REGARDING THE STRIKE

[robert37uk]

Hi everyone. i would like to know everyones opinion on the one day strike we had on friday. today in our office we took out nearly double the work we usually do on a monday, and to me it looks like we have already cleared up the backlog from friday, so it makes me wonder what is the point of having one day strike and losing money when within the next 2 days we clear all the mail anyway.isnt this playing into royal mails hands, after all they saved all that money for the one day we had off, and yet still got all the work done.maybe im wrong as i dont know how the other offices are coping with the mail, but wouldnt it be better to go out on strike at least 2 or 3 days in one week and then see how it really affects them to cope with the backlog,we will have. i know a lot of people may think its too much money to lose in 1 week but i feel we need to do something more than having 1 day off to make royal mail sit up and take notice of the workers, and to start treating us with some respect. let me know how you feel please about this.

[EDDIE 666]

I agree as soon as the mail centres were not on strike this was always going to happen.We will have cleared all the backlog tomorrow in my office and there's been no real impact at all except in our pockets...The only way to make an impact is to have everyone out together or staggered over three days..Fridays strike should have been changed to a 2hr strike to keep the ballot active and then wait for the mail centres ballot to be heard.

[deltaforce]

As royal mail are looking to cut hours by 10-15%. By striking it does appear that we are playing into their hands. ie. 15% =6 hrs....1day strike=8hrs and cwu take all the flack...not a bad deal from rm point of view.

[resperin]

the mail load both today and saturday diddnt really seem above the norm for my office, at least to an extent that everyone was out the office the same time apart from saturday might left about upto 30 mins later but that could been due to no pre starts. kinda sucks really

[robert37uk]

in reply to what you say linkin park we do the job right at our office no short cuts. mondays is quite a light day at our office so we spent an extra 20 mins throwing up the extra work. everyone had their breakfast and was out by 10am, which gives everyone 4hrs to complete their duty, so no one claimed overtime. so basically like i said before in our office the day off was a waste of time, as we did it all anyway.

[axeman]

Hi everyone. i would like to know everyones opinion on the one day strike we had on friday. today in our office we took out nearly double the work we usually do on a monday, and to me it looks like we have already cleared up the backlog from friday, so it makes me wonder what is the point of having one day strike and losing money when within the next 2 days we clear all the mail anyway.isnt this playing into royal mails hands, after all they saved all that money for the one day we had off, and yet still got all the work done.maybe im wrong as i dont know how the other offices are coping with the mail, but wouldnt it be better to go out on strike at least 2 or 3 days in one week and then see how it really affects them to cope with the backlog,we will have. i know a lot of people may think its too much money to lose in 1 week but i feel we need to do something more than having 1 day off to make royal mail sit up and take notice of the workers, and to start treating us with some respect. let me know how you feel please about this.

Another gardener ????

[robert37uk]

in reply to linkinpark, theres no need for sarcasim mate im on ure side not against you. im just stating a fact we have already cleared the backlog from fridays strike. without going over our time. i just feel that one day strikes dont hurt royal mail too much, is all im saying. as for asking why would we go on strike . to fight for the future of our jobs and fair conditions. otherwise royal mail will walk all over us.

[Ethilfrog]

Hi.

I am new on this site, which you will forgive, but not new in the job.

I think one day strikes are a mistake. Those who participate lose money and give themselves hassle over the backlog. The general public don't give you any meaningful support, especially when (as now) jobs in all sectors are at risk; the business community just shrug their shoulders. Similarly for management, who are now well used to the tactic. It's only a temporary disruption anyway. Moreover, the CWU doesn't have what it takes to run a successful strike -- we learned this in 2007 and the persons involved are those who failed so badly then. We saw this again when the Mount, Nine Elms and Rathbone Place had to carry on working. This particular strike was hardly reported in the media -- OK, the industrial correspondents would have given priority in any case to the power station disputes, but the blunt fact is that Royal Mail is no longer as crucial as it used to be.

I know what the strikes are about. For those who don't know, processing staff include their leaflets in outgoing bags, so mail centre staff throughout the country can see them. The management proposals for London look awful.

I don't know what the answer is, but I'm sure the blunt weapon of sporadic strikes isn't it. What have you got in reserve when it fails?

[axeman]

Strange how these sort of defeatist type postings appear when IA is looming in the background could it be a tactic used primarily by royal fail ???
the type of things going on throught the country in most offices need to be addressed if all other avenues are closed as they are there is only one course of action available like it or not. And as for mails importance you have only to look at companys sweating to get things moving if there is action pending....

[TrueBlueTerrier]

I think, though I am not in the know, I think the 1 day strikes are just a statement of intention so that RM know we are serious. I also think it was a tactic to keep the ballots legal, once the challenged ballots are all ok I can see action growing and spreading.

