London`s Position

[Martin Walsh]

It would seem some posters want to know about London`s postion and in fact a couple of posters have been very critical of the reps and indeed London per say.

For the record the London members took 20 days of strike action last year in order for the union to get in the room, unlike a number of posters on here who talk a good fight but when the union called on offices not to agree savings and to ballot for strike action did nothing.

In London we held the line because we dont just talk the talk we actually walk the walk. We were not going to agree geo route revisons , we were not going to agree the unagreed indoor workload tool , we were not going to agree more part time duties at the expense of full time jobs. We were not going to agree the removal of 4 day weeks and 9 day fortnights.

As a result of the London membership holding the national policy we have 98 revisions imposed. Had it not been for London , some offices in Scotland , Plymouth , Bristol , Network and some other brave units. Fact was there was never a desire by some both at Heaquaters and in the field to have a national ballot. It was us who forced that and it was us who got negotations back way before the national ballot.

Since 5th November and the London joint statement we have spent literally hundreds of hours locked in rooms with acas attempting to resolve the executive action.

Last Friday the London Divisional Committee consisting of all Branch`s in London endorsed a policy which will be relayed to our members later this week if we have not made progress.

In terms of supporting Dave Ward blindly , well you simply dont know what your talking about.

Instead of asking what London is doing why dont you put up what your Branch is doing. Its easy saying what you are doing as an indivdual but its much harder trying to get a collective postion.

In London we always attempt to stick together if we can and sometimes there are heated discussions and different points of view. However one thing no one in the union can deny is that London postal workers stand up for this union and terms and conditions.

So it is a cheap shot and out of order to criticise London postal workers for having good terms and conditions as they have fought for them.

[Dogs of War]

Well dingo when I was asked to strike i was out. This is not to do with london its all over the uk are office was 100% on strike days its just not london who stick together.

[laudrup11]

Your right dingo , London did lead the fight along with some other areas (ie Scotland) and it was a fight that we had to have.
The problem mate is that there are many common perceptions (myths?) about deliveries in London and many, many of the members did see it (wrongly IMO) as a 'London fight'
People in my office think no office in London has had Pegasus, they still have 2 hour deliveries, they dont get door to doors etc etc etc.
Sorry mate, but these perceptions are deeply ingrained.
Programmes like dispatches dont help when it shows reps in an office getting the OT at Xmas doubled at a stroke when were fighting for every hour.
I was proud of London before the national strikes, and still am.
If everyone had the bottle of you lot we probably wouldnt be in this mess.
Are the London branches recommending 'yes'?

[joeboy]

hear hear, as a former london postie(22 years) now a glasgow postie, most people don't know what their talking about when it comes to london, my office had about 40 walks, consisting of anything between 2 to 10 individual walks on them, my particular walk(somewhere near harrods) had 5 walks on it, bit stil got treble the amount of mail that my office in glasgow deals with and my office has over 20 walks in it, some people believe london postman do a hours walk and then go home, if only!!!!

[Wild Rover]

All well and said, but hypothetically speaking if ALL of London voted Yes, and the rest of us voted NO, then it's a big fat YES

[AndyK]

In London we held the line because we dont just talk the talk we actually walk the walk. We were not going to agree geo route revisons , we were not going to agree the unagreed indoor workload tool , we were not going to agree more part time duties at the expense of full time jobs. We were not going to agree the removal of 4 day weeks and 9 day fortnights.

Funny though because the duty patterns you protected consisted of duties over 3.5hours delivery. Hardly holding the "line” or the London membership holding national policy.

[Martin Walsh]

In London we held the line because we dont just talk the talk we actually walk the walk. We were not going to agree geo route revisons , we were not going to agree the unagreed indoor workload tool , we were not going to agree more part time duties at the expense of full time jobs. We were not going to agree the removal of 4 day weeks and 9 day fortnights.

Funny though because the duty patterns you protected consisted of duties over 3.5hours delivery. Hardly holding the "line” or the London membership holding national policy.

Wrong again , clearly there were some but most were still at 3.5 hours.

[Godric]

dingo i think you will find the strikes originated in Scotland and Irvine had 19 strike days, so stop making it out as if it was only London that was standing up to Royal Mail .... you are being disrespectful

[Martin Walsh]

dingo i think you will find the strikes originated in Scotland and Irvine had 19 strike days, so stop making it out as if it was only London that was standing up to Royal Mail .... you are being disrespectful

Godric I mentioedn Scotland and for the record the strikes started in Scotland in March and in UPPER Edmonton N18 in March.

