London to strike again

[F0zziebear]

From one end is declining volumes (revenues) and the other end is the requirement to provide the USO. RM are attempting to deliver the USO with less money.

Government and RM management have been putting off the real quesiton, debate and decision reagrding if/how the USO is maintained in the future.

Put simply:

DSA mail means revenue going to private companies and RM only getting a fraction of what they got before. RM has a large fixed cost base (staff) and therefore it is hard to remove that cost at the speed at which they have lost mail (even though they had to lose this mail).

The other problem:

If RM puts up the price of DSA to help maintain the USO then private companies will begin to start their own delivery network. The only reason they have not done it yet is that it does not make financial sense.

Please distinguish between two types of management.

Frontline Management:
They are not too dissimilar to yourselves. They have little control over overall policy and are forced to implement things that they themselves know does not always make sense. This does not excuse bullying etc. and there are still bad managers about.

Senior management (AGM, and other Head Office Execs).

You need to vent your spleen at those who are making the policy from their comfortable desks. You need to know who these people are target them. Force the debate into the open.

The only senior exec. I know who did this was actually Allen Leighton when he threatened Gordon Brown over the pension deficit and the company being technically insolvent (not asking you to like the man!) Its about time RM senior management stood up and threatened mass resignation on principle. Time for Crozier to mke a stand. He has been here long enough

Good luck with the strike.

p.s. I hate to say it but you'll see from my earlier posts when I first joined that these strikes were going to happen. I makes me sad to see a car crash happen in slow motion

[norbert]

The original mistake was made with the EC directive , they " forgot " to ring fence the USO , too much free market dogma and New Labour were over keen to go along with it .

There was also the failed Tory free - marketeers in Postcon , the attack dog if you will .

Enough packets but they're " just granny parcels " , lets just say RM are being " selective " with their figures as those packets are too expensive to sort and deliver , nor do they ( mostly ) have the mechanization to deal with them .

Fozzie does have a point about the monkeys and the organ grinders , as the management command structure is very centralized and regimented .Command & Control is 70's stuff , most businesses have rejected the top down model , the :lfo Fear , Uncertainty & Doubt is very much a 80's macho style , bit counter productive i.e. the idea started with IBM , they lost too many people to HP , Microsoft etc , then they were taken over by Lenevo - once a world leader .

[nelp]

just to clarify the strike action in South West London for delivery staff it is a four hour strike at the end of duty on both Friday anf Saturday and three hors Tuesday. This is an attempt too try somthing diffrent to put the manergment on the back foot and not allow them to use Tuesday to clear the back log. So rember you may see people on the streets at some time on these days. Please be aware they are also taking action just not all day, but over three days. The mail center and distribution will be out on Friday

[robert37uk]

2 questions are these one day strikes really hurting royal mail, wouldnt it be better to go out for a few days one week so they cant catch up on the back log? also why is london just going out again, wouldnt it be better to ballot the whole of the uk and then go out together?its not just london s fight it is every postmans fight to achieve a fair deal for everyone

[DGP1]

My office seems to be stuck in the ballot backlog (must be running them all by the legal department just to be safe).

[Ahebban]

Whatever action is taken, be it on a small or large scale, it gets the attention of RM; gets under their skin and proves an irritant with the minimum loss to members. It is actually easier to organize local ballots for industrial action and once the majority are on board then it becomes easier to co-ordinate the action whilst it is still being seen as local action. It helps keep RM on the back foot as they won't really know where the action will be taken and for what period.

I have heard that the RM sent Dave Ward a letter saying how well discussions on phase 4 were ongoing and reaching a position where agreement was close. Can anyone confirm this? I was under the impression that there were no discussions taking place on any aspects of phase 4 until such time as RM were prepared to sit down and agree on a National Agreement?

I will see what I can find out and hopefully have an updated post for tomorrow.

[Martin Walsh]

Phase 4 joint working parties ended months ago and no disucssions have taken place on PHASE 4 since. Royal Mail do not want new national agreements.

This is what is at the heart of this dispute Royal Mail want to de recognise the CWU both nationally and in the workplace.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Phase 4 joint working parties ended months ago and no disucssions have taken place on PHASE 4 since. Royal Mail do not want new national agreements.

This is what is at the heart of this dispute Royal Mail want to de recognise the CWU both nationally and in the workplace.

The strange thing is the more they attack our T&Cs and disrespect us the stronger the Union becomes.

If they truly wanted to sideline the Union all they have to do is treat their workforce with respect, honour agreements and become less centralized in their approach to day to day operations, if they really did try to address managerial bullying where it exists, and trained their managers into thinking that happy employees are a benefit to a business and not a resource to be exploited, then most people would not see that being a member of the CWU as a defense against management and their excesses and the Union would become less militant and probably more open to changes.

[norbert]

Phase 4 joint working parties ended months ago and no disucssions have taken place on PHASE 4 since. Royal Mail do not want new national agreements.

This is what is at the heart of this dispute Royal Mail want to de recognise the CWU both nationally and in the workplace.

The strange thing is the more they attack our T&Cs and disrespect us the stronger the Union becomes.

If they truly wanted to sideline the Union all they have to do is treat their workforce with respect, honour agreements and become less centralized in their approach to day to day operations, if they really did try to address managerial bullying where it exists, and trained their managers into thinking that happy employees are a benefit to a business and not a resource to be exploited, then most people would not see that being a member of the CWU as a defense against management and their excesses and the Union would become less militant and probably more open to changes.

:lfo 's idea was the Walmart open door policy - er ! - yeah right and the idea that you were " looked after " by personnel that you wouldn't need a union & the " human face ' of RM would be the team leaders not the CWU .

But - people apparently have to be softened up and have the stuffing knocked out of them first for privatization , the " culture change " .

[Martin Walsh]

TBT the only problem with that course is that Royal Mail have no good news to tell the workforce anymore as ultimately they want to decrease pay by 25% and increase work by 40%.

Cutting jobs and reducing conditions with a smile does not work. So they see crushing the union as the way forward and then if you take London out and some of the others at the front of the dispute then you are then left with a free run at reducing jobs and terms and conditions without a union to stand up for the members.

Like the CWU or hate the CWU we are the only union apart from RMT in London who take regular strike action and have local and area agreements in the workplace. Royal Mail have tried the partnership appoach many years ago and wanted the union as a nodding dog for agreeing change. The CWU rejected this concept and within the postal side of the union remained an independent union.

However some within the CWU would rather see us go down the BT route where apart from the BT national executive only deal with indivudal issues like grievences and PDPs.

More concerning some believe that union expenditure is moving more and more away from industrial matters to side issues like life long learning, outside recuitment, miniority issues and now enviromental issues. Dont get me wrong there is a place for all those issues but only if appropriate money and resocuces are channeled into the industrial issues first. After all this is in the main why become members of this trade union.

[fatherchristmas]

told this morning that revision was to be implemented by Ex action Aug 10th at Watford Dely, also waiting for ballot papers, Hold on London the cavelry are coming but more of a trot than a charge Hurry up CWU HQ

[k979aaa]

Royalmails mantra is CHANGE/MODERNISATION note not partnership with the union (the union is all of you who pay sub's ) they the royalmail are ignoring all of us it is time we made ourselves heard once and for all the public of this nation as well!. THE RAPE OF OUR NATIONS POSTAL SERVICE MUST BE RESISTED!.