FED UP!!

[casnova]

All - I'm fed up with the local strike action - my office (Warrington) has been on strike one day a week for the past five and now been told we're off again next Tuesday!!!! WTF!!!!! It's not enough to call a national ballot for some is it?? Fed up losing money; fed up with CWU failing to get the message across to the general public. Last time we went on strike, we went back for less than we wanted - "ok guys, we've got this but you've lost that"!! We had a preference exercise which went fine and we're happy and now this! The way this is going, there won't be a job for any of us....
Whole thing is a complete joke!!

[clashcityrocker]

The fact that Royal Mail has been forced to come back to negotiations is proof that the local industrial action is having the desired effect.A massive YES vote will further increase the pressure on them. So chin up.We are winning.

[upmyroad]

We've got 3 people in my office now paying their mortgage with credit card's after 13 weeks of 1 day strikes we've lost well over £1000. The CWU doesn't give a f**k about those that pay their sub's

[heston]

casanova,you can always resign from the cwu,what we need above all else,is everyone to stick together,if your not up for it resign,

[POSTMAN]

We've got 3 people in my office now paying their mortgage with credit card's after 13 weeks of 1 day strikes we've lost well over £1000. The CWU doesn't give a f**k about those that pay their sub's

How can you lose over £1k,what shifts are you on?

[kwikpost]

We've got 3 people in my office now paying their mortgage with credit card's after 13 weeks of 1 day strikes we've lost well over £1000. The CWU doesn't give a f**k about those that pay their sub's

How can you lose over £1k,what shifts are you on?

might be about right. i've not had a strike day full on my rest day yet so i must of lost give or take a few bob around £800 for the 13 day's we've had off. someone on the inner londen rate would of lost more.

[DGP1]

We've got 3 people in my office now paying their mortgage with credit card's after 13 weeks of 1 day strikes we've lost well over £1000. The CWU doesn't give a f**k about those that pay their sub's

And how will these people feel if RM get their way and manage to reduce pay by 25% and do away with all OT, how will they they cope then?

[kwikpost]

We've got 3 people in my office now paying their mortgage with credit card's after 13 weeks of 1 day strikes we've lost well over £1000. The CWU doesn't give a f**k about those that pay their sub's

And how will these people feel if RM get their way and manage to reduce pay by 25% and do away with all OT, how will they they cope then?

we were told yesterday that we might lose 2 day's pay next week as the tuesdays strike pay will be taken along with this wednesdays. anyone finding it hard to cope can get a lone from the union to help out and pay it back later.

[shadow]

We've got 3 people in my office now paying their mortgage with credit card's after 13 weeks of 1 day strikes we've lost well over £1000. The CWU doesn't give a f**k about those that pay their sub's

And how will these people feel if RM get their way and manage to reduce pay by 25% and do away with all OT, how will they they cope then?

we were told yesterday that we might lose 2 day's pay next week as the tuesdays strike pay will be taken along with this wednesdays. anyone finding it hard to cope can get a lone from the union to help out and pay it back later.

How can they take wednesdays pay if it's only tuesday your'e out.

[Carnoustie]

The fact that Royal Mail has been forced to come back to negotiations is proof that the local industrial action is having the desired effect.A massive YES vote will further increase the pressure on them. So chin up.We are winning.

clashcityrocker, I think casanova is asking why, now that RM have been forced to negotiate, offices like his (and mine) are still continuing with one-day stoppages when EVERY office is presumably going to be out soon anyway ? Many people in my office are saying that next Tuesday's strike is one too many / pointless if we're going national in just over 2 weeks time and some are even saying they are coming out of the union & into work next Tuesday.

It's maybe just as well the CWU are conducting an 'exit poll' (see other thread) because where the feck is it going to leave us if a weak Yes vote is all we get ?

