COMMENTS ON REPORTERS OR NEWS STORIES

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Please don't start a new thread with every reporters comment or a "sound bite" on TV please find a suitable thread as it will means less hopping about for all the other members.

However, if you have a link to an article on the internet then please post that up with an extract from the page and any of your own comments.

If people stick to this we will have less threads that all say the same thing and it will be quicker for members to navigate their way round.

Cheers

[misterbryn]

oops sorry mate! post moved here and deleted from original thread

[misterbryn]

for Joel Hill(s) Sky News reporter outside Nine Elms , for bringing up the truth about lost business...
Basically said ..Yes RM will lose customers, but when he asked how many of those customers had stayed lost after the last strike in 2007 ,,RM couldn't (read wouldn't) produce any figures...

[genesis]

On bbc news online gordon brown has indicated he would like to se them getting a round the table and talking again, if necessary bringing in an independant arbitrator like acas.

[Jack Mehoff]

On bbc news online gordon brown has indicated he would like to se them getting a round the table and talking again, if necessary bringing in an independant arbitrator like acas.

I saw this too but I think he has to check with lard mandy first to see if this is ok. After all everyone knows that mandy is his boss.

[terrace]

Ken Clarke shadow business secretary reckons we do a 35hr week!Shows how much in touch he is then.

[bigstuff]

Yeah i seen that interview CHEEKY :cfo

[sevenandseven]

Ken Clarke shadow business secretary reckons we do a 35hr week!Shows how much in touch he is then.

Isn't it ironic that the Cons are so much against interference from Europe ( or like to appear to be ) but would gladly sell off part of Her Majesty's Royal Mail to a Dutch company.

[concerned]

Ken Clarke shadow business secretary reckons we do a 35hr week!Shows how much in touch he is then.

Isn't it ironic that the Cons are so much against interference from Europe ( or like to appear to be ) but would gladly sell off part of Her Majesty's Royal Mail to a Dutch company.

Mr Clarke what a twerp.....and you are meant to be the Shadow Business Secretary. Most people work a 35 hour week, 8 hours a day=40 hours, less lunch each working day = 35 hours - in most workplaces. DUH

[pondhopper]

I've just sent, a few minutes ago, a rather long(ish) email to the Daily Mirror.
I've attached some documents from this website/forum.
The documents that are in the download section.
The RMC.pdf file
the postal strike doc
and the slides pdf file (what RM plan to do)

I hope that they read this and actually use the information in there to put our side of the story... from a postal workers perspective.
This may help the public to understand somewhat more clearly what we are striking about, as they seem to be somewhat lost as to why
we are taking this action for.
I have had nothing but support from the public on my delivery as well. There is also a postoffice there too, and they know that it is under threat of closure too... if that happened it would more than likely kill off the local community feel in that area too and that eveyone one there would then have to travel at least 3-5miles to use another postoffice in either town nearby.
Most of the people that use that one are OAP's but there is a good cross section of people there.. from young families to the elderly on my delivery, and as I've said I've had nothing but support from al that have spoken to me, and that's rather a lot of them.. I've been asked each day for the past two weeks what's going on.. and word of mouth helps in the local area too, and as everyone seems to know each other there too it helps a lot.
I've mentioned this site in the email too... so hopefully someone there 'may come knocking'.. so to speak.

Below is the email I sent to the Mirror. I hope that I've got all my facts straight.. as I took time to look through what's here..
I hope it doesn't appear that I'm rambling on either!

To the Editor of the Daily Mirror

You may want to take a look at this... with regards to the strike at Royal Mail.

I've attached 3 files for you to look at and use in your paper.

I am a postie, I've now been working for 5yrs at RM, after I was made redundant when the firm I worked for closed the local site and made over 200 people redundant.. from the site director to the floor sweeper.
I'm not a militant union member, just someone who wants a fair days pay for a fair days work, both of which we, the posties don't get but truly deserve. We are all losing pay when on industrial action... we do not get paid at all.. so do the public think we are doing this for fun.. some would appear to think so reading their rather inane ramblings in 'have your say' columns in some of the papers online. We are doing this to try to protect a national service that is used by all in this country and one that is in danger of being broken up and sold off in chunks to other carriers who will then no doubt charge higher prices to do the self same job that we do now.

