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It's not posties' fault Royal Mail can't compete - Telegraph
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bristolchris
- Posts: 404
- Joined: 19 May 2007, 08:26
- Location: In direct opposition to Big AL & Crozier
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tyconuk
- Posts: 203
- Joined: 09 Jun 2007, 19:14
- Location: Cheshire
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plodsie
- MAIL CENTRES/PROCESSING
- Posts: 191
- Joined: 02 Aug 2007, 01:33
Not really, she is advocating Privatizing the PO! She is right about the massive under-investment though!tyconuk wrote:Excellent article Alice Thomson!
Its about time some of the truth came out,
Its about time the blame has been lifted of the poor postman!
AGAIN Alice
Glasgow driver.
Q. Who exactly are the Competition?
A. People who'll post a letter for you.
Q. Who exactly are the Competition?
A. People who'll post a letter for you.
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mailjock
- ROYAL MAIL CUSTOMER SERVICE
- Posts: 100
- Joined: 29 Sep 2007, 16:23
Have Posted this on Telegraph
Enjoyed the piece by Alice on various levels.
The current postal dispute is basically to the death. Whether that be of the CWU or an intransigent management hell-bent of 'modernisation' to prepare the business for sale is yet to be decided.
Posties in recent years have been enormously flexible and accepted and welcomed increasing automation and the job losses that has gone with that process.
We don't have our head buried in the sand and realise that more automation is necessary and that there will be job losses. Btw, there has been a criminally negligent lack of investment in RM in the last decade compared with our competitors.
However, the savage triple attack on wages, working conditions and pensions has caused us to go on official strike and trust me for workers on an average weekly wage of approx £340 this is quite a step to take and we are suffering enormous financial hardship which won't be recouped by any wage settlement for years to come.
So what is fuelling the rage and anger of ordinary posties?
Well a lot of it is watching a service that they are proud of being dismembered at every turn and twist by a management who want to save money to enhance the saleability of the company. This management doesn't give a toss for customers unless they are one of the top 200 mailers in the UK.
So we have slowly been losing confidence in our service and employer and on top of that we have been handed a set of 'modernisation' proposals which are heading back to the casual dock labour scheme.
The flexibility in that scheme worked only in favour of the employers and so it is with the RM proposals.
So we have drawn a line in the sand to fight on and we are all adults and we realise what is at stake and that is the right of an independent trade union to be allowed to negotiate on behalf of its members and not have 'Executive Action' imposed by an employer without consultation and agreement.
We and our union might be destroyed and so might be RM. We have all heard about similarities with the miners' strike and our dispute and the biggest similarity is that Thatcher had decided, for political reasons, that she was going to destroy the deep mining coal industry in this country and break the power of the unions in the process.
It would appear that Leighton has decided to do the same with the postal service and has the full publicly declared backing of Bottler Brown.
The difference between Bottler and the Iron Lady is that she acted out of a political conviction that she would never allow the NUM to reduce her to impotence as they had Teddy Heath.
Brown - who is really still Chancellor at heart, sees the destruction of the CWU as a means of forcing through 40,000 redundancies on top of the 50,000 already gone in recent years and also cutting wages and terms and conditions.
All to make the business more attractive to investors as a saleable concern so that he can raise a few £billion for it and more importantly allow him, as the only shareholder in RM, to walk away from our £4-6 billion pension blackhole which no equity investor will want to take on.
Sometimes with disputes as bitter as this it is easy to get totally caught-up in the detail of who did what to whom and how many angels can dance on the end of a needle.
But we have always got to try and look at the bigger picture which only the Bosses and Government have the blueprint of - so if some of our actions seem illogical or wrong it should be remembered that we only see fragmentary glimpses of their real objectives through the fog of battle.
Bottler Brown should remember from his upbringing at the knee of his minister father - Church of Scotland variety - is what the bible has to say about the eye of the needle and rich men.
The current postal dispute is basically to the death. Whether that be of the CWU or an intransigent management hell-bent of 'modernisation' to prepare the business for sale is yet to be decided.
Posties in recent years have been enormously flexible and accepted and welcomed increasing automation and the job losses that has gone with that process.
