Paul Tolhurst TV Superstar???

[Running Man]

Only just watched the Panorama documentary on Royal Mail and thought Paul Tolhurst was a wonderful public relations coup for the CWU and posties everywhere!
What a patronising and insincere waste of a salary!
The man quite obviously has his (and Crozier's) own agenda and doesn't even possess the common sense to try to hide it.
Excellent viewing for all fair and decent minded people, colleagues and customers alike.
Extremely uncomfortable viewing for ALL Royal Mail managers.

[Thunderthighs]

I liked the RM response to the Royal Marine guy's statement that "it can't be done for a week."
Totally dismissed a professionals years of experience, qualifications, skill and professional opinion. TOTALLY!

The RM "system" can't be wrong, can it? I mean, it's costs a bleedin' fortune and it gives them the answers "they" want...so it must be right!

I feel the programme gave a good overall view of our position, and reflected the ignorance and unprofessionalism of the "opposition."
The "we've-made-our-minds-up-and-are-right" attitude just about sums up why we went on strike.

Maybe BA has some previous RM Managers at their helm too? But to be honest, £29,000 for saying, "Tea or coffee? Do you want any duty free's?"
seems a bit steep to me.( Oh, I forgot about the jetlag, terrorist threat and possible crashing. OOOOPPS!Sorry..." )

[GHOSTman]

But to be honest, £29,000 for saying, "Tea or coffee? Do you want any duty free's?"
seems a bit steep to me.( Oh, I forgot about the jetlag, terrorist threat and possible crashing. OOOOPPS!Sorry..." )

I thought the same thing...until I remembered what people say about posties...it's only pushing bits of paper through letterboxes.

[baldrick]

I wasn't able to watch the Panorama programme on Monday either. I recorded it and watched
it last night, and agree that Tolhurst came over as a total idiot. He seemed to be competely
out of touch with the reality of the impossible workloads of posties, and an insensitive bully.
I believe he was only brought into Royal Mail two or three years ago - why?

[norbert]

I wasn't able to watch the Panorama programme on Monday either. I recorded it and watched
it last night, and agree that Tolhurst came over as a total idiot. He seemed to be competely
out of touch with the reality of the impossible workloads of posties, and an insensitive bully.
I believe he was only brought into Royal Mail two or three years ago - why?

Off the Fluffy Site - " We brought Mark Higson in as the union had a veto on everything , the business could not move forward " Tolhurst was probably brought in for a similar reason - they are only interested in impressing another headhunter , just brylcreemed gangsters and two bob spivs

siege / bunker mentality ? - without the cyanide tablets , petrol & revolvers

[krussel]

He just came across as totally mechanical and non human as if he was reading “Q” cards and too scared to express any other opinion. You only had to look at the interviewee s face to see the frustration. The postie came across as completely honest and transparent with his argument that he was unable to complete the round. Which of course was backed up by the professional marine instructor view, enough said really.

[bogstandard]

i think one quite significant point was that the woman interviewed on RM property was hand picked and watched at all times during her interview.
To me that spoke volumes about the level of trust RM has with its employees.

To me the question is why dont RM want a posties open and honest opinion, any postie ?????????????

[TrueBlueTerrier]

But to be honest, £29,000 for saying, "Tea or coffee? Do you want any duty free's?"
seems a bit steep to me.( Oh, I forgot about the jetlag, terrorist threat and possible crashing. OOOOPPS!Sorry..." )

I thought the same thing...until I remembered what people say about posties...it's only pushing bits of paper through letterboxes.

Apparently checking into the story, (I do that rather than just accepting what the press say) their wages, BA Cabin Staff is only about £20,000 a year. The extra allowances that put it up to £30,000 + is the expense they are allowed to claim. Those expenses are caused because of the way BA have to operate (Crew Rest Time) meaning staff have to stay on the ground for a certain amount of time. Are we really saying that the extra expense incurred by them doing the job should come out of their wages. Expenses like, Hotel Rooms (or should they buy a house at each destination they visit), food (or perhaps the should take a packed lunch to last 3 days), Uniform Cleaning and preparation, travel expenses to and from the Destination Airport.

As to the job they do - well its like the Room of Doom but multiplied 300 times and you are all encased in a metal tube for 12 hours. You are at the beck and call of people too lazy to get up and get a pillow, who want to complain about the film. Not forgetting looking after drunks, coping with Air Rage, being a sales assistant, being a travel compendium when people ask questions about their destination, being responsible for Air Safety, and those briefings which everyone ignores.

In the event of an Emergency evacuation they are LAST of the aircraft, and on certain occasions will have to check everyone is safely off. Remember the Hudson river crash where everyone got off - well who was responsible for that the Cockpit Crew - No - The cabin crew totally.

[krussel]

i think one quite significant point was that the woman interviewed on RM property was hand picked and watched at all times during her interview.
To me that spoke volumes about the level of trust RM has with its employees.

To me the question is why dont RM want a posties open and honest opinion, any postie ?????????????

Because quite simply they do not want the truth to be heard. The want the general public to believe that they (upper management) still care for the man on the street when in fact they don’t see them as customers at all. Granny smith etc……..

[norbert]

i think one quite significant point was that the woman interviewed on RM property was hand picked and watched at all times during her interview.
To me that spoke volumes about the level of trust RM has with its employees.

To me the question is why dont RM want a posties open and honest opinion, any postie ?????????????

the ones that I've seen wheeled out for spin , nearly always are non union , some aren't posties at all - they just find someone from the office upstairs and a spare uniform or they are junior managers .

