Have the union played a blinder??

[Halfhappy]

I didn't pick up on the defeatest part, can you explain, please?

Watch it again and pick out the optimism.
It’s basically waffle talk with no hope on the horizon.

Like I say, I didn't pick up on that. It's no good telling me to just keep watching it till I agree with you.

Ok… so basically you have the CWU claiming Royal Mail have refused a deal to cancel the strikes…
The CWU told Royal Mail that they need to come up with a new plan for the CWU to agree to suspended these strikes.
Royal Mail, of course, said no (through acas).
And then there was a 20 minute explanation of how Royal Mail are going to turn us into yodel and get rid of tens of thousands of jobs…
I get all that. It’s nothing new.

But the CWU have no real strategy now. They came up with a flimsy counter deal a few weeks back and now tell Royal Mail they will suspend strikes IF they come up with a new plan that doesn’t involved the AM starts and redundancies etc…. Which is basically royal mails prime objective.

They ain’t budging. The CWU know that and have admitted this is the most “oppressive” regime in Royal Mail history. You don’t sacrifice Black Friday and Christmas to give up in January. Christmas is not salvageable now. The CWU know this.

So all they have is telling us that ‘solidarity’ and striking is the only way. Another ballot incoming.


Royal Mail are turning the screw. Sick pay. Callers office. Christmas bonus. The CWU admitted they don’t want to “burn out” it’s members with strike after strike. But that’s all they have now. And come January, just like in august, the backlog will be cleared in a day.

I’m not sure what the CWU are hoping for now. But for me it all sounded like they have finally realised what they are up against.

Does it never occur to you that ST might also be saying, "They ain't budging"?

Withdrawing our labour is the only thing we have. Its the only thing any worker has. Fortunately, there's 115,000 of us doing it. I don't know what else you're expecting? The plan is we continue IA, until some compromise is met. Christmas and backlogs are not, and never was, what is going to push RM to its limits. Long term disruption is what will do it. IA is an unsustainable position for a business to remain constantly in. ST will have been given a limit to how far he can go, before he has to make compromise.

This is the biggest, and most hostile attack, on jobs and terms, I've ever seen in my 30 odd years of working in RM. Of course they're turning the screw, they're throwing every petty thing they can at us, to demoralise us, to stop the strikes, which according to you don't bother them. The union hasn't said a thing about giving up, or it's hopeless, that's just u projecting. They sounded is totally subjective. I'd agree with you, if I'd heard anything to indicate that.

Agree with most of that…
I just saw two blokes sitting there telling us how bad things will get but despite striking in the most disruptive time of the year the compromises just haven’t happened.

Every time the CWU send anything to Royal Mail ST throws it straight in the bin and Royal Mail come out with some pre planned response that offers nothing positive.

Again, it's long term disruption that will cause harm, not 4 weeks of the year, when it's up the wall anyway. It never was. Dave Ward was saying weeks ago this would be a long dispute. The words 'in for the long haul' have been used endlessly. The union are trying to set strike dates to maintain longevity of this dispute, so it's affordable. If they'd thought it was Christmas that would break it, they'd have had us all out.

[Binsey]

Losing TP early doors was a huge blow.
He would have of been in front of the cameras every day.

The major fault of the Union has been it thought this was a traditional dispute, when early on it was apparent it wasn’t.

I have a bad feeling the dispute in the new year is going to get really nasty…,

Then you a very hostile Tory Government who really needs scapegoats and with attempt to crush the Trade Union movement once and for all.

[Halfhappy]

Losing TP early doors was a huge blow.
He would have of been in front of the cameras every day.

The major fault of the Union has been it thought this was a traditional dispute, when early on it was apparent it wasn’t.

I have a bad feeling the dispute in the new year is going to get really nasty…,

Then you a very hostile Tory Government who really needs scapegoats and with attempt to crush the Trade Union movement once and for all.

