Heanor:Striking to save depot:UPDATE!!

[NEWS]

RIPLEY TODAY


POSTAL workers in Heanor look set to strike over the proposed closure of the towns' sorting office.
Last month Royal Mail announced that the Mansfield Road branch would close with 25 workers being transferred to the Ilkeston depot.

This week union members voted seven to one to take strike action if Royal Mail goes ahead with the closure.

Simon Walker, branch secretary of the Communication Workers Union said: "This is good news for us. We have a lot of negotiating power now. Whether the strike takes place depends on Royal Mail. The first thing we will do is take them back to the negotiating table."

There is no set date for the strike or indication as to how long it will last if it does take place.

A public meeting is set to be held at the town hall soon to discuss the next plan of action.

Mr Walker said: "There is already a 'for sale' sign up outside. This is insensitive and they have no concern about the welfare of employees."

The seven to one vote took place over the period of a week and ended on Tuesday with the union concerned about taking jobs out of Heanor.

Mayor of Heanor, Cllr Paul Jones said he would fully support any strike action and would join the postmen on the picket line.

He said: "I fully support the action because we are dissatisfied by the attitude of Royal Mail. It should have consulted us (the town council) first.

"People will be disrupted by the strike but I urge everyone to support the post workers as there will be an even bigger disruption when they move to Ilkeston."

Andrew Patterson has been the subpostermaster of Heanor post office on Wilmot Street for six years. He fully supports the postal
workers but said he considered that a strike would be the last course of action.

He is also trying to ensure that any undelivered mail can be left at the post office when the sorting office closes.

Jaquie Stenson of Royal Mail said: " We are very disappointed at this outcome as action will benefit no one. It will only serve to undermine our business and our people, at the same time causing unnecessary concern and inconvenience for our customers.

"We remain hopeful that common sense will prevail and that this matter can be resolved without the need for action."

A number of petitions since the announcement to close the sorting office have been started by local groups, amounting to 2,500 signatures.

Over the weekend hundreds of people signed a petition set up by Heanor's Over 50 Forum at the towns' carnival events. This will be handed over to the postmaster general at Ilkeston.

[DirtyHarry]

Blimey , Royal Mail score another own goal. Even the Mayor says he'll join the posties on their picket line !

Our business is run by Muppets , and that's a fact !

[ROCKY]

YES DIRTY HARRY YOU ARE PROBABLY RIGHT THE PROBLEM WITH MUPPETS THOUGH IS YOU NEVER KNOW WHO IS PULLING THE STRINGS

[DirtyHarry]

True ROCKY, true.

[stubaby]

Hi guys i was just wondering if there is any update to what is going on in Heanor?
Cheers

[POSTMAN]

Don't think there's anyone from there on here,and i haven't flyered them yet.
I've had nothing else in my Google alerts either.

[L Tommo]

RM MUST HAVE A PLAN TO PUSH US ALL OUT AND PUT IN TO ACTION A BLANKET CHANGE IN OUR WORK PRACTISE OR SOMETHING??? ITS GOT TO BE???

THAY CANT BE THIS TUPID CAN THEY???

WHO AM I KIDDING!!! COURSE THEY CAN!!!!

OUT


IM GETTING SICK OF EM!

[andy g]

Latest on Heanor situation is Industrial action will be taking place very soon!!Obviously cant say to much because we dont want RM knowing otherwise they will flood it with managers.

[stubaby]

Latest on Heanor situation is Industrial action will be taking place very soon!!Obviously cant say to much because we dont want RM knowing otherwise they will flood it with managers.

Good luck keep us informed

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Actually this could be a good tactic - if they bring in lighting strikes in individual offices the ones that are chosen stay quiet and they ones that aren't come on here and say that they are. They'll be mangers flying up and down the country and not knowing where they will be next.

[POSTMAN]

Actually this could be a good tactic - if they bring in lighting strikes in individual offices the ones that are chosen stay quiet and they ones that aren't come on here and say that they are. They'll be mangers flying up and down the country and not knowing where they will be next.

[andy g]

Heanor will be taking action from Wednesday till Saturday next week.Can you believe Royal Mail have actually got the FOR SALE board outside the office. Estate agents are actually taking buyers around the building while our chaps are working!!!!
Can you believe that,well i suppose you could actually.
The Heanor public are fully behind the CWU on this,what RM have failed to tell the Public is the nearest bus stop to the Ilkeston Office {the office in which RMwant Heanor to move into }is over one mile away in a industrial estate.
So much for a public service.

