The public have no idea!!

madelin4 · Post by **madelin4** » 04 Oct 2007, 15:03

The public have no idea why we r really going out, they think we r greedy and its all about wages!! A customer stopped me 2day and said did i not think we got enough money!! well!! did i give him an answer or what!! told him a few things i.e. pay cut as wont get paid for door to doors,no such thing as a regular postie as wont know what we r doing, and that we r expected to work and not get paid when people go sick or annual leave!! He said he was really sorry he asked and now he is with us!!!!!!

IWW Fellow Worker · Post by **IWW Fellow Worker** » 04 Oct 2007, 15:18

My customers have been great. All the ones who spoke to me this week realise the job is going to go down the pan if the bosses get their way. They don't like getting their mail two hours later than they did either. I'm not saying they're well up on every single point, but the support is there.

Bloke7 · Post by **Bloke7** » 04 Oct 2007, 15:30

My customers totally understand why we are standing strong, because I explain to them cleary and honestly about why we are taking action.

They hate Single Daily Delivery and want to be able to get their parcels early morning, they want their postie to look happier instead of knackered most of the time!

If there was a briefing (DTD) that was put out explaining everything simply then the public would understand instead of knee-jerk reacting to the "media" who spout more BS than Leighton himself!

Wild Rover · Post by **Wild Rover** » 04 Oct 2007, 15:35

Was pretty astonished today by the amount of customers who wished us well! Some even knew the complete background in this and couldn't believe RM have two donkeys in charge!
Deepdown, i think the general public appreciate the type of work we do, in all weathers, for not a considerable wage..

smarterdarter · Post by **smarterdarter** » 04 Oct 2007, 15:38

Yep my customers agree the country's f**ked.
and wish us luck.

frankie · Post by **frankie** » 04 Oct 2007, 15:40

kanuuuuuu · Post by **kanuuuuuu** » 04 Oct 2007, 15:50

Its actually in the public interests to support us more than they know. If the future of a large company like Royal Mail is to begin a race to the bottom and also to possibly exploit upon a cheaper Eastern European workforce then its going to come (and there are other instances of it) for all industries of low to semi skilled jobs. Its a worrying trend, Im a bit lucky because Im leaving this country within the next few years but I shudder to think what could become of it over the next few decades unless battles like the CWU are having can be won.

Rich · Post by **Rich** » 04 Oct 2007, 16:00

I agree that the public have little or no idea.

Some quotes from the "general chat" section of a completely unrelated forum...

"So how do we all feel about about the Red Army deciding to take a few days to themselves?

I feel quite sickened after watching a video on BBC news of one little Lenin in Coventry saying that if the Government call a general election they'll all take a bit more time off in order to disrupt postal voting. The newsreader asks him if he feels they're grievances deserve to stand in the way of democracy and he seems to have no problem with it. These people have no right whatsoever to bring this country to a stand-still. These union reps really do nothing for their cause being in the public eye - they really need to put some rational people infront of the camera (IMHO obviously)

I sympathise with the grievances of the workers - pensions should always be safe no matter what and Crozier et al have no right to tamper with the long-standing entitlements of their employees. However this is not the 70's - hopefully society would have evolved, if we all decided to stand outside our respective workplaces when we were pi**ed off with a new corporate policy this country would go to the dogs - even more than people already think it has in a lot of cases. How would the postal workers like it if the next time they go to the hospital theres no-one there and a picket line outside? or if it gets cold and they can't put their heating on because gas workers are on strike (Not the best examples I know but you get the point)

Postal unions could have harnessed public opinion and gained mass support for their cause and make their fight public Now all they will do is sour public opinion towards an organisation that lets face it, isn't exactly smelling of roses already in the eyes of the masses.

They seem too single minded to realise that Royal Mail will most likely lose possibly thousands of corporate contracts to TNT etc as a result of this and then RM will have to lay employees off due to lack of demand for services - which will most likely prompt another strike!

I would also like to know where the government are in all this as to my knowledge there has been no official statement over this yet.

Will anyone here be seriously affected? be it business or personally? what's everyone's opinions? are there even any striking posties on here who can voice their side of things?"

replies...

"FWIW I'm as pinko as the next reader but I think he's got some valid points. I appreciate the union's right to strike but 5 consecutive days is ridiculous, thousands of small businesses will struggle to cope with such heavy reliance on Royal Mail--who's looking out for their interests? Striking is certainly a good way to get attention and perhaps sympathy for the cause but personally I think you'll be hard pushed to find much sympathy around the country by next week, when we've had no mail for days and the backlog will take weeks to clear.
I also find it hard to believe--the union rejected the 2.5% pay increase offered, demanding that their wages come up to the national average--this would apparently be a 27% increase! Yeah, right!"

"and the cheeky bastards have the nerve to put ads in newspapers asking us not to post anything while they're on strike...I'm tempted to any anu auld crap in them just to p*ss them off when the lazy gits do decide to do some work."

"I was chatting to one postie who was saying he was in favour of strike action not because he agreed with the union, he just wanted the overtime when the action was over.

If the strike action is 'successful' in significantly disrupting the postal service I too will be pretty fooked over professionally."

So, how do I reply to this? I'm asked often by customers and friends what it's about. And to be honest the only part of it I can put across is the door to door issues.... and there's nothing definite about theat yet is there?

