Strikes 'threaten' Royal Mail business

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a5d235e0-72ba ... abdc0.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Royal Mail risks a permanent loss of business if the current wave of strikes continues, the postal operator warned on Friday as up to 12,000 workers staged a 24-hour stoppage over jobs, pay and services.

London, where about 10,000 members of the Communication Workers’ Union were striking, was the worst hit area but other centres affected included Edinburgh, Bristol, Darlington and Plymouth.

Royal Mail said almost all services outside London were operating normally as more than 90 per cent of its staff – around 150,000 – were not taking part in the stoppage. They were supported by management volunteers.

In London about 1,200 managers were working to maintain priority delivery and collection services. Only 20 Royal Mail offices outside London, out of about 1,600 nationally, were affected by the CWU strike.

But the strikes are a frustration for companies, particularly in the capital. The Direct Marketing Association warned the strike would damage business across the UK.

“A strike will not just affect businesses’ ability to send out marketing materials and fulfil orders but will hit everyday business transactions such as sending out invoices and receiving payments,” Robert Keitch, the association’s spokesman, said.

He added: “The current economic climate is already challenging businesses and the disruption caused by strike action will only worsen the situation.’’

Royal Mail and the union have blamed each other for the unrest, which is being fuelled by the postal operator’s attempts to cope with a 10 per cent fall in mail volumes.

Dave Ward, the CWU’s deputy general secretary, accused Royal Mail of making “illogical and arbitrary” job cuts.

He said: “Without new machinery or improvements in deliveries and industrial relations postal services will be drastically hit. There’s nothing modern in cutting jobs and hours and imposing a pay freeze. We need genuine talks on how to modernise the Royal Mail. Our offer of a three-month no-strike deal stands and we hope that Royal Mail will take that up in return for talks on modernisation.”

In a national dispute two years ago Royal Mail lost business to private competitors, who now have a third of the market for collection and sorting of letters, although 95 per cent are still delivered by the state-owned operator.

“While the indications are that we have not lost business yet, why would you want to take that risk in a very competitive market, not just with other courier companies but when you are competing very much against electronic media?” a Royal Mail official said.

The company said the CWU’s claim to have offered a three-month moratorium was “deliberately misleading” and “nothing more than an attempt, backed by the threat of escalating strike action, to actually halt the modernisation of the mails business.”

It claimed the union had issued instructions to branch representatives in London and a number of other offices not to co-operate with Royal Mail over the introduction of new equipment and changes in working practices that its leadership signed up to in 2007.

[andy2007]

It's amazing isn't it?
It's taken until now, for them to realise that Strikes will cause long term damage to RM!

The whole point of Strikes, are to put the Employer (in this case RM) into a position, where they either get 'round the table. Or suffer the loss of Customers, that they might not get back later. Where have the FT been for the last couple of Centuries?

[IWW Fellow Worker]

What causes long term damage is the alienation of the public by later and later delivery times, charging £1 handling fee for a few pence in deficient postage and charging schools £30 to keep mail on top of a fitting for a few weeks.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

What causes long term damage is the alienation of the public by later and later delivery times, charging £1 handling fee for a few pence in deficient postage and charging schools £30 to keep mail on top of a fitting for a few weeks.

Yep if I was a conspiracy theorist I would ask if they were doing it on purpose. Oh hang on I am asking that.

[axeman]

I'm sure that mark white from 'hell' will be surprised that they don't use the internet ,phone ,txt or e-mail for invoicing for direct marketing items ..wasn't part of the rhetoric he spouted that all the business was going the way of e-mail etc and royal mail won't be delivering things because of it

[pinstripe]

I'm sure that mark white from 'hell' will be surprised that they don't use the internet ,phone ,txt or e-mail for invoicing for direct marketing items ..wasn't part of the rhetoric he spouted that all the business was going the way of e-mail etc and royal mail won't be delivering things because of it

I'm sure you're right and with falling mail volumes as well we'll have to go back to two deliveries a day, working 6 days a week.

[Night Tonic]

More like six deliveries a day, two days a week.

[axeman]

Think your drinking to much of your avatar nighty

[Night Tonic]

Could be, but not everyone can take their medicine so well. They might drop a delivery day though.