I agree, it's going to get very nasty. We're gonna have the weight of the media and RM on us, with the force of the government behind them. This government doesn't want any union winning. Hence the RMT interventions. As soon as one union falls, the all do. As soon as one Union wins, they all do. This is going to be the rise or end (not fall) of the trade union movement.

[justanumber]

I didn't pick up on the defeatest part, can you explain, please?

Watch it again and pick out the optimism.
It’s basically waffle talk with no hope on the horizon.

Like I say, I didn't pick up on that. It's no good telling me to just keep watching it till I agree with you.

Ok… so basically you have the CWU claiming Royal Mail have refused a deal to cancel the strikes…
The CWU told Royal Mail that they need to come up with a new plan for the CWU to agree to suspended these strikes.
Royal Mail, of course, said no (through acas).
And then there was a 20 minute explanation of how Royal Mail are going to turn us into yodel and get rid of tens of thousands of jobs…
I get all that. It’s nothing new.

But the CWU have no real strategy now. They came up with a flimsy counter deal a few weeks back and now tell Royal Mail they will suspend strikes IF they come up with a new plan that doesn’t involved the AM starts and redundancies etc…. Which is basically royal mails prime objective.

They ain’t budging. The CWU know that and have admitted this is the most “oppressive” regime in Royal Mail history. You don’t sacrifice Black Friday and Christmas to give up in January. Christmas is not salvageable now. The CWU know this.

So all they have is telling us that ‘solidarity’ and striking is the only way. Another ballot incoming.


Royal Mail are turning the screw. Sick pay. Callers office. Christmas bonus. The CWU admitted they don’t want to “burn out” it’s members with strike after strike. But that’s all they have now. And come January, just like in august, the backlog will be cleared in a day.

I’m not sure what the CWU are hoping for now. But for me it all sounded like they have finally realised what they are up against.

Does it never occur to you that ST might also be saying, "They ain't budging"?

Withdrawing our labour is the only thing we have. Its the only thing any worker has. Fortunately, there's 115,000 of us doing it. I don't know what else you're expecting? The plan is we continue IA, until some compromise is met. Christmas and backlogs are not, and never was, what is going to push RM to its limits. Long term disruption is what will do it. IA is an unsustainable position for a business to remain constantly in. ST will have been given a limit to how far he can go, before he has to make compromise.

This is the biggest, and most hostile attack, on jobs and terms, I've ever seen in my 30 odd years of working in RM. Of course they're turning the screw, they're throwing every petty thing they can at us, to demoralise us, to stop the strikes, which according to you don't bother them. The union hasn't said a thing about giving up, or it's hopeless, that's just u projecting. They sounded is totally subjective. I'd agree with you, if I'd heard anything to indicate that.

Agree with most of that…
I just saw two blokes sitting there telling us how bad things will get but despite striking in the most disruptive time of the year the compromises just haven’t happened.

Every time the CWU send anything to Royal Mail ST throws it straight in the bin and Royal Mail come out with some pre planned response that offers nothing positive.

Again, it's long term disruption that will cause harm, not 4 weeks of the year, when it's up the wall anyway. It never was. Dave Ward was saying weeks ago this would be a long dispute. The words 'in for the long haul' have been used endlessly. The union are trying to set strike dates to maintain longevity of this dispute, so it's affordable. If they'd thought it was Christmas that would break it, they'd have had us all out.

Back in the day Christmas was the be all. Yes its our busiest time of the year but the bigger picture is theres some many companies large and small that use us all year round.

Ive been around RM long time and thought i'd seen it all til Thompson came along. He has no regard for customers wether retail or private. And this will be his downfall. Never thought i'd see the day that we would strike at Christmas. Never.

Blokes like Thompson come and go just like Leighton did and the ones after.But the service will always remain. 100% confident we'll win we've just got to wade through the shite to get there

[datasaint]

The senior management of Royal Mail are literally out of control, they're clutching at straws. Their repertoire consists now of lies, punishment tactics, and denial.

