Lack of Managers on here today

[ade@cambs]

Must be all the overtime :cfo :lfo

[Wild Cat]

They're too busy stuffing their faces in the canteen.

[IWW Fellow Worker]

That 'dickhead 2000' has been on Introductions. Frigging hell, what a prize knob he is!

[bigsharkboy]

when we had our BBQ on the picket line the manager went out to the local bakery on a pasty run in the old days at least people sold out for 13 pieces of silver now its just a cornish pastie

:cfo :lfo

[POSTMAN]

Oh they're on here allright,but as always just lurking.

[Sandyman]

Oh they're on here allright,but as always just lurking.

Just like they do at work.
But "Lack of Managers on here today" is probably due to them licking their dicks like dogs at getting their wage rise (on top of their obedience bonus) and pension deal for agreeing to be obedient labotomised pets to Laurel and Hardy. Again.

People think it odd when i explain that Royal Mail isn't run for the benefit of the customer or the postman, but for the benefit of management, nothing more. When you explain the detail to them, they see your point. It's absolutely scandalous that a great public service is being destroyed by Apparatchiks*

*Apparatchik (Russian: аппара́тчик, IPA: [ʌpʌˈraʨɪk] plural apparatchiki) is a Russian colloquial term for a full-time, professional functionary of the Communist Party or government; i.e., an agent of the governmental or party "apparat" (apparatus) that held any position of bureaucratic or political responsibility, with the exception of the higher ranks of management.

Members of the "apparat" were frequently transferred between different areas of responsibility, usually with little or no actual training for their new areas of responsibility. Thus, the term apparatchik, or "agent of the apparatus" was usually the best possible description of the person's profession and occupation.

The term was usually associated with a specific mindset, attitude and appearance of the person; when used by "outsiders", it often bore derogatory connotations.

Today this term is also used in contexts other than Soviet Union. For example, it is often used to describe people who cause bureaucratic bottlenecks in otherwise efficient organizations, especially at support services groups (such as IT services). It is also frequently used to describe individuals appointed to positions in any government on the basis of ideological or political loyalty rather than competence.*

Screws to the rest of us!!

REFUSE!! RESIST!!

[sparkx]

Oh they're on here allright,but as always just lurking.

I work in group center with no CWU grades in my team, nothing to do with delivery or processing.

What's this strike mean to me, nothing, the CMA/CWU didn't even blink when 60% of my unit were given VR, if you aren't involved in an MC or DO the Unions don't give a s**t.

I will be voting against any CMA proposal to accept the current pay offer if it means accepting a change to the current benefits.

[pinstripe]

Oh they're on here allright,but as always just lurking.

I work in group center with no CWU grades in my team, nothing to do with delivery or processing.

What's this strike mean to me, nothing, the CMA/CWU didn't even blink when 60% of my unit were given VR, if you aren't involved in an MC or DO the Unions don't give a s**t.

I will be voting against any CMA proposal to accept the current pay offer if it means accepting a change to the current benefits.

If there are no CWU grades in your team, how or why do you expect the CWU to become involved? However, don't be misled by the CMA. Just as soon as RM have finished with us, the CWU and cut the service to the bone, they will still want more cuts. 60% VR? Give it a couple of years and they'll be back for the other 40%

[Ex RM Manager]

Appartachiks?

Given the business policiy of No Compulsory Redundancies.. when Managers are made 'surplus' they are shuffled around to anywhere in the business they might be able to work. Hence, some truth in your statement. However this is a side effect of the no Compulsory Redundancy policy. if you want to get rid of this particular trait of transferring managers into areas they may not be any good at, then you have to accept Compulsory Redundancies.

[Tamsky]

Don't you have Termination by Mutual Agreement?

[Ex RM Manager]

that's a possibility, yes. But what that really means is "we're paying you off to go, and if you don't go, we'll make your life VERY difficult". It all depends how tenacious the person is.

[Tamsky]

It seems to me that not all managers I meet agree with the direction things are going but seem reluctant to tell the Emperors that they have no clothes.
In all cases where the free market has been injected into a publicly run service the same formula is followed - mega bucks for executives and legal and accounting firms (The City), incentivised profits for aspiring young managers who like Ferrarri, and casualisation for the lower orders.
Only in cases with strong Trades Union organisation is much salvaged in terms of pay, conditions and pensions.

This fight would be more easily won with the full and active support of management grades but sadly that was not to be. Like you say the good ones can't wait to get out.
Royal Mail have declared war on the CWU and on posties, it could be over by Xmas or not. I don't detect any mood among posties to give up, there is a lot at stake.

The Posties I know are not afraid of change, but we want to be fairly paid for it while we work and when we retire. Is that unacheivable?

[dvbuk55]

that's a possibility, yes. But what that really means is "we're paying you off to go, and if you don't go, we'll make your life VERY difficult". It all depends how tenacious the person is.

No matter how inadequate a manager is he will be moved from pillar to post mostly because he hasn't the dignity to realise he is surplus to requirements. Had the managers via the CMA not sold their right to be included in the MTSF agreement then they would have been OK. A manager is really a failed postman in a suit or frock, one once laughably said that they would be head hunted because RM Managers were in demand - ha ha - I know I couldn't stop laughing. They are a symptom of the problems we face simply because they aren't capable as managers. They have been promoted from postmen and sometimes even telegram boy and cadets and hold a managers post by default rather than ability.

[Ex RM Manager]

There's much more to the situation than your blanket assertion.

I know many managers who were not, nor ever were, promoted up from the ranks. It's actually the inadequate managers who stay within the business - they can't find a job anywhere else. That said, there are many good managers within RM at the moment. That said, there are also many good managers rated 'surplus' on spurious political grounds completely unrelated to ability. Their face doesn't fit, they don't play kiss arse with the right people. It's mediocracy, not a meritocracy in many cases.

[dvbuk55]

There's much more to the situation than your blanket assertion.

I know many managers who were not, nor ever were, promoted up from the ranks. It's actually the inadequate managers who stay within the business - they can't find a job anywhere else. That said, there are many good managers within RM at the moment. That said, there are also many good managers rated 'surplus' on spurious political grounds completely unrelated to ability. Their face doesn't fit, they don't play kiss arse with the right people. It's mediocracy, not a meritocracy in many cases.

I have met capable managers but they took the golden handshake - being bright enough to see the writing on the wall and not wishing to kow tow to the present hierarchy. The managers of today have been trained in a service industry and not a business. They still subscribe to ghost docket rather than address the problem of staffing. They do not have people skills and allow poor procedure to go unchecked. They feel that it is their right to change agreements without consultation. They expect their staff to work for as long as it takes rather than plan the excess workload. I am quite certain that the words planning and contingency have only been experienced whilst watching videos. Even the semi decent, half capable managers are going to find the climate for them pretty cool in an ever widening mail industry. I believe KFC are opening 500 more outlets in the next two years, though they won't all be able to have a microphone.