Where will they go for a good reliable service that cost's less than the price of a decent daily newspaper, and not that daily newspaper called The S** either. Now that "Digger" has nailed his colours to the mast there and the sheep in that so-called newspaper. They're now attacking the very people that they were supporting.
To misquote/paraphrase an ex-football manager.. "There used to be a good newspaper over there!"

Look at this..

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/ho ... 01011.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://blogs.wsj.com/iainmartin/2009/10 ... m-crozier/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This is just part of the problem and is symptomatic of this countries problems at present.
An EDM has been signed by 100 MP's now to try to get the government to step in, when it should have done this months ago.
The CWU offered to go to ACAS during these talks, no strings attached... 3 times and they were turned down by RM!

It's (RM) owned by the Government, aka you, the public. It's not bothered and doesn't seem to care either. It (Mandy) wants to sell of at least 30% of RM to another courier, who will then, no doubt, be allowed to come in and use our infrastructure to complete the job as they have none of their own on this scale.
TNT/DHL/Deutche Poste/City Sprint et al. None of these do the 'last mile'.... We, RM do that.
We deliver a letter for 39p from one end of the country to the other... let's see them deliver a letter for that price.. they can't! They can't deliver on that scale.. They'd just stick to business mail and city centres! They were allowed to 'cherrypick' too.
Part of RM's charter is to deliver to EVERY house in the country... I bet they wont do that!
They (TNT) pulled out of a city center delivery a few yrs ago.. they said "it was too dangerous" yet we, RM have to deliver there!
It would probably cost you at least £10 for a small packet too! (upto 1kg in weight) the min. charge for a courier quote I found online.. look online and do a search!

We, the posties, have a pay freeze and have to do 'absorbtion' while you Crozier et al, all get a BIG FAT BONUS!
I challenge you (Crozier) to do a postmans job for a month.. come and work Christmas Pressure in ANY Delivery Office and see if you can do the job in the allotted time and do it on time and get finished without booking 'excess' or 'cutting off'.

Crozier, so it would appear, has not had his head above the ramparts once during this dispute... scared of the muck and bullets flying around is he? This is the man who is 'running' RM (into the ground as far as we are concerned).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Crozier" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Would you like this man to run your paper for you, or would that be ruin if he did? I think not!

This is my daily work... done in all weather.. from sun to rain to hail to snow etc etc...
My delivery is not the biggest in my office. I cover around 480 houses and also a few firms too, approximately 12 businesses and also a post office, that is the life blood of the local community. Yet another item that they, Mandy and co, want to destroy!
My Delivery.. done by cycle. Not a van or walk.. too far for that. The Start point is approx 1.5miles from the office. I cover approx 12-15miles per day, there and back!

I am up at around 4:30-5am for this job and my weekly hours are:

Monday: 6:00 - 2:00pm (delivery time is meant to be from 9:30am)
Tuesday: 6:00 - 1:30pm (delivery time is meant to be from 9:00am)
Wed-Friday: 6:00 - 2:30pm (delivery time is meant to be from 9:30am)
Sat: 5:00 - 12:00 (delivery time is meant to be from 7:30am)
We very rarely leave the office until at least 30mins after these times as we have to wait for the mis-sort run from the sub offices to come in.

Discounting my 'travel time' my finish time is 2:30pm (including meal relief... Which I'm betting most posties don't take, so they can get finished on time too!)
It takes me about 15mins to get to my start point too! So therefore a 9:30am start actually means I am at my start point at around 10am, after leaving the office after the missorts have come in.
Also it takes me about 20-25mins to return to the office as my last call is further away than my start point.
If I 'worked my contract' I could 'cut off' at around an hour before my duty ends.. to allow for meal relief and travel back time, add on 15mins to that and then my delivery is now down to 3:30mins max... don't forget the amount of pouches I have too.. daily avg of 4-5bags (max of 1hr per bag = 4-5hrs)
Roll on Christmas Pressure.. when the bag count and weight increases...
These people that they intend to put into place will not have the wherewithall to carry out the deliveries.. it takes at least a month to train someone to do a delivery (as they are all different some will take longer to learn than others.
We had around 24 new starters in our office the other xmas.. and in jan, if I recall correctly we had 3 left! Easy job is it... some people out there seem to think so. Let them come in and do the job then.. see how long they last then? I bet they don't last around 1-3months!
If you cut off then they threaten you with disciplinary action..as has happened to some people. Or you could work excess (overtime to complete the delivery)

