http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content1?catId=1000002&mediaId=99700760

So despite the Global ecconomic recession,and lots of people loosing their jobs,and homes,it appears that the publicly owned Royal Mail are strikeing for god knows what.

It seems as if a train company down souff are also on strike,despite giving back the franchise for the East Coast main line, and now we the taxpayers are subsidiseing it.

Arent these or shouldnt these people be eternally gratefull to have a job.

*Pulls up a chair, waits for the usual suspects to arrive*

Big bottles of Leffe, 2 for £5 at Sainsbury's. Blonde or Brune, folks?

Postierich to the forum please. The train drivers are at it as well. Whilst I can't be arsed to read why, I will say myself and many others would gladly have the jobs right now.

Big bottles of Leffe, 2 for £5 at Sainsbury's. Blonde or Brune, folks?

that maybe so but sainsburys in the next town and its raining, might make a run for the local offlicence though.

Don't panic when Maggie ppels off her Cameron suit next year she won't put up with any union fuss 🙄

Arent these or shouldnt these people be eternally gratefull to have a job.

Yes they should. They have their unions to thank for that.

How difficult can it be to drive a red van or ride a red bike,then pick up a pile of letters,and then deliver a lot of them to the wrong address, and have a walk around some streets then off home,when done.

Job done,or not it appears.

Project, amended for you;

How difficult can it be to drive a red van or ride a red bike,then pick up a pile of letters,and then deliver a lot of them to the wrong address, drop a load of red rubber bands everywhere and leave gates open and have a walk around some streets then off home,when done.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh piss! Why does this have to happen when I`m waiting for something important to arrive….

publicly owned Royal Mail are strikeing for god knows what.
Some related links.
I,m the Union rep out my workplace, amazing how many people are joining the union @ the moment.
http://www.cwu.org/news/archive/growing-postal-strikes-and-a-national-ballot-as-royal-mail-refuse-to-negotiate.html

I,m not going on strike as we as a office have not balloted but there will be a national ballot which we as a union will not get.A lot of it is down to big problems at the older offices where they are being closed down and forcing people to travel long distances for the measly wages that are the basic wage.

Rich

postierich,so basicly Royal Mail a publicly owned company by us the tax pyer is trying to modernise,and slim down the workforce,through provideing new buildings and facilities better suited to the needs of the paying public and the management of the service, a win win situation for all.
Haveing small outdated sorting offices is not productive, if it was we would have every town with a cinema,hospital,and petrol station all things they all had before the advent of shopping centres and supermarkets.

How difficult can it be to drive a red van or ride a red bike,then pick up a pile of letters,and then deliver…….

So why don't you deliver your own mail then – if it's so **** easy ?

I'm guessing from your whingeing that you in fact find it impossible to do – and you therefore want some else to do it for you.

And yet you appear to expect that person to be some sort of registered charity.

Or do you think postmen/women should have a second job to make up for the fact that they have a crap job with no security or a decent wage which pays the bills ?

It's funny how you appear happy to slag them off even though by your own admission, you haven't a clue what the strike is about.

Do you always base your opinions on ignorance ?

Haveing small outdated sorting offices is not productive, if it was we would have every town with a cinema,hospital,and petrol station all things they all had before the advent of shopping centres and supermarkets.

The supermarkets have a lot to answer for. Its not about being productive, its about profit.

Or do you think postmen/women should have a second job to make up for the fact that they have a crap job with no security or a decent wage which pays the bills ?

No, but how about they look for a better job, eh?

*Blue touchpaper lit, time to retire*

I get the destinct impression it's a case of lose x% of the workforce or loose 100% of the workforce. It's outdated and no longer competitive so changes need to be made to save something.

Can't comment on whether it's been done well though.

how about they look for a better job, eh?

Well if you agree that it ought to be a crap job which no one should want to do, then presumably that suggestion applies to everyone.

So who's going to deliver project's mail then ?

I'm very happy for the postmen/women to carry on enjoying the employment conditions which they have always enjoyed.

