Rogue mail

[POSTMAN]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... al-strikes" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Managers of Britain's strike-prone postal service keep trying to solve their problems at the expense of workers' jobs



We seem to be heading towards another national postal strike. After a series of selective regional-based strikes in June and July this year, the Communication Workers' Union has called a bigger, rolling walkout at more delivery and sorting offices for the next three days. The clamour from the members for more and harder-hitting action has led the union to organise a ballot for a national strike.

To those with a reasonable memory, the Royal Mail seems unduly prone to national strike action, whether it be 2007, 2006, 2003, or 2001. And that's without going back to the 1990s which were much more strike-prone.

With plans for privatisation shelved by Lord Mandelson just last month, the casual observer would have concluded that the big bugbear of the last few years has been done away with, thanks to a sustained backbench revolt by Labour MPs and the approach of a general election.

Yet this would be mistaken. Privatisation was certainly seen as a threat by postal workers to their jobs and conditions. It was intended not just to raise money for the government, allow business to find rich pickings in the postal market and meet the demands of EU deregulation. It was also intended to deal with the longstanding issue of troubled labour relations in the Royal Mail.

Labour believed privatising Royal Mail would allow the cold winds of competition to blow through this venerable old institution and, thus, tame the militancy of its workers. Strikes and a union capable of defending its members would then become a thing of the past. It was fed by a senior management team that claimed Royal Mail workers were 40% underworked and 25% overpaid.

So it should be no surprise that huge problems remain in Royal Mail even with privatisation defeated. Yet this is only half of the story.

Sure, Royal Mail workers are a fairly bolshy lot. But you have to ask why they remain bolshy and what they are being bolshy about. This gets to the heart of matter.

Privatised or not, Royal Mail is in a mess and has been for the last 30 years. First, its not inconsiderable surpluses (and then profits as a state company) were consistently taken away by governments which treated it like a cash cow. This meant it could not invest in new machinery and technologies. It also meant that postal workers' wages were towards the bottom of the heap for manual workers.

Then on top of this, the government starved Royal Mail of investment. Consecutive governments concluded that it was not worthy of the investment that other parts of the public services got – probably because it was making money.

Third, private sector companies have been allowed to cherry-pick the profitable parts of the postal service.

Come 2009, we have a situation where Royal Mail is, against all the odds, profitable but it remains without a sound financial foundation. Its pension deficit, for example, is in the billions. Consequently, Royal Mail management is always trying to square the circle by using the postal workers' jobs and conditions as the solution. Downward pressure is thus constant.

Royal Mail – still the de facto postal service in Britain – will always suffer these industrial disruptions until the government treats it as a public service and puts it on a sound financial footing. But don't expect that to happen any time soon.

[POSTMAN]

I like this dude,he mentioned RMC in an article during the last strikes.

[stokes11eg]

So, once again we are accusedof being 'bolshy' how i wish they would look at the reasons for this. Very few people
start the job with this attitude, it is brought around as a direct result of R/M treatment of their staff!

[TrueBlueTerrier]

So, once again we are accusedof being 'bolshy' how i wish they would look at the reasons for this. Very few people
start the job with this attitude, it is brought around as a direct result of R/M treatment of their staff!

Spot on. Some of the most active members of the Union in my office are ex-squaddies who are not known as the most unionised work force . I personally did not see the point in Unions until I had that road to Damascus conversion. What Happened - I started working for RM.

[DGP1]

So, once again we are accusedof being 'bolshy' how i wish they would look at the reasons for this. Very few people
start the job with this attitude, it is brought around as a direct result of R/M treatment of their staff!

Spot on. Some of the most active members of the Union in my office are ex-squaddies who are not known as the most unionised work force . I personally did not see the point in Unions until I had that road to Damascus conversion. What Happened - I started working for RM.

Same thing with me I never had time for unions until I joined RM and then what an eye opener, terrible management, lots of bullying (and that was a few years ago when, looking back, was pretty benign ) which has lead me to be 'bolshy'.

The management is the greatest recruiter for the union than anything else.

[pickaname]

So, once again we are accusedof being 'bolshy' how i wish they would look at the reasons for this. Very few people
start the job with this attitude, it is brought around as a direct result of R/M treatment of their staff!

Spot on. Some of the most active members of the Union in my office are ex-squaddies who are not known as the most unionised work force . I personally did not see the point in Unions until I had that road to Damascus conversion. What Happened - I started working for RM.

Same thing with me I never had time for unions until I joined RM and then what an eye opener, terrible management, lots of bullying (and that was a few years ago when, looking back, was pretty benign ) which has lead me to be 'bolshy'.

The management is the greatest recruiter for the union than anything else.

This thread has struck a chord with me...

All my previous jobs i tried my hardest and had a fantastic working relationship with the bosses. If they asked me to stay on for a bit i would do no question. If they needed me at short notice i was there cause i knew they would do me favours in return such as short notice time off or clocking off early for something etc.

Then i got a job with Royal mail taking the same attitude into the job with me...several years later here i am doing nothing but the bare minimum required, paranoid, suspicous, depressed, unmotivated - if its negative, i am it.

I now actively promote the union in the workplace whereas when i joined as a summer casual some years ago i had no idea about trade unions and would do whatever was asked of me. The management started to take the piss out of my goodwill hence my attitude changed. Even now some managers comment on the sea change in my attitude to the company. I despise Royal Mail for their treatment of the hard working people they employ.

Im am positive that the way Royal Mail is run (bad, ruthless managers from top to bottom) has changed my psyche permanently for the worse and Royal Mail has only itself to blame for the current mind set of its workforce.

I doubt ill ever take a job again without feeling the same way.

[POSTMAN]

This thread has struck a chord with me...

All my previous jobs i tried my hardest and had a fantastic working relationship with the bosses. If they asked me to stay on for a bit i would do no question. If they needed me at short notice i was there cause i knew they would do me favours in return such as short notice time off or clocking off early for something etc.

Then i got a job with Royal mail taking the same attitude into the job with me...several years later here i am doing nothing but the bare minimum required, paranoid, suspicous, depressed, unmotivated - if its negative, i am it.

I now actively promote the union in the workplace whereas when i joined as a summer casual some years ago i had no idea about trade unions and would do whatever was asked of me. The management started to take the piss out of my goodwill hence my attitude changed. Even now some managers comment on the sea change in my attitude to the company. I despise Royal Mail for their treatment of the hard working people they employ.

Im am positive that the way Royal Mail is run (bad, ruthless managers from top to bottom) has changed my psyche permanently for the worse and Royal Mail has only itself to blame for the current mind set of its workforce.

I doubt ill ever take a job again without feeling the same way.

Would say that your post would go very well with this thread..
http://www.royalmailchat.co.uk/communit ... =1&t=17612" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;