strikes

[chickenwittle]

whats the chances of one next year,cwu keep going on about these agreements they have reached with rm,but when it comes to agreeing a pay rise we know its going to go tits up again.

[bigcol]

None.

[monkeymutha]

Next year we will be TNT

[Lounge Lizard]

None.

Agreed. After last time no chance.

[north london driver]

None.

Agreed. After last time no chance.

i think that union headquaters can sense how a lot of members feel
and this is one of the reasons why they avoid any talks about strike action.
the next strikes will be unofficial disputes by members but will they spread
like the old-days i am not so sure.

[Darren Bent]

From what we got in last strike with extra changes I don't think people would be willing this time.

[not me]

From what we got in last strike with extra changes I don't think people would be willing this time.

I would say thats the feeling across the board
from my exeprience,members feel abandoned

[Martin Walsh]

Next year we will be TNT

No we won't be! Royal Mail will not be sold until the Government can get top dollar. They can not get this until the rating goes up, This is not likely until at the earliest 2014.

The perfered option for the sell off is to sell it to firms and the public in the same way as British Gas and BT.

Of course the way the encomony is at the moment who know whether a sell is in the Country's intrest ? Remember unless the Government can get top dollar then it is unlikely to sell as it will be heavily criticised if it sold Royal Mail for peanuts.

TNT is I think not in a great financial postion to bid. Equally why would they want the disadvantage of having to supply a universal service when they are setting up delivery services in west London and south London and have an aim to hit 40 per cent of urban areas in the next 3 years and only have to delivery one or twice a week to a street and only the profitable mail and where it is not profitable they post back into Royal Mail.

[Martin Walsh]

Look there have been very few strikes nationally which have been called by CWU HQs, instead it has come from the voice of Branch's and Divisions.

1988 the view of conference , the Dras dispute some of us were out for 3 weeks straight , most of the rest of the country were out for 2 weeks.

1996 The Employee Agenda dispute , Branch's held an unoffical meeting on a Saturday at the TUC where the main speakers were NORMAN CANDY , DAVE WARD and JOHN KEGGIE which put pressure on the NEC to call for a strike ballot and we took 8 days of strike action and stop Royal Mail for 4 years until the Way Forward.

2003 The Move to one delivery , the national ballot delivered a NO VOTE , the London Weighting ballot produced a yes vote. Royal Mail did not want a national agreement on pay and major change only as a result of two days of London Weighting strike and then 17 days of unoffical strike action by London supported by Southend , Chekmsford , Warrington and Covertry did we force Royal Mail into getting an agreement and this agreement included the 5 day week for delivery staff and the biggest pay rise in history £26.50 and before Dvbuk chips in only £5 was from your existing RULC bonus.

In 2007 Royal Mail wanted to introduce new ways of working with the pay deal including the abolitIon of the D2D payment. Introuduce later starts and remove the money , stop the pension etc. As a result of strike action we achieved an agreement which stop the D2D issue and kept the Early shift money until the BT agreement. We did not achieve the stopping of the end of the final salary scheme but I don't think the Branch's were up for the row , I Remember the Northampton briefing the only Branch's who came to the rostrum calling for a ballot were from London.

In 2009 Scotland and London organised local disputes , other offices followed. London took 18 separate days of strike action before the National ballot. Due to the Local Disputes Royal Mail moved their postion from not wanting an agreement with the union on their Business Plan including not paying for change to wanting a national agreement. The National Union then balloted the membership and got a yes vote , however they were very close to an agreement and there would have been no national strike until the leaked Royal Mail document to news night was televised the day before the PEC. The PEC called a strike and held the press conference which some of you praised at the time.

So strikes have always started from the grass routes not from CWU HQs. My question is if in your office you are suffering bullying or terrible working conditions why don't you organise and ballot and bring it to the attention of everyone.

[fishtank]

So strikes have always started from the grass routes not from CWU HQs. My question is if in your office you are suffering bullying or terrible working conditions why don't you organise and ballot and bring it to the attention of everyone.

I think that's the point though,are strikes likely to start at grass roots level and progress to a national ballot any more or are members more likely just to accept bullying and poorer working conditions at local level when they feel that they would receive very little support from other units and branches never mind HQ?

With HQ constantly playing the "Joint Statement" card and with branches and divisions blatantly refusing to accept that there are any problems at unit level is it any wonder that individual units are nervous about sticking their necks on the line and going it alone?
The membership feel isolated and disengaged,they are apathetic and do not feel part of a national organisation.
We now have 1400 individual unions,anything other than isolated,short-lived local disputes are unlikely until someone at HQ realises that "local" is fine but a union is only as strong as it's members if those members are always reminded of what binds us together.

[krussel]

After the last batch of action and the outcome i cannot see many falling for it a second time.

[dvbuk55]

Well I will chip in and say that much of the 26 quid was from allowances and more than the fiver dingo is suggesting - it was more a consolidation and not an outright pay increase. I also believe it was the erosion of the overtime rates but hey whatever fits the history according to dingo.

[Martin Walsh]

Dvbuk your wrong there was no consolidation of any monies linked to the 26.28. However those offices who had above £5 per week in either PBS or ICS had to use this to find £5 of the £26.28. No other allowances were used. Your memory deceives you on this occasion.

[Martin Walsh]

Fish I will respond to yours when I have got time. However let be clear this union has always been office based and federal. Up to 1992 Branch's were just the local office and we were more dis organised then they are now. For all it's thoughts the 1992 change to post code Branch's help strengthen the unity of the CWU. However I do think it needs changing again. The union has always allowed local negotiations and this was a demand by conference and members.

[dvbuk55]

Dvbuk your wrong there was no consolidation of any monies linked to the 26.28. However those offices who had above £5 per week in either PBS or ICS had to use this to find £5 of the £26.28. No other allowances were used. Your memory deceives you on this occasion.

When did we lose the Saturday premium, and the overtime rates?