Tories: Defeat for strikers will help us privatise Royal Mai

[JRD]

i'm sick of getting stick off people on this forum and in the wider public , having a go and calling us lazy sods etc etc. People who have nothing better to do than sit on internet forums and tell us to leave our jobs if we don't like it.

I must be one of those people sitting on this Forum with nothing better to do than sit on Internet Forums! Why, because my business is down by 75% due to the dispute. I am on this site not to throw stones but to try to understand what is going on and to get some idea of how long a lot of us in business who rely on the Postal Service may last?

[Fred B]

i'm sick of getting stick off people on this forum and in the wider public , having a go and calling us lazy sods etc etc. People who have nothing better to do than sit on internet forums and tell us to leave our jobs if we don't like it.

I must be one of those people sitting on this Forum with nothing better to do than sit on Internet Forums! Why, because my business is down by 75% due to the dispute. I am on this site not to throw stones but to try to understand what is going on and to get some idea of how long a lot of us in business who rely on the Postal Service may last?

Perhaps you might be better posing your question to the people who abolished your second delivery, your Sunday and Bank Holiday collections, your early morning collections and who introduced later and later start times for the delivery of your mail. In other words, the parasites at the top who were appointed by the parasites in parliament. The same people who set a rate for DSA which means you are subsidising big banks and utilities to the tune of 4 or 5 pence per item. I hear Adam isn't too keen on replying to questions though.

[G O Root]

Indeed. Write to Adam Crozier or Mark Higson and ask them to lay out the modernisation plan step by step. Ask them if there is any aspect of modernisation other than slashing jobs and services. Also ask them why the board shared 10 million in bonuses for changes already made. We'd be dying to know. We are not opposed to modernisation , we are opposed to destruction.

[banner18]

Yes, look at how cheap and efficient our railways have been since they went private. And how they don't need any government subsidy at all.

I didn't say privatising Royal Mail was the answer. Your customers will start to think 'anything but this', regardless of whether it's right or wrong, when their lives, kids' birthdays and Christmas are screwed up by the few.

How else are workers supposed to protest? Have we not the the right for an achievable workload? Have we not the right to be treated with dignity and respect? Have we no right to have some say in the modernisation of Royal mail, seen as everything that has been done has affected us?
I would prefer to work to rule, but it isn't practical and would just fall apart due to all the different ways people do the job around the country.
I am genuinely sorry for people like you, but this fight is for the future of the union. If the union is destroyed, privatisation will follow along with massive hikes in prices, a pitiful service compared to anything you have known. How about 2 deliveries a week, yet you cry when we strike for one day? Next day delivery will only be available at a premium. Can you not see that you are being manipulated because you are just thinking short term, because it is causing you hassle?

Regardless of this, as important as your kid's birthday's and christmas's being screwed are, is it not also important that workers can fight for their jobs and livelihoods? Remember, your kids will one day grow up and have to live in the world of work that we leave behind for them, and it looks like it is going to be a crap hole.

[POSTMAN]

"If you tolerate this,then your children will be next."

[stodgy88]

what we are fighting for are our futures ,not been able to pay mortgages etc if losing jobs or going part-time -obviously your kids bloody birthday cards are more important to you ,but not me

[JRD]

Unfortunately, the public are now speaking out against this action. The BBC comments section about the strike is leaning against the postal workers quite a lot now. http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread. ... #paginator" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; It is a cross section of opinion round the country. Sadly, even if management are to blame the workers represent the business and if the customers don't get their letters it will be seen as the workers fault, so it is a no win! As one person writes 'own goal for the postal workers'. Surely, all this can only help the Tories?

[G O Root]

I think that BBC page has been the same since the start of the action. Not the comments , but the general feeling. Striking is not popular, we understand that, especially when people rely on you. Just as you and countless others are angry and your business is suffering, you are essentially looking out for yourself. That's human nature and fair play to you, but we are in effect , in this dog eat dog world, doing the same.

[peterloo]

And if the goverment do succeed you will have your kids birthday cards your bank statements credit cards handled on a
regular basis by workers who are not criminal record checked just like the thirty thousand casuals who were employed by royal mail and this goverment. identity fraud isnt a big issue yet. you wont realise what you have till we are gone

[norbert]

I appreciate what your saying Connie, but what about our kids birthdays and christmases next year when RM try to cut payment of D2D items(10% a week in some cases) and try to reduce our contracts and in a lot of cases dismiss them alltogether. Funny how the tories and Kenneth Clarke should crow about what they would do, when clarke was one of the main players in the 13 year pensions holiday, which is one of the main reasons for where we are now. We all suffer in this apart from a priviliged few i.e the Royal Mail board who can enjoy their fat bonuses. Most of the general public seem to think privatisation is a bad idea, but don't seem to realise that that's the very reason Adam Crozier was brought in. I'm amazed that a lot of peoples anger seems to be at us, the postie, who have served the public and Royal Mail for years, a quarter of a century in my case . We don't make the rules, but we are fighting for our livliehoods and for the publics service. And th :is certainly doesn't apply to you , as you seem very reasonable, but i'm sick of getting stick off people on this forum and in the wider public , having a go and calling us lazy sods etc etc. People who have nothing better to do than sit on internet forums and tell us to leave our jobs if we don't like it. My challenge to them and anyone with the same attitude is come and try the job. I do a lot of training new starters and every single one have said how it's opened thier eyes and changed thier opinions, so it can't be that easy can it. I know the public are frustrated, i understand it, we are RM customers too, we get mail, use Ebay etc. I just think some of the general publics anger should be directed at the management of a PUBLIC sevice and indeed the owner of said service i.e the Government who are trying to run it into the ground.

