from privatisation on your terms. Remember TNT will have a delivery workforce in 40% of urban areas they work on zero hour contracts for the first 3 months , they have no set hours , they are on £7.10 pence an hour. They also operate what is know as a TOP Boy system where if a walk is valued as taking 4 hours and you do it in 5 hours you do not get any more work , if you do it in 3 hours you only get 3 hours pay but you will get more work until someone else does it for less.

Now the fact is that 53% of your work is not covered by the USO and can be outsourced by a new owner to TNT or a parcels carrier who can do it for less then you do it for that's what happens in a privatised company that is why call centres in BT are now done in India. If they outsource your work then it will mean a lot less jobs and and attacks to make your conditions worse.

If you vote NO then be prepared to work for a lot less.

Blimey, you ask me what myself and the rest of my colleagues lost as a result of your 'deal of the century'?
Well, the main thing we lost, was what little semblance of dignity we had left in our workplace.
That, on top of, increased workloads, absorption, removal of the cap on D2D crap, and that's just for starters.
Oh, and caving in to management's spiteful demand that our Saturday become a 'normal working day.'
Might not be important to you, but I'm afraid it still rankles with a fair percentage of the membership.
I will strike again, but I trust the CWU as much as I trust Royal Mail. The language you both speak, seems too damn similar, too damn often, for my liking.