Strike impact..

[ted_e_bear]

This is costing royal mail a fortune, a lot of our staff were told to leave all our parcels and packets agency staff were asked to come in early today for nine hours pay so they were scrambling around the office trying to find them work, when i got back to the office 5 of them were sat on the sorting frame nothing to do so when i read peoples comments on here saying no effect from us being on strike yesterday i know that is not true i work at a hub weds and thursday on average i would say between 15 and 20 parcels delivered per 5 hour shift not my calculations but managers.

Wow, I knew the regular lat operation has been costing them a fortune from day one, our local hub is still paying well over for the work performed, good for the lads doing it.

[IloveMYredTROLLEY!]

We need provisional strike days put on the calendar now for just after Black Friday all the way to Xmas. The longer Simon and the board dither and delay giving us a reasonable offer, the more companies will get cold feet and not use RM through the busy profitable period.

[yubin282]

Tuesday will be bad, which is a shame for our office as it's the shortest day of the week.

[R5001]

Tuesday will be bad, which is a shame for our office as it's the shortest day of the week.

RM have promised not to pay any catch up overtime, so that means... cut off. Finish on time, just do it properly. Tell them before you tie up if you reckon it's too much, if they take nothing off you, ring them around 12 to tell them what you expect to bring back, then get back with your full 10 minutes to unload, do so, and do one. IF you need help, get the union rep involved at step one and just hang up once you've informed them, don't listen to the bullying. You might get an invite to conduct, but nothing will come of it, just another fear-tool they will try to hold over you, if they think it's working.

[Schiff]

We don't want that type of impact. If RM lose the contracts permanently to those companies it would mean job losses!!!! The impact we want is disruption at a huge scale!

RM can cope with a bit of disruption if it isn't going to cost them money in the long term. It is only when they start losing valuable contracts to competitors that they will have to act.

[timbo1234]

Because of the Bank Holiday and then strike on Wednesday I'd say it won't be until about Friday until we see the full impact!!!!!

Spot on.

[Dorset Plodder]

it also has little to do with holding up the mail.

The main impact that we want from these strikes is to seriously piss off all the business customers who use Royal Mail to send profitable parcels. It is when they decide in their numbers to switch to other couriers (and probably not return to RM) that the pressure will build on the board to resolve this.

I believe this as well. It will be our VVIP Customers and the Shareholders that will inevitably bring pressure to bear on the RM Board to get their act together.

Once this Strike is over though I don't believe we'll lose those Customers forever. They use us because they know we're more Professional than other couriers and their parcels are safer in our hands. Perhaps RM might have to do them a "Special Deal" but they're Businessmen and will go where it's the best deal for them

[postieblueshirt]

it also has little to do with holding up the mail.

The main impact that we want from these strikes is to seriously piss off all the business customers who use Royal Mail to send profitable parcels. It is when they decide in their numbers to switch to other couriers (and probably not return to RM) that the pressure will build on the board to resolve this.

I believe this as well. It will be our VVIP Customers and the Shareholders that will inevitably bring pressure to bear on the RM Board to get their act together.

Once this Strike is over though I don't believe we'll lose those Customers forever. They use us because they know we're more Professional than other couriers and their parcels are safer in our hands. Perhaps RM might have to do them a "Special Deal" but they're Businessmen and will go where it's the best deal for them

spot on

[norris9]

Ours was fairly busy.

Just don't do any overtime over the next weeks. I am going to be rolling my eyes at people doing extra work during these weeks where we have strike days.

If anyone is thinking of doing overtime the day after a strike then you might as well just come in on the strike day and work. What is the point in striking and then coming in the following day and doing overtime to clear the backlog?

I think we need to do a week long strike at some point.

[Minischoles]

The main impact that we want from these strikes is to seriously piss off all the business customers who use Royal Mail to send profitable parcels. It is when they decide in their numbers to switch to other couriers (and probably not return to RM) that the pressure will build on the board to resolve this.

Exactly - the C Suite couldn't give a toss about ordinary consumers, they're a blip, they don't give a toss if a 2c parcel sent by an eBay seller doesn't get there for two weeks - that's why you get told to prioritise specials and tracked items, because there are actually consequences for those items being delayed and not being delivered on the set date.

The strike is a game of chicken, who blinks first - they might be arseholes but they aren't idiots, they know businesses will happily switch and have contingencies in place - Simon is just betting that we and the Union will blink first.

[norris9]

One key impact of the strikes is letting the whole country know the situation we are in, showing up the management as greedy and unwilling to talk.

It seems to be helping to get to the bottom of where Simon is really taking the company. If Simon doesn't meet with the union for talks, then I can see the pressure building in the media for him to debate with the union on the BBC or SKY news.

I get the feeling Simon may not even want to be in the position shareholders are putting him in. If he genuinely doesn't like where they are pushing him to take the business then he should leave with dignity, before his face is repeatedly all over the media for taking Royal Mail down the wrong path. The face that ruined Royal Mail.

[R5001]

Ours was fairly busy.

Just don't do any overtime over the next weeks. I am going to be rolling my eyes at people doing extra work during these weeks where we have strike days.

<snipped>

I'll be doing some that I would have normally agreed to, because... that's normal, even RM have said 'pay the normal stuff, just not catch up stuff'. I'll still be a solid day of pay down, like the rest, and I won't be helping on Wednesday, or the 8th/9th.

[Broxi51]

Should the Union give notice for 10-20 strike dates but announce to workforce that
we will only be on strike for 2 or 3 as the Union will call off the rest just before we are due
to go on strike. If RM don't know what ones are the actual strike days then they will need to get agency staff
to come in. Businesses wont know which days will be strike and so may end up going with another courier.

[Postee2]

Ι was going to work in the morning and I was thinking that it will packed and crazy..
Instead it was like a normal day
Normal parcels,letters..
Is it the same in your office?
Because I wonder what was the impact of our strike
Royal mail didn't pay us yesterday so they have saved money not paying us...
And they just stall the letters and parcels for a day...
I am really worried we will achieve with 1 day strike a week..

Mail wasn't being collected, mail wasn't being processed, mail wasn't being driven anywhere. . . . .so makes sense you have none to deliver. . . . . .it will (or should) be in a pipeline, a pipeline that should be getting seriously jammed and clogged up after Bank Holiday Monday and the strike on Wednesday.

[postieblueshirt]

Should the Union give notice for 10-20 strike dates but announce to workforce that
we will only be on strike for 2 or 3 as the Union will call off the rest just before we are due
to go on strike. If RM don't know what ones are the actual strike days then they will need to get agency staff
to come in. Businesses wont know which days will be strike and so may end up going with another courier.

theres probably some legal thing to stop that..