We don't have our head buried in the sand and realise that more automation is necessary and that there will be job losses. Btw, there has been a criminally negligent lack of investment in RM in the last decade compared with our competitors.
However, the savage triple attack on wages, working conditions and pensions has caused us to go on official strike and trust me for workers on an average weekly wage of approx £340 this is quite a step to take and we are suffering enormous financial hardship which won't be recouped by any wage settlement for years to come.
So what is fuelling the rage and anger of ordinary posties?
Well a lot of it is watching a service that they are proud of being dismembered at every turn and twist by a management who want to save money to enhance the saleability of the company. This management doesn't give a toss for customers unless they are one of the top 200 mailers in the UK.
So we have slowly been losing confidence in our service and employer and on top of that we have been handed a set of 'modernisation' proposals which are heading back to the casual dock labour scheme.
The flexibility in that scheme worked only in favour of the employers and so it is with the RM proposals.
So we have drawn a line in the sand to fight on and we are all adults and we realise what is at stake and that is the right of an independent trade union to be allowed to negotiate on behalf of its members and not have 'Executive Action' imposed by an employer without consultation and agreement.
We and our union might be destroyed and so might be RM. We have all heard about similarities with the miners' strike and our dispute and the biggest similarity is that Thatcher had decided, for political reasons, that she was going to destroy the deep mining coal industry in this country and break the power of the unions in the process.
It would appear that Leighton has decided to do the same with the postal service and has the full publicly declared backing of Bottler Brown.
The difference between Bottler and the Iron Lady is that she acted out of a political conviction that she would never allow the NUM to reduce her to impotence as they had Teddy Heath.
Brown - who is really still Chancellor at heart, sees the destruction of the CWU as a means of forcing through 40,000 redundancies on top of the 50,000 already gone in recent years and also cutting wages and terms and conditions.
All to make the business more attractive to investors as a saleable concern so that he can raise a few £billion for it and more importantly allow him, as the only shareholder in RM, to walk away from our £4-6 billion pension blackhole which no equity investor will want to take on.
Sometimes with disputes as bitter as this it is easy to get totally caught-up in the detail of who did what to whom and how many angels can dance on the end of a needle.
But we have always got to try and look at the bigger picture which only the Bosses and Government have the blueprint of - so if some of our actions seem illogical or wrong it should be remembered that we only see fragmentary glimpses of their real objectives through the fog of battle.
Bottler Brown should remember from his upbringing at the knee of his minister father - Church of Scotland variety - is what the bible has to say about the eye of the needle and rich men.
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old boy
- Posts: 9
- Joined: 19 Jul 2007, 19:02
- Location: s.w
it,s not posties fault.
well siad mate ,and good luck too one and all (posties).
Last edited by old boy on 12 Oct 2007, 16:12, edited 1 time in total.
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mh80
- Posts: 102
- Joined: 28 Jun 2007, 20:16
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mh80
- Posts: 102
- Joined: 28 Jun 2007, 20:16
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meweavy
- Posts: 473
- Joined: 10 May 2007, 11:07
its just a pity some readers who have read the article then write this into the telegraph still think this way...
narrow minded brain dead idiot..do they not realise that the reason other companies can afford to slash the prices over royal mail is because royal mail still deliver the mail...it probably doesnt cost f**k all to undercut royal mails prices then give it to us mugs to deliver...
this sort of comment really makes my blood boil..
here it is anyway.
"Sack the lot of them, and employ those who are willing to work either for less or with modern work practices that will reduce the cost of postage for us all. If private competitors can offer a good competitive service, then why cannot Royal Mail and the current posties?
Posted by George on October 12, 2007 10:43 AM
narrow minded brain dead idiot..do they not realise that the reason other companies can afford to slash the prices over royal mail is because royal mail still deliver the mail...it probably doesnt cost f**k all to undercut royal mails prices then give it to us mugs to deliver...
this sort of comment really makes my blood boil..
here it is anyway.
"Sack the lot of them, and employ those who are willing to work either for less or with modern work practices that will reduce the cost of postage for us all. If private competitors can offer a good competitive service, then why cannot Royal Mail and the current posties?
Posted by George on October 12, 2007 10:43 AM