Royal Mail staff in Ramadan holiday row

[axeman]

News Flash ...the world is round ever since ''religion'' was invented thoughts were it was flat 'nasa' has finaly proved it's round .... trouble is the muslims (some) still consider that values writen yonks ago and indoctrinated into the children (bible schools are not 'forced') still hold credence in todays fast evolving world which is why the divide between men and women still exists

I will give you credit, in so much as, the spelling has improved. It really could not have got worse!! Unfortunately, the punctuation is still well below par. More work is needed on that aspect of things. As for the opinions, capable of better is the polite term to use.

will you pray for forgiveness for me on sunday ? .....

[ramone]

Hi Bobbyden
Thanks for the reply

In response to what you say:

Firstly, I am not a practising Roman Catholic, but I have enormous respect for these people, something which you do not have. I based what I said in my opening paragraph from having spoken to Catholics of my aquaintance.

Ok so you are not a practising Roman catholic - do you follow a faith? Agnostic? I have already stated in this thread I am an atheist and secularist – a secularist can be religious, agnostic or atheist – the aims and values of secularism can be seen here http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions ... ism.shtml-" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; it’s a fair guide to secularism if you want have a more informed knowledge of where I am coming from.

Not surprisingly, you twisted it to suit your own prejudice. Try something more original in future!! You obviously did not read the last paragraph. Please read it again, I could hardly have been more specific.


I began my last post with the phrase “I assume you follow the catholic religion” as you which you have now informed me you are not catholic. So I now know your defence is not of the Catholic Church but that of people who are in the Catholic Church you have experienced. You did give the impression that you were of the catholic faith in my opinion

I am sorry you feel so hard done by over the cost of the Pope's visit. Again, the lack of respect towards the pilgrims was so evident.

Do I feel hard done to? No. Do I feel that the Catholic Church should have paid for this? Yes. As a country where next month a large amount of people are going to be losing their jobs I find it difficult understand why as a non believer I and many others had to pay for this visit when the money could have been used to keep people in employment.

Pope Benedict XV1 is accused of nothing, except that is by a ropey website with credentials less than impressive. If they are so convinced of their case, let them press charges. I will not be holding my breath on that one. Better still, why don't you press charges. I will not be holding my breath on that one either.


Again you must have missed the protest – the protest was against this visit being a “state” visit. This gave the Pope immunity from prosecution. If it was not a state visit I am sure that an arrest warrant would have brought up. As you may know the Pope (formerly cardinal Ratinzger) was directly responsible for investigating the cases of abuse. A part of the protest is for the Vatican to release the papers from his time in charge of these investigations. The Pope is also accused of using the threat of excommunication from the church to those who spoke out about the child abuse issues. (basically trying to keep it in house)


Those who took part in the Great North Run are to be commended. I have no argument with you on that.

Pleased to see we agree on something

Reading between the lines, you expect people of the Catholic faith to stop practising their religion. No doubt, there are many catholics who will turn their backs on the church in the light of this scandal. I fully understand that, but, there are many who will stick with their beliefs and up-bringing. That is what they will do because the reality is, that is all they can do. Life is never as straightforward as you would like it to be.

Many Catholics may have left the church but I am sure they still believe in God (Many agnostics believe in God and not religion) and I am sure many have moved onto other churches Maybe by voting with their feet is the way to affect change within their church. I don’t expect Catholics to give up their religion I, like you, expect them to challenge their leaders, who are not gods but men on the issues this church is involved in! I know life is not straightforward and things change- thats why it is so interesting in my opinion

regards
ramone

[demon]

i want my dogs birthday off

[fishtank]

i want my dogs birthday off

If you want your dogs birthday off..you can...you just book the annual leave.
If you read the original post you will realise that this was not the issue...nobody was asking for a free day off.
The issue was releasing so many people on the same day from the same office....something that isn't a problem on a Christian "holy"day as the business is usually closed.

[Tman]

the protest was against this visit being a “state” visit.

No it wasn't. The protest was against the "Chief Catholic's" visit to a nominally protestant country, plus a few other band-wagon jumpers etc which inevitably surface for just such an occasion.

This gave the Pope immunity from prosecution

Yeah, like that was ever going to happen! "We just happen to have the spiritual leader of 4 billion people here now, shall we prosecute him for offences committed by others in other countrys?"

If it was not a state visit I am sure that an arrest warrant would have brought up

Are you serious?

[bobbyden]

You have all the answers, you do something. Go on, let us see what you are made of. More than likely though, you are all talk and no action. Prove me wrong.

Maybe you should reread what was posted and my reply to it.
Of course "I'm all talk and no action" but it ain't my fight, and in reality I was fighting in your corner against someone who felt that you should do something re child abuse...

