All out Unofficial - the only way now?

[left739]

My office and most of East london is now out over the imposition of start/finish times. It seems its the same in Liverpool and a whole bunch of places.
The official two 48hr strikes have obviously had a big impact and with the return to rolling strikes from next week we one can argue that we might have won that way. It is also perhaps the case that RM were aware of that and have decided to provoke us to starve us back to work. But when the other side provokes a fight on their terms sometimes you can't avoid it and have simply got to step up and beat them. That seems to be where we are now.
I'd be interested in knowing what people think of this develoipment, who else is out and when do others think they will join us?

[Wild Rover]

Could you tell us more about what actually happened this morning?
I think you're maybe one of the first unofficial strikers to come on today.

Give us the lowdown

[Yahoorsur]

The rolling strikes do work,I totally understand where you lads are coming from,but lets stick together,lets take tese two twats,but on our terms but if there are any pickets on the line tomorrow I'll be staying out.

[mailjock]

We shouldn't be making knee-jerk responses to these twats - that's what they want.

If we go down the unofficial route then we will lose - it's that simple.

Stay cool, stay strong and stay united - the rolling campaign will fcuk the network within a few weeks.

Management know this and that's why they are picking a fight of their choosing on their ground - doesn't make sense to get involved in that kind of battle as the fiancial odds in terms of loss of pay are weighted against us.

We have already picked our tactics in the rolling strikes and we know from last time - even in summer - how badly the network was crippled. That's our way to win and that is the battle we should force the management to face.

[PrestwickPostie]

My office and most of East london is now out over the imposition of start/finish times. It seems its the same in Liverpool and a whole bunch of places.
The official two 48hr strikes have obviously had a big impact and with the return to rolling strikes from next week we one can argue that we might have won that way. It is also perhaps the case that RM were aware of that and have decided to provoke us to starve us back to work. But when the other side provokes a fight on their terms sometimes you can't avoid it and have simply got to step up and beat them. That seems to be where we are now.
I'd be interested in knowing what people think of this develoipment, who else is out and when do others think they will join us?

get back to work ya loonies before you undermine our offical strike .... you are playing into Royal Mails hands by going out on unoffical strike ... all out will destroy our union in less than two weeks and give lieghton and crozier what they have always wanted carte blanche to put in whatever measure they want


if you lot sink this strike with your unoffical action ... i will hold you all in contempt ... and you will be no comrade of mine

[TrueBlueTerrier]

In my opinion I think its a mistake. Royal Mail will try to get hold of the Unions assets if they can prove that the CWU had any part in it. If they are successful it would destroy the union and bang would go our voice.

I must say though that I fully understand why you took the action and fully sympathise with your position, but we have to be careful.

[disheartened]

We shouldn't be making knee-jerk responses to these twats - that's what they want.

If we go down the unofficial route then we will lose - it's that simple.

Stay cool, stay strong and stay united - the rolling campaign will fcuk the network within a few weeks.

Management know this and that's why they are picking a fight of their choosing on their ground - doesn't make sense to get involved in that kind of battle as the fiancial odds in terms of loss of pay are weighted against us.

We have already picked our tactics in the rolling strikes and we know from last time - even in summer - how badly the network was crippled. That's our way to win and that is the battle we should force the management to face.

get back to work ya loonies before you undermine our offical strike .... you are playing into Royal Mails hands by going out on unoffical strike ... all out will destroy our union in less than two weeks and give lieghton and crozier what they have always wanted carte blanche to put in whatever measure they want


if you lot sink this strike with your unoffical action ... i will hold you all in contempt ... and you will be no comrade of mine

My sentiments entirley,i said in my postings yesterday dont go unofficial as it puts RM in the driving seat,i will not walk out on unofficial strike.........i have in the past and will in the future strike for official IA.

[BELIAL]

Two positives from wildcats
1 completely knocks that' poor posties tricked by the bolshie union crap' way into touch
2 reminds are negotiators that any fudged deal will be rejected

On the whole it is always a better plan to choose your own battlefield and time, little point allowing RM to manage our dispute they will only cock it up

[mylegshurt]

thats just what they want you are all playing in to there hands,just bite the bullet go in late and work till ur time. actually i enjoyed the lie in.most at our office just took what they couldnt do in there time back to the office you should to. spoke to about 8 customers this morning and all supported me and you my friend so go in and fail to finish due to lack of time.