If the workforce stay committed and together, they will lose.

Investors are starting to get spooked and the share price will begin to fall, that's when they'll panic and act. No workforce = no business. Plus they'll have Ofcom to answer to for the USO failures.

[Ppat98]

I didn't pick up on the defeatest part, can you explain, please?

Watch it again and pick out the optimism.
It’s basically waffle talk with no hope on the horizon.

Like I say, I didn't pick up on that. It's no good telling me to just keep watching it till I agree with you.

Ok… so basically you have the CWU claiming Royal Mail have refused a deal to cancel the strikes…
The CWU told Royal Mail that they need to come up with a new plan for the CWU to agree to suspended these strikes.
Royal Mail, of course, said no (through acas).
And then there was a 20 minute explanation of how Royal Mail are going to turn us into yodel and get rid of tens of thousands of jobs…
I get all that. It’s nothing new.

But the CWU have no real strategy now. They came up with a flimsy counter deal a few weeks back and now tell Royal Mail they will suspend strikes IF they come up with a new plan that doesn’t involved the AM starts and redundancies etc…. Which is basically royal mails prime objective.

They ain’t budging. The CWU know that and have admitted this is the most “oppressive” regime in Royal Mail history. You don’t sacrifice Black Friday and Christmas to give up in January. Christmas is not salvageable now. The CWU know this.

So all they have is telling us that ‘solidarity’ and striking is the only way. Another ballot incoming.


Royal Mail are turning the screw. Sick pay. Callers office. Christmas bonus. The CWU admitted they don’t want to “burn out” it’s members with strike after strike. But that’s all they have now. And come January, just like in august, the backlog will be cleared in a day.

I’m not sure what the CWU are hoping for now. But for me it all sounded like they have finally realised what they are up against.

Does it never occur to you that ST might also be saying, "They ain't budging"?

Withdrawing our labour is the only thing we have. Its the only thing any worker has. Fortunately, there's 115,000 of us doing it. I don't know what else you're expecting? The plan is we continue IA, until some compromise is met. Christmas and backlogs are not, and never was, what is going to push RM to its limits. Long term disruption is what will do it. IA is an unsustainable position for a business to remain constantly in. ST will have been given a limit to how far he can go, before he has to make compromise.

This is the biggest, and most hostile attack, on jobs and terms, I've ever seen in my 30 odd years of working in RM. Of course they're turning the screw, they're throwing every petty thing they can at us, to demoralise us, to stop the strikes, which according to you don't bother them. The union hasn't said a thing about giving up, or it's hopeless, that's just u projecting. They sounded is totally subjective. I'd agree with you, if I'd heard anything to indicate that.

Agree with most of that…
I just saw two blokes sitting there telling us how bad things will get but despite striking in the most disruptive time of the year the compromises just haven’t happened.

Every time the CWU send anything to Royal Mail ST throws it straight in the bin and Royal Mail come out with some pre planned response that offers nothing positive.

Again, it's long term disruption that will cause harm, not 4 weeks of the year, when it's up the wall anyway. It never was. Dave Ward was saying weeks ago this would be a long dispute. The words 'in for the long haul' have been used endlessly. The union are trying to set strike dates to maintain longevity of this dispute, so it's affordable. If they'd thought it was Christmas that would break it, they'd have had us all out.

Back in the day Christmas was the be all. Yes its our busiest time of the year but the bigger picture is theres some many companies large and small that use us all year round.

Ive been around RM long time and thought i'd seen it all til Thompson came along. He has no regard for customers wether retail or private. And this will be his downfall. Never thought i'd see the day that we would strike at Christmas. Never.

Blokes like Thompson come and go just like Leighton did and the ones after.But the service will always remain. 100% confident we'll win we've just got to wade through the shite to get there

The fact that the union are only trying to get us a 2 year deal, while RM are trying to give us a shorter deal should tell you everything. Wasn't we on a 5 year deal before?

