Uk Postal Strike

[taylor]

End today ?
awaiting parcels from there

[Quiff Boy]

yes, but they might take a while to clear the backlog

[snowey]

Some places now having wildcat walk outs...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7037052.stm

(up the workers)

[Carpathian Psychonaut]

yes, but they might take a while to clear the backlog

Just a bit:-

The Communication Workers Union has been in talks with Royal Mail bosses for eight days, but they have failed to reach a deal. The union said a series of fresh actions would start on Monday unless the dispute was resolved.

The cost to Royal Mail of the dispute has been put at £260m and householders are being warned it could be up to three weeks before deliveries get back to normal because of the backlog. Royal Mail deals with 80m letters and parcels a day.

Thousands of concert tickets, passport applications and house sale documents are unlikely to be cleared before the next round of stoppages kicks in and there are fears that the dispute could last for months.

[EvilBastard]

(up the workers)

Yeah...right up 'em - I'm sorry that they're unhappy, but making the rest of us unhappy isn't a solution, especially when they're losing business to electronic mail delivery.

[CellThree]

As far as I read, they are only getting mad because for years they've been blagging overtime during normal working hours.

They've been finishing their round quickly, then getting paid extra for doing another one while still in their contracted hours.

This is basically costing the Post Office a fortune and they want it stopped. Understandably.

The Unions are saying something along the lines that the workers will need to get paid more to compensate for the lack of extra money they got from the overtime.

A normal Postie gets paid about 300 quid a week after deductions. Now it can be a tough job, but most people I know don't earn that much and work just as hard.

I have no problem with people getting paid more for working harder, but I do have a problem with people taking the p*ss then crying when they get caught.

[Brideoffrankenstein]

I have no problem with people getting paid more for working harder, but I do have a problem with people taking the p*ss then crying when they get caught.

Yeah I heard that on the news and from someone that used to be a postie. I think we all should go on strike to say that we want the same pay conditions that the posties had!

[CellThree]

I was just reading this on the Telegraph Page :

Royal Mail provided The Daily Telegraph with a list of 12 of the 92 "Spanish practices" which it claims are now at the core of the worst postal strike for nearly two decades:

* Two or three hour minimum daily overtime - so if 30 minutes of actual work is required and completed, then between two and three hours' payment is demanded;

* An additional allowance claimed for using particular vehicles - regardless of whether the individual has actually driven the vehicle;
advertisement

* Automatic overtime if mail volumes reach a certain level - regardless of how many ordinary working hours remain that day;

* If a delivery round is finished before the end of the paid shift, the employee expects to be able to go straight home. But if it takes 10 minutes longer two to three hours' over time is claimed;

* Set overtime level is claimed at Christmas, even if there is no need for any additional hours and no extra hours are worked;

* An additional two hour payment on Easter Saturday - regardless of whether any work required;

* No flexibility between different parts of the same sorting office - if an employee sorts letters for a particular postcode, they will not sort for the adjacent postcode, even though both activities are often in the same room;

* Signing in and out for a shift on arrival - so that no record of actual hours worked exists;

* Collection drivers expect overtime pay for doing collections outside usual route - even if it is done within usual working hours;

* Overtime to cover for an absent colleague - a full day is claimed, even if only half day needed and worked;

* Ban on any cross functional working, even of similar tasks under the same roof;

* Additional meal and grace breaks as custom and practice

[streamline]

fcuk 'em.

had it easy for years, now they've been caught.

Wish my contract was that nice.

[Almiche V]

Sympathy - window...........

[EvilBastard]

Not that I'd believe everything I read in the Torygraph, but it sounds like the posities have had it a bit too fcukin' cushy for too long. High time they were salaried, "We pay you this, this is what you are expected to do." This hourly pay with overtime bollocks clearly isn't working. It's not as if they don't get whomping great tax-free tips at xmas (I used to know a postie who delivered to companies in the city, and he reckoned that he did a 5-hour day and could expect $10k in tips at the holidays) - do the job, get paid, go home.

[taylor]

I WANT MY POST f**k OFF !!!!

[Pista]

Don't they have any competition?

[Nazareth]

As a current royal mail employee i can say that none of those "spanish practices" have ever occurred in my office.

As for any postie getting 10k in tips...well most of us are not delivering to big businesses in the city. Last xmas i got £15 in tips, if you think that is unfair then think again.

What seems to annoy most of the public is "job and finish" where we can go home as soon as we finish our round. we are paid to deliver a round, not hang about until our shift is over, there is something to be said for being paid to do the work and not to do the time. it also means everyone works to maximum efficiency, none of us take any breaks or stop for any period of time while sorting, many days i have worked without stopping for even 5 mins, but we do this so we can get home quicker.

[Nazareth]

oh, and as for competition....well we are forced to deliver the competitions mail!

[Dan]

Don't they have any competition?

Not really.

Well, you can look in the yellow pages for courier services but they're probably expensive and unless you're lucky enough to live near to a DHL or something there's nothing that's easily accessible.