[jcjd]

in reply to what you say linkin park we do the job right at our office no short cuts. mondays is quite a light day at our office so we spent an extra 20 mins throwing up the extra work. everyone had their breakfast and was out by 10am, which gives everyone 4hrs to complete their duty, so no one claimed overtime. so basically like i said before in our office the day off was a waste of time, as we did it all anyway.

as i understand it a 1 day strike was not what was intended but when RM won some of it's challenges to a few mc ballots we had to take some action to keep the other ballots legal and the Friday was a huge success if not just because of the % of people in london who were able to take part who did take part. I'm sure the next strike which will be soon i hope, and which will take a different form will have a much bigger impact

[Ethilfrog]

Strange how these sort of defeatist type postings appear when IA is looming in the background could it be a tactic used primarily by royal fail ???
the type of things going on throught the country in most offices need to be addressed if all other avenues are closed as they are there is only one course of action available like it or not. And as for mails importance you have only to look at companys sweating to get things moving if there is action pending....

Don't understand this post. I'm not a mangement shill. What I'm saying is, be very clear about your chances of achieving your aims, and I don't think they are good. What do you have if it fails? Extra work, less money coming in -- and the strike will already have cost you money, an avoidable loss, and imagine how the worst sorts of managers will gloat.

Strikes are a blunt weapon which should only be used as a last resort when there is no alternative. I am convinced that these days no strike can succeed without the support of the general public, which we don't have. We cannot rely on the CWU to sway public opinion; you'll recall that in 2007 we were promised a whole new campaign of multi-media propaganda... what we actually got was the same tired old faces on TV mouthing the same tired old 1970s slogans. When the dispute escalated in October with the four consecutive days, the Grand Old Duke of Hayes was invited onto Newsnight (as I recall) and wasted the opportunity by banging on about Northern Rock, something on which he had no expertise whatever, and it showed. You'd get more sense from half-drunks in the average pub. I watched it and it was an embarrassment.

I understand the frustration and emotions involved. Please put these aside and concentrate on the basics. Pick your fights carefully, and do not enter one unless you think you can win it. I have no doubt that my own office will soon be facing the same hard questions, and if the vote goes in favour of a strike I will come out with the others. But I won't expect it to succeed, and I fear for colleagues with large mortgages and young families.

[BELIAL]

if the vote goes in favour of a strike I will come out with the others. But I won't expect it to succeed, and I fear for colleagues with large mortgages and young families.

Excellent, solidarity
Why woudn't it succeed? the last one did,we got our pay rise the one RM had no cash for (strange how we made record profits for them as well)and we secured agreement on the introduction of many changes and threw out many more.
I think the point Axeman made is valid.You get a very strong sense of deja-vu reading your post, it's almost word for word identical to countless others that appeared immediately before and during the last round of strikes. It may well be your honest opinion but as shown by the ballot results it is very much a minority opinion and as our experience of 2007 shows it has no basis in fact and no doubt will be just as crass a statement as all those doom laden surrender monkey warnings of last time.
One question,just curious, what is your motivation for posting such negative stuff? I mean there's loads of things I might get enthusiastic enough about to make me want to bash the keys ,but to be honest letting the world know how horsewhipped, apathetic,and utterly powerless you feel,well not much point bothering is there?Still takes all sorts and Marvin was always one of my favourites

[axeman]

Don't understand this post. I'm not a mangement shill. What I'm saying is, be very clear about your chances of achieving your aims, and I don't think they are good. What do you have if it fails? Extra work, less money coming in -- and the strike will already have cost you money, an avoidable loss, and imagine how the worst sorts of managers will gloat.

Strikes are a blunt weapon which should only be used as a last resort when there is no alternative. I am convinced that these days no strike can succeed without the support of the general public, which we don't have. We cannot rely on the CWU to sway public opinion; you'll recall that in 2007 we were promised a whole new campaign of multi-media propaganda... what we actually got was the same tired old faces on TV mouthing the same tired old 1970s slogans. When the dispute escalated in October with the four consecutive days, the Grand Old Duke of Hayes was invited onto Newsnight (as I recall) and wasted the opportunity by banging on about Northern Rock, something on which he had no expertise whatever, and it showed. You'd get more sense from half-drunks in the average pub. I watched it and it was an embarrassment.

I understand the frustration and emotions involved. Please put these aside and concentrate on the basics. Pick your fights carefully, and do not enter one unless you think you can win it. I have no doubt that my own office will soon be facing the same hard questions, and if the vote goes in favour of a strike I will come out with the others. But I won't expect it to succeed, and I fear for colleagues with large mortgages and young families.

Straight from the pages of the royal fail intranet web site ????