Seems very bleak to have such a short term deal. Are we gonna go on strike again in another 2 year's over the same issues?

The union will hopefully get us some concessions but the writing is on the wall. The job is changing.

[geromethegnome]

“If you wait by the river long enough, the bodies of your enemies will float by..”

Sun Tzu
The Art of War

[Grads75]

I don't no what anyone else's thinks but the more s@@t that they come out with makes me more determined to carry on even after Christmas we have all came this far to let 2 men take on 115 thousand off us I'm sure the share holders will have to step in before simon and Ricky destroy another company as they have done before

The problems we have had from the start to win this are still there and more than likely won't go because behind Thompson is Williams behind Williams is major shareholders behind them is bent politicians all in it to make as much as they can for themselves. what's the Royal family got to say about it or are they in it aswell I knew King Charles would be a wet lettuce it's meeting the shareholders meeting that needs to happen and should have happened weeks ago only then we will know if we are going to lose because only them can force Thompson out

[david1456uk]

Lots of sane old waffle blah blah tge start mice would gave been firstly to nahe sure the rolling strikes were kegalky sound failed .The smart move would gave been to xancel these two days in the interests of trying to save Christmas, knowing full well that the nail won't ge going anywhere due to the icy conditions thus saving members money for further action. We are stuck against a employer who does nit care ,dies nit care about profits, does not care about anurhinh except grind the :company to dust .We therefore need to be smarter get the rollings strikes or the divisionsor something like that that causes naximium disruption fir little impact on the pocket .Full timers can quiet quut .then we need to find out all we can about the board Thompson and his track and trace ,has thus been investigated can we raise questions with out mo sane fur all the board to ge this basty they gave skeletons..Raise the ussue of mental cruelty anyhiw thats ne done fir the day everyone take a breath and relax .

[clashcityrocker]

Lots of sane old waffle blah blah tge start mice would gave been firstly to nahe sure the rolling strikes were kegalky sound failed .

Have you got the lights off to save money?

[ted_e_bear]

Lots of sane old waffle blah blah tge start mice would gave been firstly to nahe sure the rolling strikes were kegalky sound failed .

Have you got the lights off to save money?

Must admit I had a few shandies last night as well but sounds like he didn't know when to stop

[clashcityrocker]

I'm still trying to figure out what the mice have got to do with anything.

[timbo1234]

The senior management of Royal Mail are literally out of control, they're clutching at straws. Their repertoire consists now of lies, punishment tactics, and denial.

If the workforce stay committed and together, they will lose.

Investors are starting to get spooked and the share price will begin to fall, that's when they'll panic and act. No workforce = no business. Plus they'll have Ofcom to answer to for the USO failures.

Very good post especially the first para. People who are out of control eventually do something that the public or the authorities cannot ignore. In my opinion RM have no more options . No British person I know responds to threats and intimidation. It's a characteristic of our nature . The more RM behave like this the greater is our resolve. I know from my delivery the public are with us. They want RM to stand for something as it has done for over 400 years.

[norris9]

Well... the shareholder meeting should be held this week....

Maybe that will be a step forward.

Like Dave and Andy said - we can't move forward with the idiots we have in charge. You can't run a business with 115,000 employees that hate you...

The shareholders need to use some common sense to change the people at the top and rebuild relationships with employees, offering a fair and sensible deal so we can go forwards....

otherwise it's the status quo....we strike, they bully, we strike, they troll, we strike, they harass.

[redrobbo]

I'd like to know what else the union can do they're trying their damnest to get us the best deal they can , working to rule would have been an option but unfortunately if every office is similar to ours where f/timers are coming in before time,no breaks,most aren't even doing van checks, grabbing every bit of o/t early doors , what chance have the union got, working to rule (carrying out the job properly) nobody would have lost money except these greedy grabbers,so please tell me what would be the best way to move forward and get the deal we deserve