Poll : Are we all ready for a National Strike?

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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[ScousePostie]

We were told about a national strike by our union rep in the weekly meeting this morning. He said that a ballot is expected in August, with the strike taking place in November. He is asking us to vote yes to strike action. Has anyone else heard this from their union rep?

[Destiny]

We were told about a national strike by our union rep in the weekly meeting this morning. He said that a ballot is expected in August, with the strike taking place in November. He is asking us to vote yes to strike action. Has anyone else heard this from their union rep?

The possibility of a strike & subsequent timescale of events, yes.
Needs to be careful asking for yes vote in work though unless it was on the gate?

[red72]

We were told about a national strike by our union rep in the weekly meeting this morning. He said that a ballot is expected in August, with the strike taking place in November. He is asking us to vote yes to strike action. Has anyone else heard this from their union rep?

Yeah we had our area rep at ours yesterday.

[tone123]

There is no shame in fear but to attempt to transfer that fear to others is pretty despicable. There are highly paid people whose job it is to keep Royal Mail going, a major part of that job is to ensure that the workforce is engaged, committed and productive.

That obviously isn't the case in royal mail and if the staff (not the union) vote for industrial action the blame for that lies squarely at the feet of business and its failure to treat its staff with respect. If the business suffers due to industrial confrontation only someone with no idea of cause, effect and responsibility would blame the staff. This politically driven illiterate ideology that strikes are the fault of the union and its members completely removes any responsibility from the employer to maintain good industrial relations. Do engaged, committed and productive staff vote to strike?

Bury your heads in the sand if you wish but industrial action will only come about if union members dictated to by their bully boys masters vote for it. Whatever your beef is with management throwing a hissy fit and downing tools is not the way to deal with things.

The coal industry like many of our industries were decimated by the politically driven actions of militant trade union leaders who succeeded only in putting thousands of their members out of work. Union leaders today are raking in 6 figure salaries so the notion they are representing you is utter piffle.

Explain wild cat strikes happening all over the country. These are not union driven but anger from staff who have simply had enough of being bullied. And also SOB what is your solution?

He has none wonder why

If you don't like your job then maybe you should seek alternative employment. Oh wait...a lot of you have never worked anywhere else and would be like fish out of water working in any other company that actually expects you to work your full paid hours.

Just like Corbyn has never had a proper job...

Sorry but now you're just being insulting. I've work in a number of industries at various levels and I can tell you that I've never experienced such a clusterf*ck as the mess RM make of running what is a straight forward business. The expectations of what can be physically achieved on a delivery round are unrealistic, especially when applied to part time staff who seem to be expected to do 8hrs work in the 5 hours they are employed.
If you think that "maybe you should seek alternative employment" is an acceptable answer to RMs proposals, then you really are deluded. It is not unreasonable for an employee to expect their employer to honour the terms and conditions on which they both agreed to contract. If the employee decided to arbitrarily alter these without consultation then they'd be sacked. Why on earth do you feel that it is OK for the employer to do this without it being contested?
Sometimes the only way for employees to contest failing by an employer is to remove their labour.
Ultimately there is only one difference between being employed and being a slave; a slave cannot refuse to work.

[daveyeff]

i agree with striking and battling for whats right for us but....
Two weeks, even One week with no pay would severely destroy me & my family

This is a hard decision for me.

It's not going to be that way, even if it gets to the point of a strike it will only be one day a week and probably not every week, that's how it's been in the past few national strikes and the union is not stupid enough to repeat 1971 and have members starved back to work on poorer terms than they started with.

One day a week strikes are a result for Royal Mail.
They pay 4 days pay and 5 days mail gets delivered.
In my office people came in early and broke their backs to clear the backlog.
Waste of time !

Yeh I'm sure they love it, all that great publicity, increased orders, shareholders chuffed with the instability. What about if we strike for a full week or a month, or a year, how much money would they save? why they'd be overflowing with saved wages, be brilliant for the shareholders. What a great business model operating with no staff, you should be getting yourself on Dragon's Den with that insight not sharing on Royalmailchat, someone might steal your idea.

Ernie I think SierraOscar has stolen your thunder on this thread............

Dont' think so mate - you just seem to miss points.
1 day a week strikes have no major impact.
Mainstream media will side with Royal Mail anyway.
The shares will take a hit - the moneymen will buy them up and wait for the price to rise again. Not a major problem.
If you strike for a week or a month that will hit Royal Mail hard. Not saying that a strike is a waste of time. I'm saying 1 day a week is a waste of time !
However if you went on strike for a month the gloves would be off and it would be the end of Royal Mail as you know it.
What a lot of people fail to grasp is that there is a lot of labour intensive work at royal mail which in 2017 just isn't needed. Things will change and are changing. Delivery offices will merge - indoor work will cease and the job will involve 90% delivery work minimum. I think a strike will just move that forward.