Here,here

[norbert]

Indeed. Write to Adam Crozier or Mark Higson and ask them to lay out the modernisation plan step by step. Ask them if there is any aspect of modernisation other than slashing jobs and services. Also ask them why the board shared 10 million in bonuses for changes already made. We'd be dying to know. We are not opposed to modernisation , we are opposed to destruction.

[norbert]

Yes, look at how cheap and efficient our railways have been since they went private. And how they don't need any government subsidy at all.

I didn't say privatising Royal Mail was the answer. Your customers will start to think 'anything but this', regardless of whether it's right or wrong, when their lives, kids' birthdays and Christmas are screwed up by the few.

Lets not get carried away here Connie, do you seriously think that Royal Mail give a hoot about kids birthdays? Christmas they do care about because it is a great money earner - as for the rest they couldn't give a monkeys. A senior member of the board is quoted as saying "we don't care about Grannys card to the grandkids" - it's big business we care about".

We are the ones who see our customers on a daily basis, we are the ones who ask after granny and the kids and the wife,husband,mother because WE care and we don't want to see a national institute destroyed because of greed. We aren't rich people and we can ill afford to lose money but if we don't fight this fight then the postal service as you know it won't exist.

[CustomerConnieagain]

I'm attempting to post this for the third time as it keeps disappearing - overwhelmed with all the posts on here no doubt. So sorry if the other shows up and this is a repeat.

I appreciate what your saying Connie, but what about our kids birthdays and christmases next year when RM try to cut payment of D2D items(10% a week in some cases) and try to reduce our contracts and in a lot of cases dismiss them alltogether....I'm amazed that a lot of peoples anger seems to be at us, the postie, who have served the public and Royal Mail for years, a quarter of a century in my case ....I just think some of the general publics anger should be directed at the management of a PUBLIC sevice and indeed the owner of said service i.e the Government who are trying to run it into the ground.

And I really am trying to appreciate your position. Many of those people who are directing their anger at you have had their incomes reduced in the recession, have lost their homes, have lost their businesses, have lost their jobs.

You are expecting 60 million people to accept their lives being affected by the 61,000 people who voted to strike. So in my case: you are expecting me to rearrange my life by going to the PO for my tax disk, taking my kids shopping for Christmas rather than online, accepting that my son's birthday cards and presents just aren't going to turn up & dealing with all that this brings... all little things of course & very dull, but this is how my life is. Having to rearrange it for 'the greater good' of strangers and for the foreseeable future doesn't exactly make me feel sympathy. And I'm probably one of the softer touches - these days the average consumer puts up with just about nothing.

So I will never understand how this can end in anything but tears, most likely yours. And I really really appreciate the postal service in its current state, but most won't once their lives are being disrupted. Sorry.

[concerned]

You are expecting 60 million people to accept their lives being affected by the 61,000 people who voted to strike. So in my case: you are expecting me to rearrange my life by going to the PO for my tax disk, taking my kids shopping for Christmas rather than online, accepting that my son's birthday cards and presents just aren't going to turn up & dealing with all that this brings... all little things of course & very dull, but this is how my life is. Having to rearrange it for 'the greater good' of strangers and for the foreseeable future doesn't exactly make me feel sympathy. And I'm probably one of the softer touches - these days the average consumer puts up with just about nothing.

So I will never understand how this can end in anything but tears, most likely yours. And I really really appreciate the postal service in its current state, but most won't once their lives are being disrupted. Sorry.

Connie, shopping online is one of the things killing off small businesses ie-shops (like my small business). You dont realise it, but you having to go to the shop is actually going to make some people very happy. Not patronising, just trying to show there is a positive in that. As for going to the post office to get your tax disc, with the way things are going (ie privatisation) - you will eventually have to collect your mail from there too as they wont want to have postal staff delivering to every address in the UK.

[CustomerConnieagain]

Connie, shopping online is one of the things killing off small businesses ie-shops (like my small business). You dont realise it, but you having to go to the shop is actually going to make some people very happy. Not patronising, just trying to show there is a positive in that. As for going to the post office to get your tax disc, with the way things are going (ie privatisation) - you will eventually have to collect your mail from there too as they wont want to have postal staff delivering to every address in the UK.

Concerned: I understand what you're saying but I'm afraid 'Progress' (whether we consider it to be positive or not) will not stop now. I won't be going to the Post Office to get my tax disk, nor will I be receiving it by post. I'll be printing it myself. And I absolutely cannot see a door-to-door delivery service for every address in the UK in the future, and that includes couriers. I'll be picking parcels/post up myself from somewhere but at least it'll all be in one place and I won't have to wait in for it.

I would be the absolute last person who would want to kill off anyone's small business but this is reality. Sorry.