Now they are even trying to stop us using the law!

[goinpostal]

I bet the Torygraph would be cheering if the courts were slapping an injunction on the union, but here the hypocrites are making out the union is undermining a deal by going to court! We'll see if it gets us anywhere, the courts belong to the bosses not the workers.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... hopes.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Royal Mail strikes: High Court threat to postal crisis breakthrough hopes
Hopes of an imminent breakthrough in the postal crisis could be under threat from a union legal bid to force Royal Mail to send home 30,000 “strike breaking” temporary workers.

By John Bingham
Published: 10:00PM GMT 01 Nov 2009

Royal Mail strikes: union High Court action comes as talks reach a critical phase Photo: EPA
A widely trailed High Court action by the Communication Workers Union (CWU) is finally expected to come to court on Monday or Tuesday, just as talks between the two sides reach a critical moment with a possible deal on the table.
Union sources conceded that the timing could sour the negotiations at a sensitive moment but insisted that it would go ahead nevertheless.

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Up to 60 million items of mail have built up in sorting offices after three days of industrial action by postal workers last week.
It follows months of disagreement over modernisation plans for the beleaguered company which is grappling with a multi-billion pound pension deficit.
Unions fear that changes to working practices and a greater reliance on automation could lead to 60,000 job losses.
The company has employed 30,000 temporary workers to help clear the backlog of post from the strikes in an effort to prevent the disruption running into the crucial Christmas period when up two billion letters and cards pass through the service.
But lawyers for the CWU are expected to go before a judge on Monday or Tuesday seeking a temporary injunction declaring the use of casual staff illegal.
They will argue that the use of agency workers to replace staff taking part in legitimate industrial action breaches employment law.
If the attempt succeeds, it would mean the Royal Mail would be forced to send the temporary staff home, scuppering efforts to clear the mounting backlog.
The company says that about half of the 30,000 casual workers would have been taken on anyway as part of the annual Christmas post effort. But the union counters that seasonal staff are usually taken on much later.
The two sides are understood to have made progress at new negotiations on Friday, chaired by Brendan Barber, the secretary general of the TUC.
Negotiators have spent the weekend examining the fine print of a possible deal, before meeting their respective executive bodies this morning ahead of renewed negotiations later today or early tomorrow.
A spokesman for the union accepted that the court action could be seen as unhelpful at a time when a deal is thought to be close.
“It could but it is going to happen, we have made a decision on that,” he said.
“We held back last week, it is separate to the talks, it is a matter of law.”
Royal Mail said night that the current wave of strikes had led to a backlog of 50 to 60 million items of post but the union said that figure had increased to well over 100 million.
A spokeswoman for Royal Mail insisted that the temporary workers are entirely legal.
"W e normally use agency staff throughout the year to help cover
sick and holiday absence and fluctuations in volumes as well as higher
volumes at Christmas and these agency workers are not hired to do the work
of postal workers when they are on strike and also completely in line with
employment law," she said.
The company also said that a quarter of the 77,000 delivery workers expected to be involved in a strike on Saturday turned up for work but the union described the figure as “nonsense” claiming that Royal Mail was counting workers who were on holiday or sick.
Two all-out strikes are scheduled for Friday and Monday unless a deal is struck.

[Captain Scarlet]

Agency staff to cover sick and holidays!!!! WTF! is it not the case that so many cuts have been made in all offices that we do not have enough staff to do the job without o/t?

First time I have ever heard of that bull*hit....what's going to happen when they make more cuts next year, take agency staff on about february????

By the way were is "Mandy" this week, still under Adam's bed?