The point I was making was that anyone who was willing to fight last year outside of the national ballot deserves a thanks as there would have been no national ballot had we not. However I was commenting on the London postion.

[belle smith]

Since 5th November and the London joint statement we have spent literally hundreds of hours locked in rooms with acas attempting to resolve the executive action.

Last Friday the London Divisional Committee consisting of all Branch`s in London endorsed a policy which will be relayed to our members later this week if we have not made progress.

That sounds an awful lot like a NO dingo.

[fishtank]

So.....What is London's position re the agreement?.......in simple terms.

[Godric]

dingo i think you will find the strikes originated in Scotland and Irvine had 19 strike days, so stop making it out as if it was only London that was standing up to Royal Mail .... you are being disrespectful

Godric I mentioedn Scotland and for the record the strikes started in Scotland in March and in UPPER Edmonton N18 in March.

The point I was making was that anyone who was willing to fight last year outside of the national ballot deserves a thanks as there would have been no national ballot had we not. However I was commenting on the London postion.

what about offices like mine where we had no real issues to go out on strike, no ea imposed, we wanted to have a ballot but had no good reason to call for a ballot we had no other option but to wait for a national ballot being called ... which took bloody months ...

btw my office is in the same shire as Irvine

[belle smith]

So.....What is London's position re the agreement?.......in simple terms.

I could be wrong but, it sounds to me like dingo and the boys really are doing the work.
It if they can't get their outstanding issues concerning EA resolved under the interim agreement with ACAS involvment, it will be a no.

If they can get them resolved then they will trust ACAS to police the new agreement and it will be a yes.

[fishtank]

So.....What is London's position re the agreement?.......in simple terms.

I could be wrong but, it sounds to me like dingo and the boys really are doing the work.
It if they can't get their outstanding issues concerning EA resolved under the interim agreement with ACAS involvment, it will be a no.

If they can get them resolved then they will trust ACAS to police the new agreement and it will be a yes.

I would think belle that if there are still outstanding issues after 4 months then any resolution within the next few days is simply a face saving exercise.
Just my opinion but if you have to hold a gun to their heads the issue of trust really doesn't come in to it.
And as i have said to dingo before What happens when we no longer have that gun?

[dvbuk55]

It would seem some posters want to know about London`s postion and in fact a couple of posters have been very critical of the reps and indeed London per say.

For the record the London members took 20 days of strike action last year in order for the union to get in the room, unlike a number of posters on here who talk a good fight but when the union called on offices not to agree savings and to ballot for strike action did nothing.

In London we held the line because we dont just talk the talk we actually walk the walk. We were not going to agree geo route revisons , we were not going to agree the unagreed indoor workload tool , we were not going to agree more part time duties at the expense of full time jobs. We were not going to agree the removal of 4 day weeks and 9 day fortnights.

As a result of the London membership holding the national policy we have 98 revisions imposed. Had it not been for London , some offices in Scotland , Plymouth , Bristol , Network and some other brave units. Fact was there was never a desire by some both at Heaquaters and in the field to have a national ballot. It was us who forced that and it was us who got negotations back way before the national ballot.

Since 5th November and the London joint statement we have spent literally hundreds of hours locked in rooms with acas attempting to resolve the executive action.

Last Friday the London Divisional Committee consisting of all Branch`s in London endorsed a policy which will be relayed to our members later this week if we have not made progress.

In terms of supporting Dave Ward blindly , well you simply dont know what your talking about.

Instead of asking what London is doing why dont you put up what your Branch is doing. Its easy saying what you are doing as an indivdual but its much harder trying to get a collective postion.

In London we always attempt to stick together if we can and sometimes there are heated discussions and different points of view. However one thing no one in the union can deny is that London postal workers stand up for this union and terms and conditions.

So it is a cheap shot and out of order to criticise London postal workers for having good terms and conditions as they have fought for them.

Well Dingo our Branch is a no vote - does that mean we are doing the Lambeth walk per se?

As for the Interim Agreement - surely that is now over as the new agreement is on the table - also if it has taken months and still no resolution over your problems then what price their being able to resolve NATIONAL problems btw those are the ones outside London.