[Pista]

oh, and as for competition....well we are forced to deliver the competitions mail!

OMG.
Ironic or what

[Carpathian Psychonaut]

oh, and as for competition....well we are forced to deliver the competitions mail!

As I understand it that was a clause agreed to by the union/workers side back when the initial split of the monopoly was agreed between all parties?

[markfiend]

What seems to annoy most of the public is "job and finish" where we can go home as soon as we finish our round. we are paid to deliver a round, not hang about until our shift is over, there is something to be said for being paid to do the work and not to do the time.

That makes perfect sense to me. It means there's actually an incentive to do the job more quickly.

Unlike (for example) my job where I have to hang around until 5 whatever happens and so I drag out the work I do to fill that time.

[EvilBastard]

"Job & finish" means that there's no incentive to do additional work. Let's say that it takes a postie working flat-out 5 hours to complete his assigned responsibilities for the day. But he is being paid for an 8-hour shift, so essentially he's being paid for sit on his duff for three hours.
On the other hand, if after having completed his assignment he returns to the sorting office or depot and says "Ok, boss - I've done everything I was supposed to - do you need help with something around here? It's the christmas season and there's a backlog of post - maybe I can help out some of my union brothers in sorting it so that Mrs. Jones' grandson will get his hand-knitted sweater in time for the 25th."
Of course, this isn't going to make him any friends because his union brothers are banking on the overtime that they can make if they spin out the sorting past the end of the shift.
If there's one thing I've learned about entrenched unions is that they tend to serve the interests of leadership and politicians more than the men on the line, and if you're looking for a picture of disunity look no further than your local union hall. There appears to be a disconnect in union leadership that if you p*ss the customers off then you lose business, and people (i.e. the union membership) lose jobs (of course, union leadership keep theirs anyway, so why should they care?). Too often leadership is unwilling to work with management to find a solution where neither party is happy, but both of them have gained something. Apparently the ability to negotiate is no longer a requirement for union brass.
"I'm Alright Jack" with Peter Sellers is funny because it's so true to life, and little has changed in 50 years.

[Pat]

oh, and as for competition....well we are forced to deliver the competitions mail!

As I understand it that was a clause agreed to by the union/workers side back when the initial split of the monopoly was agreed between all parties?

This was a clause that was forced on the Royal Mail to stimulate competition.Royal Mail charge a fee for this service to the other carriers.

As for the Telegraph, don't believe everything you read in the papers.
There are 2 sides to every story CWU .
I'm a member of the CWU (Telecoms) but I see the same monthly magazine as the postal workers, this action has been brewing for almost 2 years.It's not about pay, it's about conditions.It's about posties having to use their own private vehicles to get through their rounds on time,it's about not having to carry overweight bags to save time in visiting the office twice,it's about being allowed time to have breaks,it's about starting your shift within your ageed hours .
The CWU is not a militant union,I've had 1 strike is 25years (for 3 days).If they were recomending strike action to it's members it's because they have exhausted all other options.
As for the Spanish practices mentioned above, I'm sure they exist in some form or another,I doubt they are widespread.
Time for the dinosaurs to realise they are extinct ?

[silentNate]

Tsk- like I'd trust the Torygraph...

I wish my postie would stop leaving a trial of red elastic bands around our estate and actually knock before posting the 'I called but you weren't in' sign but in the main I support the strike. My mom was a postie and most of them do a hard job in all weathers...

[Ocean Moves]

What seems to annoy most of the public is "job and finish" where we can go home as soon as we finish our round. we are paid to deliver a round, not hang about until our shift is over, there is something to be said for being paid to do the work and not to do the time.

That makes perfect sense to me. It means there's actually an incentive to do the job more quickly.

Unlike (for example) my job where I have to hang around until 5 whatever happens and so I drag out the work I do to fill that time.

you need more work

this whole business (the royal mail) sounds incredibly apathetic;
if there is no competition, why would the business get of their arse
and tighten their work practices? naturally they don't. no suprise there.

[silentNate]

Apparently the strike is over..
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7038899.stm

It is hoped the resolution will bring to an end the long-running row over Royal Mail's modernisation plans, which union officials had feared would see 40,000 jobs lost.

[itnAklipse]

Bukowski, though i don't much admire his writing in general, it's thoroughly prosaic and unclassical, wrote a funny little book about the life of a mailman.

And ever since the post office here became an entity whose priority is to make profit, instead of being a service-oriented government business, it has gone to hell. Not lacking in modern innovations, it is lacking now in an interest in customer satisfaction, of which there is none.
It all started with moving the mailboxes of houses to the front of the driveway from the door...and has steadily gone down from there.

Oh, and it's not uncommon to pick up bills from the road cause of sloppy delivery or have the neighbour bringing miss-delivered stuff...this didn't used to happen when the mailmen were happy and had the job and finish -thingie. But can't blame them really, most of them 've been sacked and the rest have now much more to do than before. It's the bloody management.