[Fluke]

thats just what they want you are all playing in to there hands,just bite the bullet go in late and work till ur time. actually i enjoyed the lie in.most at our office just took what they couldnt do in there time back to the office you should to. spoke to about 8 customers this morning and all supported me and you my friend so go in and fail to finish due to lack of time.

This man speaks sense. Work to your time and give them nothing. If we all go unofficial we will fail, RM have the finance to starve us back to work, we certainly wont get any political help and the public do not yet fully understand the reasons behind our strike as we are only just starting to get the publicity we need.

[mylegshurt]

thanks fluke, lets play tennis with them we can be a young beong[spelling] borg they can be henman .keep the ball in their court. you dont give me sufficent time to do my round then ball bounces back.lol that made sence in my head]

[left739]

Could you tell us more about what actually happened this morning?
I think you're maybe one of the first unofficial strikers to come on today.

Give us the lowdown

Ok...

RM in east london as other places have moved to impose changed start times by executive action. My office is not affected that much. Our start time stays at 6am, but our finish time has been moved 10mins earlier on each weekday so that it can be extended from 12 to 1 on Saturdays. Other offices are much worse affected with some having had 5.15 starts moved to 6.15 with similar change to finish time. Our area had an overwhelming vote for strike action on this iissue and before the national action was announced the local union called a 48hr strike over the weekend before the one just passed. When the national strike was finally called that local strike was reduced to a 24 hr strike the saturday before last. Independently of the strike vote the offices severely effected by the changes had voted to respond to the executive action by working to their old times when RM tried to impose the changed times.

Anyway shortly after we arrived back from the long strike this morning at 6, we held a meeting in the locker room to discuss the rumours about what was happening in the rest of the area. The DOM and other managers tried to stop the meeting but we had a brief one. We heard that in some of the offices more affected by the changes the posties had been told when they arrived at their old times that they would not be paid for that time and if they tried to cut-off or otherwise stop work at their old finish times they would be done for wilful delay. They had walked. We talked about what we should do. One guy argued that an unofficial walkout was just what RM wanted and that we should stick with the official actions. With the managers breathing down our neck we didn't have much more discussion but decided to keep working till our 9 o'clock meal break, and then have a meeting that they couldn't give us grief about and when we would also have a better picture of what was going on. We went back to work.

However just before 8 the word went round 'Head for the backgate' The developments were that more and more offices were out including the mailcentre, Posties from different offices were gathering at the mailcentre, management had suspended the area union rep. We gathered at the carpark and had another meeting. the guy who had previously argued that we should not walk out made his argument again, but against hime people argued that we couldn't keep working when the rest of the area was walking out and that even if he was right that we were being provoked - sometimes you can't walk away from a fight even if the other side is starting it. We had a unanimous vote for supporting the other offices and even the guy who had been making the argument for not walking put up his hand. So we are out.

So - are we loonies? Should we have left the other offices on their own? You can read between the lines whether or not this action which has spread across East- and I believe other parts of London is supported by the union reps (who of course would never incite unofficial action!!! of course not- all union reps repudiate unofficial action don't they!!!).

What should we do - beg to go back or stay out try and get other offices out?

Yes it seems that management had planned for this - we heard that in one of the main flash point offices the area manager - a real nasty s**t by all accounts - who had no business there and would never normally be up at that time was there at 5.15 to make sure things happened the way he wanted..

RM may be thinking we will win if it stays official and they may want to provoke us into an unofficial all out to starve us back to work. But can we stop them if they are hell bent on this course? Isn't our greatest strength our solidarity and if we lose this by letting other offices struggle alone because we without knowing the facts judge they shouldn't have been provoked then RM will have got its victory anyway.

What choice do we have?

[Wild Rover]

Thanks for the insight.

What a real shower of bastards in management you have there.
I can see why you all walked.

Has it been resolved or are you out indefinetly?

[left739]

Thanks for the insight.

What a real shower of bastards in management you have there.
I can see why you all walked.

Has it been resolved or are you out indefinetly?

When I left the picket line just before 12 there was no sign that it was anywhere close to getting resolved.

[opgpat]

a national unnofficial walk out would be a disaster - bringing fury from the government, opposition (torys) and public.

Local walk outs like today may actually do good - not big enough to cause rumbles in parliament but keeping the cause on the news and reminding :lfo :cfo that they are in the s**t big time and need to get out.