STRIKE ACTION

[andy3665]

I've been with Royal Mail for nearly 6 months now and can sense something brewing in the air, theres a lot of unhappy voices in my office and at some point its going to blow.

What happens in the case strike action is called for? Do you have to strike? The reason I ask is I have young children and a house to pay for and can't afford to loose my pay.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

I've been with Royal Mail for nearly 6 months now and can sense something brewing in the air, theres a lot of unhappy voices in my office and at some point its going to blow.

What happens in the case strike action is called for? Do you have to strike? The reason I ask is I have young children and a house to pay for and can't afford to loose my pay.

No you don't have to strike. However, it would be naive to think there would be no ill feeling or a sense of betrayal from colleagues, more especially if you are the only one in the office getting the traditional breakfast of sausage chips and beans.

A lot of people at my office when a strike is looming try to get as much docket (overtime)as possible.

One thing is for certain breaking a strike is not a decision to be taken lightly.

[Lounge Lizard]

Have a good think if any of your expenditure is not essential and can be reduced and if there's any temporary part time work you or your wife could do, not easy perhaps but better than being a strike breaker, the 'sausage chips and beans' reputation lasting throughout ones working life.

[Lincox]

These days strikes are usually called for one day at a time, perhaps once a week, so although it can be very hard for people especially at this time of year, if you no they are coming, a bit of planning a week or two ahead can reduce your outgoings, such as making meals to cover a few days and freezing them, looking at supermarket deals and I am sure others will be able to offer other good ideas, that will allow you to cope in the short term. At the end of the day, you are the only one who can make the decision on whether you strike or not, or whether you support what the strike is about.

[Jenny Manchester]

The first option the union should do is tell their members it's work to rule, no coming in early, no overtime, that's including working your day off, taking your full meal relief this would be the start of bringing Royal Mail down to earth believe me, that way members will lose no pay. The second option it to get these bully managers to approach staff in a better manner instead of treating us like school children or prisoners and listen to the staff instead of gunning for them when they refuse not to go over their time, staff look up to managers for guidance and help but it's just grief we get at the moment. I think we should inquire about grievance forms to your line manager that frightens the s**t out of them.

[north london driver]

at the end of the day its down to you and no one else.but to be honest you say your office is talking about walking out well i hear this most weeks that troble is brewing at an office and to be prepared to walk-out but nowdays it seems very rare.
if you office has problems and are going down the union line it could take a month or more if you vote it normally takes a couple of weeks for the result then the union has to set out what action it takes.it could be work to rule or overtime ban
or 1 day strikes and notice must be given to royal mail.
so this should give you some time to earn a few quid or get a part-time job.as for a national strike our union has not got the bottle to ask its members and also many union members would love to stich up its own union headquaters.
i have been out on national strikes for weeks or days,i have also been out on unoffical walk-outs for weeks and days.
there all the same we all lose money but also if you beleave that its benifical to your office and yourself for the future then go for it.
in all the years i have been out on strikes we have only had one s--b he was moved out after the strike and became a manager has been shafted for years and i think hes in a nuthouse somewhere now.
it is hard when you have a family and does cause a few arguments but you do get over it.

[The Backbone]

To achieve the pay and conditions of today many past/present postmen have sacrificed pay in the past for your present pay.Think long term of the effects your decisions may have...

[fng]

I dont do stikes, but if push came to shuv and the decision was made to strike, i would go along with it. Some might say i should not be a sheep and follow the crowd I come from an ex mining town and was only a young'un in the eighties with the last miners strike.
But having lived through it and seen the rifts in families and friends that still go on til this day, even being passed on down to the next generation, it really isn't worth the grief of breaking the strike.

Apparently, according to an old timer at work, the managers told all posties at the office to walk out on the last postal strike because of the history of the area and the future trouble it would cause if there were any "strike breakers" - hate that word

[pokos27]

in the evening standard today it said profits are going up, its all geared up for privitisation, those at the top will sell you out, all those conditions that were won, will be destroyed.
i think you are going to see some sort of unrest, will it do any good i dont know.

[Pinky 1]

The first option the union should do is tell their members it's work to rule, no coming in early, no overtime, that's including working your day off, taking your full meal relief this would be the start of bringing Royal Mail down to earth believe me, that way members will lose no pay.

Although i agree with your sentiments JM, in practise it very rarely works. When managers realise that things aint going their way, they'll pick on an individual and bully him/her until they can find an excuse to suspend them. Then the office walks in support of their colleague, and before you know it you're all on the gate anyway.

[Darren Bent]

The result of our last strike our working conditions had worsened ie 7am start, more absorbing, increased workload on saturday.

Can't see posties supporting strikes in future that easily.

[Lounge Lizard]

The first option the union should do is tell their members it's work to rule, no coming in early, no overtime, that's including working your day off, taking your full meal relief this would be the start of bringing Royal Mail down to earth believe me, that way members will lose no pay. The second option it to get these bully managers to approach staff in a better manner instead of treating us like school children or prisoners and listen to the staff instead of gunning for them when they refuse not to go over their time, staff look up to managers for guidance and help but it's just grief we get at the moment. I think we should inquire about grievance forms to your line manager that frightens the s**t out of them.

"The first option the union should do is tell their members it's work to rule, no overtime" - sadly that doesn't happen because the part-timers say they need the overtime.

[Darren Bent]

This is best way as it will give the company a big headache rather than hit our pocket. But this will means all the part timers need to do their bit. So if they have 28 hours contract and stick with it instead of 1hr overtime every day.

[Wessex]

One out,all out.

[Martin Walsh]

look not that I think we are close to a national strike but some of you talking about overtime bans and work to rules obviously have never seen what Royal Mail do to offices that adopt this action and cause a massive backlog.

I am not talking about doing the job properly which is often hit and miss in an office. I am talking the fact that to work to rule you have to ballot in line with the Trade Laws and only on a work to rule ballot.If you get a yes vote and decide to work to rule and cause a backlog then Royal Mail will normally flood your office with casuals and managers observing the way you sort , prep and follow you on delivery. They will target Indivduals who they think are not working normally and they will hand.out legal letters saying that your in breach of contract and if you continued to do this they would take you off pay until such time as you decided return to working normally.

if the backlog still continued then they would then stop Indivduals pay. Now when they do this that leads to either the remaining people in the office deciding that they no longer wanted to work to rule leaving those taken of pay isolated or if the office does the right thing walking out in support of those Indivduals.

Remember you cannot use the same ballot for strike action you have to ballot seperately on this.

In 2009 some of the London Offices had dozens of Indivduals off pay including East London Mail Centre , Streatham and Wimbledon.

Sadly the only tactic you can use in a dispute is strike action and for a day or more. You cannot for instance take the last 4 hours of your duty as we found out in 2009. You have to take a day or days strike.