I can see another farcical climbdown and a right Royal shafting coming our way

[casnova]

Carnoustie is on the same page as me... There's no point in continuing one day strikes when we are in a national ballot situation - it's not fair on anyone!! I've been in the PO for 30+ years now and have never once received union help - we asked once and didn't get it..... And yes, I could resign from the union but that's not the answer either. The local situation is the union reps aren't telling us anything - when asked they "um" & "er well I don't know...." - how's that for representation & communication then? And as for Billy on Sky!!! Enuf said!!

[Carnoustie]

linkinpark, we had the same experience at our office today as did casanova. Someone asked our shift rep point blank WHY we are out next Tuesday, so close to the national ballot result, and he said 'to keep the backlog in London as high as possible'. I have several issues with that statement:

1. It plays into the hands of RM's propaganda which is portraying this as 'a London dispute that doesn't affect you'
2. The ballot result is on 9th Oct. Add-in the minimum legal notice period of 7 days and the first national strike cannot be before Friday 16th October, so
3. That means we in our office (and casanova's) could be called out on strike 2 more times between next Tuesday's strike and the first national strike. People here are losing a lot of money before most offices have even lost a penny. Support is starting to wane here as they feel that a handful of offices being out is pointless when compared to the overwhelming force of everyone being out together

If you want people to stay supportive, you have to give them a clear set of objectives and some idea of what concession(s) Royal Mail must come up with that will bring the action to an end. We have had NO such guidance, so people are saying 'if we are gonna be out every week until Xmas, I can't carry on losing that sort of money'. You might not like hearing that, but it's understandable and could lead to people voting No in the ballot.

When we've been on strike in the past, over money, people know when the objective has been achieved and can see whether progress has been made. Just WHAT are the CWU's goals in this dispute ? If you want people to keep losing pay, we need some answers, and our rep's answer was woefully inadequate in that respect. In fact, 2 people phoned up HR today and asked for their CWU subs to be stopped, so they won't be out on Tuesday

And one thing just occurred to me just as I was about to hit the "Submit" button.

If all the ballot papers are heading for the offices of a company in London, and there's a big backlog of mail in London (which we are supposedly going to help perpetuate), ain't that gonna render the whole ballot pointless when RM will easily be able to argue the vote cannot be considered valid as a mountain of papers were caught up in that backlog and thus members were denied the opportunity to register their vote ???

Is it me or is Homer Simpson organising our campaign ?

[Carnoustie]

You deliberately misquoted me.

I said a handful of offices being out is pointless, not that striking is pointless.

Oh, and the local issues we came out for ?

All driving duties were put into a hat and allocated without using seniority. The drivers have all been performing these duties for two weeks now, and there is not a snowball in hell's chance that RM are suddenly going to unpick those changes just because there is the threat of a national strike. If local action hasn't forced their hand, they ain't gonna budge now.

RM's legal team will have the National ballot result declared void anyway, for the reasons I stated (a point I note you did not address).

[Carnoustie]

You dont seem able or want to do what "I think is the right thing" and that is democratic and right for you! Have you stood up at your Gate meetings / office meetings and voiced your concerns? I think not and thats fine as well! I respect a person that stands up and says this is wrong because of blah blah but at the end of the day WE are a UNION and go with the majority! If we lose we stand behind our fellow workers no matter what! Our office voted by X % to go out and its been solid even though a % voted against it, they realise they are in a democratic Union. and a Union is just that A UNION! We stick together. Most people i have ever met that drip always say the same thing ME ME ME. If you dont get it leave the Union and sc*b to your hearts content at least you are honest to YOURSELF, but if you wish to belong to a Union then except the choice of your fellow workers even if it goes against what you believe is right as i and many others did in 2007 but FFS stop dripping about it!

See my post on the other thread http://www.royalmailchat.co.uk/communit ... 26&t=19366" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and you'll see exactly why striking without EVERYONE being out TOGETHER is a bad thing. Read the back-stabbing and finger-pointing and then try to still tell me a handful of offices coming out without everyone else being out simultaneously is a good thing