[POSTMAN]

Looking into this more and looking at your last post dejavous springs to mind.

This looks exactly like the office i'm in now.

Our office was moved from above our local BO and moved to an industrial type place quite a few years ago.
Our guys had petitions up and running ect,don't think they went on strike though.
The bus situation seems the same,our office is off a dual carriageway,and is a nightmare to get to for the elderly and if you don't have a car,or you live on the other side of town.

Sameo,sameo RM.

[POSTMAN]

ILKESTON TODAY

POSTAL workers in Heanor took industrial action on Wednesday over the closure of the town's sorting office.
The four-day strike comes after workers' anger at plans to sell the Mansfield Road building and move 25 workers to Ilkeston.

Royal Mail were given seven days notice of the action yesterday.
Last week union members voted seven to one to take industrial action over Royal Mail closing the depot.

At a public meeting on Tuesday, workers spoke of their anger at how they had been treated by Royal Mail and said they had shown contempt towards workers and the public.

A number of people, who have worked at the sorting office for between eight and 18 years, said they were angry that they had not been consulted on the decision to close the depot and move 25 workers to Ilkeston. Sue Dyer has worked at the depot for nine years and said that travelling to and from Ikeston, together with later starting times due to be implemented in August would make it hard to get the mail delivered on time.

Val Bristow has worked there for 11 years. She said: "We will have to work longer hours and it will be more stressful before we've even started the delivery. It will have an impact on members of the public as they will be getting their mail later."

Branch secretary for the Commercial Workers Union, Simon Walker said that industrial action was now their only option.

"Royal Mail have shown no interest, in fact they have shown contempt.
"There is no further step we
can take because they are ignoring every attempt we are making to discuss it with them. "We just want them to listen to our point of view.

He added: "We are in a situation we don't want to be in. We want Royal Mail to explain why they are doing what they are doing."

The union are urging the public to sign a petition which already has 3,000 signatures and will be handed to Amber Valley MP Judy Mallaber.

The strike will have an effect on the whole town and could be followed by another strike in a matter of weeks as ballot papers for a national strike of Royal Mail workers go out this week.

A spokesperson from Royal Mail said: "There have been a number of meetings with both staff and union representatives in order to explain the background to the move and give reassurances that no-one will lose their job, or will be disadvantaged as a result of travelling to the new location.

[POSTMAN]

Support The Heanor Strikers - NO CLOSURES WITHOUT CONSULTATION

The Post Office Industry Conference last week passed Emergency Motion E2, which read as follows:_



"Conference notes with concern that as part of its asset selling policy, Royal Mail is aggressively pursuing a policy of closing and merging delivery offices without any formal consultation with the CWU or the public. Furthermore Royal Mail is refusing to accept that a proposal to close a delivery office and merge the workforce with another existing delivery office should be progressed via the Industrial Relations Framework Agreement.

Conference further notes the tremendous efforts of CWU members at Heanor Delivery Office who are staging a series of strikes to protect their office from closure.

After an initial 4 day strike, a further 7 day strike is being announced as these members fight for the future of their office in a dispute which challenges the national policy of Royal Mail.

As a direct result of the members taking strike action the business have now accelerated the closing date.

In light of that Conference agrees:

1 To challenge at a national level Royal Mail's planned delivery office closure/merger programme.

2 Obtain a national agreement on the issue protecting CWU members and bringing this issue within the terms of the Industrial Relations Framework.

3 Give full support and national backing to CWU members at Heanor Delivery Office."

In the case of Heanor Delivery Office 25 of our members are being treated disgracefully by being transferred like cattle with no consultation whatsoever. No attempt has been made to deal with Health and Safety issues or any of the industrial relations matters.

The date of closure has spitefully been advanced to next Monday, 18th June and our members, having already taken one bout of four day strike action are preparing for a further one week from that date. Whilst the membership concerned have willingly taken on the hardship involved in the loss of wages arising from this dispute we are now launching a fund to alleviate their losses.

We hope that branches will explain to their members that this dispute is a possible precedent of how the closure of delivery offices are to be treated. We believe this may be the tip of the iceberg. If the 25 members in the Heanor office can be treated with such contempt, there is no reason why the same could not happen to much larger units.