One was the biggest professional skivver & barrack room lawyer going - by royal appointment , it's " amazing " how they go down the road to Damascus

they must think people are a bit simple - As for Tolhurst , Crozier , Higson et all , they're not managers , they are managerialists but they're appointed from a " magic circle " by New Labour that dabble in manageralism too .

Some things don't fail by design , some are deliberately designed to fail .

[norbert]

But to be honest, £29,000 for saying, "Tea or coffee? Do you want any duty free's?"
seems a bit steep to me.( Oh, I forgot about the jetlag, terrorist threat and possible crashing. OOOOPPS!Sorry..." )

I thought the same thing...until I remembered what people say about posties...it's only pushing bits of paper through letterboxes.

Apparently checking into the story, (I do that rather than just accepting what the press say) their wages, BA Cabin Staff is only about £20,000 a year. The extra allowances that put it up to £30,000 + is the expense they are allowed to claim. Those expenses are caused because of the way BA have to operate (Crew Rest Time) meaning staff have to stay on the ground for a certain amount of time. Are we really saying that the extra expense incurred by them doing the job should come out of their wages. Expenses like, Hotel Rooms (or should they buy a house at each destination they visit), food (or perhaps the should take a packed lunch to last 3 days), Uniform Cleaning and preparation, travel expenses to and from the Destination Airport.

As to the job they do - well its like the Room of Doom but multiplied 300 times and you are all encased in a metal tube for 12 hours. You are at the beck and call of people too lazy to get up and get a pillow, who want to complain about the film. Not forgetting looking after drunks, coping with Air Rage, being a sales assistant, being a travel compendium when people ask questions about their destination, being responsible for Air Safety, and those briefings which everyone ignores.

In the event of an Emergency evacuation they are LAST of the aircraft, and on certain occasions will have to check everyone is safely off. Remember the Hudson river crash where everyone got off - well who was responsible for that the Cockpit Crew - No - The cabin crew totally.

very bitter on Faceache i.e . " The Unite Union are a bunch of Communist W@nkers " - is Stormfront & Red Watch down again , slightly right wing
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ebook.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/le ... 41889.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



from a more left wing perspective
http://www.unitetheunion.org/campaigns/ ... k_off.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... -christmas" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=19870" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=19872" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

From what I've seen on the staff forums is that this strike has been brewing up for months - Unite have probably been pushed into a corner and the strike orchestrated . There has been tales in Private Eye Magazine for some time , where staff have been pulled up and disciplined over something & nothing on uniforms etc . - the real reason is more union bashing and to promote a culture of fear to soften people up for privatisation .

Classic case in point was that Christian Woman being dragged into the Office over a gold cross . Walsh seems to be very one dimensional .

[pickaname]

If any worker goes on strike its for a good reason.

Dont believe the hype. Willie Walsh was deliberately installed as boss of BA due to his track record of union bashing with Aer Lingus.

If i had to do the job of cabin crew i'd want in excess of £30k. Crap job.

[stewiegriffin]

How clear does it have to be when a guy that was in the Royal Marines for many years can't do the walk that was planned by RM's super duper software, more likely a map and drawing pins. He even stated that to do that every single day is far too much to ask for, even more so with older posties.

I guess Mr Tolhurst should extract his head from the clouds, and Croziers ass, aka an Adamectomy, because those sorts of programs just epitomise the farcical and downright chaotic management hierarchy that exists in this company, and increases the support when then the public see the insanity that is created by the powers that be.

[norbert]

How clear does it have to be when a guy that was in the Royal Marines for many years can't do the walk that was planned by RM's super duper software, more likely a map and drawing pins. He even stated that to do that every single day is far too much to ask for, even more so with older posties.

I guess Mr Tolhurst should extract his head from the clouds, and Croziers ass, aka an Adamectomy, because those sorts of programs just epitomise the farcical and downright chaotic management hierarchy that exists in this company, and increases the support when then the public see the insanity that is created by the powers that be.

I believe the software was based on bin rounds in either Canada or Belgium - the sort of bin rounds where's there's no wheelie bins but just bin bags left on the pavement on collection day - they call them " efficiency " measures , RM have " adapted " the software .

I've done that job myself for Cleanaway , their bosses had a habit of recruiting ex prisoners as permanent staff ; for a agency , The Tory council in the area had Cleanaway a private firm with no union and we'd silly schedules timed to the last 5 minutes , locally it was Labour Council Employed staff which recognised the GMB , T&G or Unison and their staff didn't have to run round like lunatics on the bin rounds .

Unfortunately bin rounds are a bit different from delivering mail and the real world doesn't play quite as neat as something on a computer .


The likes of Tolhurst , Higson and Crozier are not managers , they're manageralists from a " magic circle " , that's why they sound like clones parroting things off from kiddies flash cards on telly .

New Labour appoint them as their Ministers like to play that manageralism game themselves , the big ideas usually deliberately fail or they are destined to fail for a host of reasons . That " super manager " idea failed in London with Baby " P " .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Managerialism" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Public_Management" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_services" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Thunderthighs]

I remember being told in college - Recreation and Supervisory Management - the subject was Work Method Study/Time Series Analysis - that when they tried to get an "average" lumberjack ( No Python jokes...) to test for working speed/efficiency, that they got a 6ft 7ins muscular giant to test. Obviously, all the workers complained and they got a really normal lumberjack to test.( Now you can do the Lumberjack Song theme. "I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK"...)

So, the "average" person must be tested to get an "average" result. Anything different would totally falsify the results recorded.
Expecting an average postie to do a superhuman round would need superhuman abilities.

Except for wearing my underpants outside of my RM trousers, I can't claim X-Ray or heat vision!