The spelling has not declined. Still need to work on the punctuation though.

[Tman]

You have all the answers, you do something. Go on, let us see what you are made of. More than likely though, you are all talk and no action. Prove me wrong.

Maybe you should reread what was posted and my reply to it.
Of course "I'm all talk and no action" but it ain't my fight, and in reality I was fighting in your corner against someone who felt that you should do something re child abuse...

The spelling has not declined. Still need to work on the punctuation though.

Don't know what you're talking about. It was Axeman you were laying into with regards to spelling etc, so how did I get roped into that one?
That said, "the spelling has not declined" is meaningless, and "Still need to work on the punctuation though" is ironic, as it should read "Still need to work on the punctuation, though."

I'm guessing you don't have much of a point to make, when you need to fall back on the old standby of pointing out spelling and punctuation errors though...

[axeman]

The spelling is not as bad as txt it's readable (just) but who gives a sh*t . i really don't care about some ar*e who takes the time to study the grammar of a post and comment if anything is not...... gramaticaly correct .... nurd

[dvbuk55]

The spelling is not as bad as txt it's readable (just) but who gives a sh*t . i really don't care about some ar*e who takes the time to study the grammar of a post and comment if anything is not...... gramaticaly correct .... nurd

Couple of spelling mistakes there axeman

Did anyone watch that program this morning on BBC1, one of the items for discussion was "are we too sympathetic towards Islam at the expense of Christianity"
some of the points put across were quite interesting - from both points of view I might add. I of course have my own opinion but prefer to keep my own counsel.

[joshua wingate]

If RM are quite happy to use casuals to break strikes would it not be possible to bring in some to actually help out their staff...just a thought.
There are many possible solutions if you really WANT to find one.

I would suspect not one that did not cost money and they definitely wouldn't want to find one like that.

First time I have heard of this.
Basically, under Employment Equality Regulations 2003 Religion & Belief is catered for, and it is against the law for a company to unlawfully discriminate. Some companies cannot accommodate - but Royal Mail has over 100,000 employees and can't get away with claiming that it couldn't manage to accommodate a religious festival in a way that a local dry cleaners with four members of staff might be able to.

The key dates for a practicing Christian are catered for as public holidays by Royal Mail.....for example, Sundays - Christmas Day, Easter Sunday, Good Friday. The only times I would ever envisage a churchgoing Christian to experience a problem was if they had to work a late shift on Maundy Thursday, or perhaps if they came from East Europe, Christmas Eve is the main celebratory day - so there's a possibility they may want to return home prior to December 24th to be able to celebrate Christmas with their families.

We live in a diverse society (like it or not). What would be the problem if Muslim, Sikh and Hindu workers were allowed their festivals off - and if Jewish workers were allowed Saturdays off.

I myself am Jewish, and I am a member of a Liberal Synagogue in South London. That's my personal choice - and my faith and beliefs are essentially private, but I have been informed by ACAS that under the Employment Equality Regulations Royal Mail should be able to accommodate that and give me Saturdays off. (I have provided all the evidence required, proving that I am not making it up). They don't have to pay me - so effectively I can have all Saturdays off on Special Leave C, but Monday to Friday duties do exist in the business, so where's the problem?
It's good business practice, and the festival dates come out well in advance, so good luck and best wishes to any worker wanting to take Royal Mail to a tribunal for unlawful indirect discrimination.

Friday is an important day to Muslim workers, so in theory, could they not have Fridays off - and then come in and work the Saturday?

[POSTMAN]

Can someone put up what religions need what certain days off because of their faith.

[POSTMAN]

Also not sure if it's been put up but ed balls had an idea a few years back,not sure if it came to fruit or not,but i guess we could have skeleton staff doing say a premium xmas service,easter service,perhaps we could bring the below in...

Civil servants will be able to take bank holidays on the religious days of their choice under moves to introduce "cultural flexitime".
Officials in the education department will be allowed to work from home on statutory days off and take the time owed to mark their own religious traditions.
It means staff will be able to work at home on Christmas Day for the first time this year and swap it for a different religious festival such as Eid or Diwali.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z10l5OB3T5" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[wolfie citizen smith]

The easy answer is to give us all the day off, that way there's no discrimination, I mean does anyone not a christian work christmas day?

Enough said me thinks

[Pat Ostman]

The easy answer is to give us all the day off, that way there's no discrimination, I mean does anyone not a christian work christmas day?

Enough said me thinks

Plenty of people work Dec 25th

[Lounge Lizard]

"Officials in the education department will be allowed to work from home on statutory days off and take the time owed to mark their own religious traditions." So we should be able to "work from home" on certain days too.