I think the union should be sending out a plain and simple explination of the issues.

Anyone care to break it down nice and simple so I've got some ammo to answer people with?

tyconuk · Post by **tyconuk** » 04 Oct 2007, 16:28

99% of the public are behinds us, ONCE they know why we are striking!
CWU take notice the public NEED to be told the TRUTH!
Not some Fecking rubbish about rejecting 6.7% pay rise!
If only we were getting a 6.7% pay rise, do you think we would be losing 4 days pay for the fecking fun of it!!!!!
Be careful NEW Labour, I wouldn't call a election just yet, cause i personally think they would lose by a land slide.
Not just because of us, but the country as a whole, it's on a knife edge out their, they don't know the half of what the general public are thinking!

kanuuuuuu · Post by **kanuuuuuu** » 04 Oct 2007, 16:32

I feel quite sickened after watching a video on BBC news of one little Lenin in Coventry saying that if the Government call a general election they'll all take a bit more time off in order to disrupt postal voting.

- hes taking one postal workers views as that of EVERY postal worker, its unfortunate that the worker said what he did and im sure its not an opinion shared by most postal workers and that of the union.

I sympathise with the grievances of the workers - pensions should always be safe no matter what and Crozier et al have no right to tamper with the long-standing entitlements of their employees. However this is not the 70's - hopefully society would have evolved, if we all decided to stand outside our respective workplaces when we were pi**ed off with a new corporate policy this country would go to the dogs - even more than people already think it has in a lot of cases.

- society has evolved has it ? so why are Royal Mail treating their workforce this way ? Have we evolved to a group of people who will just lie down and take it up the a*s* whenever we feel we are being unfairly treated ? then this is a sad state of affairs and nothing to be celebrated as us "evolving".

- which corporate policies can he name that have affected peoples pensions and the workforce has decided to just lie down and take it ?

How would the postal workers like it if the next time they go to the hospital theres no-one there and a picket line outside? or if it gets cold and they can't put their heating on because gas workers are on strike (Not the best examples I know but you get the point)

- striking is a LAST resort, all negotiations have failed due to Royal Mail wanting to carry out their business plan no matter what. Royal Mail are to blame for not willing to negotiate and walking out of meetings.

They seem too single minded to realise that Royal Mail will most likely lose possibly thousands of corporate contracts to TNT etc as a result of this and then RM will have to lay employees off due to lack of demand for services - which will most likely prompt another strike!

- Royal Mail are still the ones actually delivering all this mail. TNT and other companies cream off the profit at the top of the production line, collecting mail and forwarding it to Royal Mail sorting centres to deliver. the regulator has deemed that Royal Mail HAS to deliver this mail even tho we do it at a LOSS. Where are Crozier and Leighton to argue Royal Mails case to the regulator and stop this practise ? nowhere ! instead they are attacking their workforces pensions and working conditions. What kind of leadership in a company is that ?

IWW Fellow Worker · Post by **IWW Fellow Worker** » 04 Oct 2007, 16:49

Little Lenin in Coventry?

Comrade Dowie! Tell the mid-field to push up! How do you expect to beat Wolverhampton Wanderers with a flat back four? Bloody hell Comrade Dowie! Are you mad? Bollocks! Another soft goal! It's a show trial for you on Monday morning you capitalist running dog! And Crystal Palace were sorry you left? Bah!

Rich · Post by **Rich** » 04 Oct 2007, 18:27

So come on then. An idiots guide to why we're striking because those who think we have big public support are wrong.

chief · Post by **chief** » 04 Oct 2007, 23:01

It's the non postie people on other forums i.e. Football ones, they thing we are all workshy lazy mail-opening pub-dwelling selfish bastards.

That REALLY pisses me off.

Trying to convince people that we're not on strike just to inconvience(sp) and piss them off is really difficult. The media make it sound like we're only striking because we think 2.5% is crap. It is, but not worth losing Â£160 a week over!

Here is the way I put it over:-

Management want us to deliver more and more unaddressed crap for nothing, regardless how long it takes us.

They have stopped the early shift allowance by making us start at 06:15, costing the postie Â£52 per month. (Â£13 a week doesn't sound much!) Thus, YOU will be getting your mail even later!

New machinery to sort the mail is gonna cost around 40,000 jobs.

If we work over our time on heavy days, regardless if the mail is delayed somewhere, management expect us to complete the delivery (and part of someone elses in the summer) for f**k ALL!!!!!!! :lfo :cfo :lfo :cfo

Rich · Post by **Rich** » 05 Oct 2007, 11:59

The points about job losses due to new machinery wont convince everyone. From the outside looking in, many will think it's a shame, but from a business point of view cuts have to be made where they can.

Also complaining about having to work over.... lots of people have to do that in their jobs and have to accept the shafting.

IWW Fellow Worker · Post by **IWW Fellow Worker** » 05 Oct 2007, 12:01

Rich wrote:The points about job losses due to new machinery wont convince everyone. From the outside looking in, many will think it's a shame, but from a business point of view cuts have to be made where they can.

Also complaining about having to work over.... lots of people have to do that in their jobs and have to accept the shafting.

So you think our working conditions should be driven down rather than bring theirs up?