So many people on this board like so many postman I know just don't get it.
Fewer people receive letters and just see mail as outdated and junk.
Royal Mail needs to be a parcels business and needs staff that can accept change.
If you don't want 7 hours outside then Royal Mail won't be the job for you pretty damn soon.
Going on strike won't wave the magic wand you might think it will.
Not trying to antagonise - honest
Sierra is right on so many counts.
When I hear the union mentioning going on to monthly pay as a problem the word "Dinosaurs" springs to mind.

where the hell is sierra right....??? do you suggest we bend over and take it right up the arse what royal mail are proposing!! for crying out loud. we,ve fought and scrapped for years to get what we have and you are just prepared to let them come and blitz everything?? get some balls

[daveyeff]

and whats wrong with striking Friday and Saturday one week then Monday and Tuesday the next. that WILL really turn the screw on them.

[ernieshoe]

and whats wrong with striking Friday and Saturday one week then Monday and Tuesday the next. that WILL really turn the screw on them.

That's 2 days a week !

I said 1 day a week is pointless.

I've got balls - unfortunately the bulk of staff don't.
They will come in early, mop up all the extra and work extra for nothing. They get stressed on a heavy day. Me - couldn't give a monkeys.

Like I've said before the rot sent in with job and finish - rushing, taking cars on delivery, peeling off recorded labels, never taking meal breaks.
If they worked their full hours they were pissed off.
The job was too easy - should have ditched job and finish and worked full hours.

It's about being realistic !

I wish you well on the gate but it won't last long.
People can't afford to strike very long and others simply won't.
People need to work the full hours every day and do the job properly.
It will never happen.
There are too many shirkers, too many bitches and too many people that can't do the job and would never get employment anywhere else.
Its a mess from top to bottom - striking wont solve it !

[daveyeff]

as fishtank said and I totally agree, RM are not scrapping the pension,... taking away legacy payments,... bringing in later starts,....bringing in route ownership,....scrapping first 3 days sick,....creating a two tier workforce,...6 hour deliveries,....no pay rise, etc etc because people come in early, do not take their breaks, race around for a finish etc. the conception that this is the reason is totally false and misconceived. it is purely for their own gain, and to pay higher dividends to the richer shareholders and to decimate this workforce. and the sooner people realise this the better. a strike or EVEN the threat of WILL solve this, end of.

[daveyeff]

even better would be to strike,, and on the days we are back in, then an overtime ban. stick it up them.

[Gold Fox]

All out strike is not the answer, over time ban or work to rules will sort the management out.

[ernieshoe]

as fishtank said and I totally agree, RM are not scrapping the pension,... taking away legacy payments,... bringing in later starts,....bringing in route ownership,....scrapping first 3 days sick,....creating a two tier workforce,...6 hour deliveries,....no pay rise, etc etc because people come in early, do not take their breaks, race around for a finish etc. the conception that this is the reason is totally false and misconceived. it is purely for their own gain and to decimate this workforce. and the sooner people realise this the better. a strike or EVEN the threat of WILL solve this, end of.

i) 6 hour deliveries is the only way jobs will be saved - there will be barely no indoor work.
Technology is everywhere - Royal Mail won't be the last bastion for the good old labour intensive workload. You have to face facts and join 2017. Striking over that is futile and ultimately pointless.

ii) Bringing in later starts - for people with kids to pick up from school concessions should be made - but otherwise tough titties - Royal Mail need to grab the Next Day Delivery Market - later starts are inevitable - most people work 9 - 5.30 so will you have too.
It amazed me the outrage that moving from 5am to 6am starts caused ! Ridiculous !

2 points there that are inevitable and ultimately reasonable.

The other one legacy payments HA HA - getting paid for something you used to do - talk of joining the real world !

PS I still maintain "the job and finish never work your full hours days" gave royal mail real ammunition.

I agree with the sick pay thing HOWEVER I have worked in a few different organisations and never have I heard people openly say that they take a week off sick every time - playing the stages - there are so many sheisters in the company.
Agree it is wrong though.

Enlighten me on the 2 tier workforce please?

[Lounge Lizard]

Ernie,
So "the outrage that moving from 5am to 6am starts caused" was "Ridiculous" and so we should just meekly work the hours we are told.
But for "people with kids to pick up from school concessions should be made" Why ?
And maybe people with kids at school should have first pick of the holidays !

[daveyeff]

new starters on less money for 3 years. pension different for everyone who joined after 2008. (executive action by them). I suppose you also think its ok to rob people of thousands and thousands of pounds by raping their pensions as well. oh and they ALWAYS never mention the fact that they are raking in a BILLION quid a year from D2D. All money they say is not there. but its strange how they find this money when strikes are mentioned or imposed. (2010 superdeal)

[ernieshoe]

Ernie,
So "the outrage that moving from 5am to 6am starts caused" was "Ridiculous" and so we should just meekly work the hours we are told.
But for "people with kids to pick up from school concessions should be made" Why ?
And maybe people with kids at school should have first pick of the holidays !

Those comments show exactly "the type " you are.
YES !

I can just imagine if you joined the real world and went for a job interview.
What are the hours?
9 - 5.30
I'll work 6am - 2.30pm thanks.

Lordy Lordy Lordy !