RM, 'killed off' the 1st delivery time, not the 2nd delivery, as we now leave the office at around 9:45am, we used to leave around 7-7:30am previously.
My delivery is 4-5 pouches each day and most I've done is 8 pouches, this is around 45mins-1hr per bag and anything from 10-16kgs per pouch each day!
Thanks to 'absorption' I now have about another 45mins added to my duty! This equates to another pouch of mail. So much for a 4hr delivery then!
And RM wonder why we are not happy with what they want to impliment!?
You do that when it's freezing, cold and wet, and best(?) of all.. when it's tipping it down with rain too.. opening and closing the bag to get one households mail out at a time..
Where's your 8 secs per house there then? Where's the 8 secs per house when I have a 'signed for' or have to leave a P739? (This takes at least 5mins... waiting for a non reply then filling out the P739 and posting it through the door... Do that in the wet and see how long that takes you.. (more than 8 secs!) You try and do a walk (a delivery to you) at 4mph when you have to do that each day! (Pegasus is the computer system that is used to work out the deliveries/times/speeds etc.) Pegasus isn't working. No! Make that Pegasus DOESN'T work!

Sort it out Crozier... Get back to the table and agree a proper workable solution.. one that benefits us all.. and not just you and your pocket!
We all want a modern mail delivery system and one that is acceptable to all... not one that you want to impliment on us without negotiation. A payrise isn't the only thing on the agenda... far from it.. that's way down the list of grievances!

Also look at this website (http://www.royalmailchat.co.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) you may want to look at. Run by posties for posties.. (where I got the attached files from) and also used by the public too. Not perfect but you will get the true level of feeling from there as to how we feel with regards to what is happening. Some people on there are a bit a-political and also some are a bit.. shall we say.. 'idiotic'(?) with regards to the current situation, but it is a forum that allows everyone to have their say and is well moderated.

Not one newspaper, or so it seems, appears to be really be covering this story, or looking at it from a postal workers perspective. Try talking to the people on the picket lines and see what they say. I bet money is not at the top of the list, more like the last thing on the agenda.

As I've said I've attached three documents for you to look at.. maybe even print in your paper. Would be nice if some one actually put our side of the story.. and not just that fat cat crozier and his cronies. He is making a fortune from RM. Check what he earns and also what he has received in bonuses too, as well as the others at the top of RM. Why could that not all be ploughed back into the Pensions Fund Deficit?

Well... you have enough here to use.. so please do use it.. there are a lot of posties out there that would like to see their side of the story put out for the public to truly understand what we are fighting for. If they kill off RM, that's their aim... and thats the thin end of the wedge. Just think of what happened under that last tory party in power. A Thatcherite Britain is not what we want again and if that Public Schoolboy idiot gets in then we will all be in trouble!

Yours Sincerely
A hardworking Postie.. one of thousands that are taking a stand against the menace that is threatening our jobs and livelihood.

[johnnyp]

pondhopper superb mate

[terrace]

Postal dispute widens – with more strikes on the way
here's the link
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/oct/2 ... rike-unite" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Important bit near the bottom
"Today, the joint general secretaries of Unite, Tony Woodley and Derek Simpson, wrote to Royal Mail managers, officially throwing their weight behind the CWU. Managers are not taking part in the strike, but blocking Royal Mail's demands that they deliver the post themselves is a major blow for the company's bosses and marks a new low in relations with its workforce."

[Ted279]

That was a very good e-mail pondhopper.

[dogfood]

Channel 4 news You Gov poll
Whos to blame 4 the dispute?

39% management
37% cwu

Once the public swing in our support the newspapers will also cos they have to be seen to back public opinion

[DGP1]

Channel 4 news You Gov poll
Whos to blame 4 the dispute?

39% management
37% cwu

Once the public swing in our support the newspapers will also cos they have to be seen to back public opinion

http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/u ... ke/3396897" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;