We the customer deliver our mail to a red box on the corner of most streets,a mailman comes once a day and empties it,he then drives to a sorting centre, and its then sorted mostly by mechanised machines,and then another man,delivers it to the regioanl hub, where it is then distibuted to the local centres,and then a man in a van on a bike or on foot shoves it through your door.

Now how difficult is that.

Better offices equal better turnaround of mail,and less staff,they are not duplicated, as in a lot of smaller offices.

It's outdated and no longer competitive

And yet it makes huge profits.

if posties don't like the pay and conditions, find another job simple, or maybe it isn't in the current climate.
just shut up and put up till the economy is in a better state for a pay rise.

Now how difficult is that.

It's difficult because you can't do it. That's how difficult it is.

And then there are the train drivers, anyone who`s watched Thomas the Tank Engine will know its the fat Controller who does all the work.

so basicly Royal Mail a publicly owned company by us the tax pyer is trying to modernise,and slim down the workforce,through provideing new buildings and facilities better suited to the needs of the paying public and the management of the service, a win win situation for all.

Win win if you are not sacked in this process.
Your interpreation is as simplistic as your spelling suggest you are.

To all those who are whinging about the posties – get stuffed.

Having been made redundant i would quite happily do that job but i also know how horrible it is to work in an industry were there is absolutely no job security, your hours are being cut & your working conditions changed on a whim.
All you you fat-arsed middle class ****ts pontificating about real peoples lives know bugger all about how most people are struggling.

It's difficult because you can't do it. That's how difficult it is.

I don't understand your argument here, GG. I'm fairly sure I could actually manage to deliver letters if I had the infrastructure of the post office behind me. The fact it's inefficient for me to deliver things myself, which is why I get the post office to do it for me has precisely nothing to do with how difficult the postie's job is.

Not convinced I want to be a postie, but neither is it the world's worst job. However the point isn't whether I want to do it, it's whether enough other people want to do it, and I get the impression that's not actually a problem – it's not like they're all resigning to go off and do something else, which you'd think they might be busy doing if it really was becoming that awful.

"Arent these or shouldnt these people be eternally gratefull to have a job."
Yes they should. They have their unions to thank for that.

I'm confused – so it's actually their unions, not the post office who employs them? Or are you suggesting that without the unions the post office wouldn't employ anybody?

Your interpreation is as simplistic as your spelling suggest you are.

Priceless.

BB

Big bottles of Leffe, 2 for £5 at Sainsbury's. Blonde or Brune, folks?

that maybe so but sainsburys in the next town and its raining,
Phone them, pay by credit card and they'll stick it in the post

🙄

I'm fairly sure I could actually manage to deliver letters if I had the infrastructure of the post office behind me.

But you haven't. So you can't. In fact it's impossible for you to deliver your own mail. So either, don't bother sending and receiving mail, or pay someone else to do it and shut the **** up.

So you'd be happy for any old scrote who's prepared to accept minimum wage to deliver letters or expensive bike parts / bank statements around the country?

At face value it appears to be a 'simple' job, however geberally I trust the post people that deliver to my door because I've always received my bank statments, payslips, xmas cards, birthday presents and so on.

In order to get your post handled in a professional manner then they need to be treat like professionals.

I think the problem is poor management, but also incompetent and unrealistic ministers putting equally unrealisitc targets on a system that takes a long time to change.

Unfortunately thats the way of the public services.

OTOH it seems unreasonable that the Royal Mail is facing bankruptcy whilst the taxpayers are pumping billions into the banks, the champions of capitalism.

Dave Ward, CWU deputy general secretary said: "Postal workers are sick and tired of an incompetent management running their business into the ground. Workers are busier than ever and being treated badly. The current round of cuts in jobs and services is unacceptable.

"Royal Mail agreed in 2007 to work with the union on agreeing modernisation. Despite explicit commitments to negotiate they are reneging on that agreement and imposing panic-driven cuts to jobs and services. This is downsizing, not modernisation.

"The company has failed to set out any clear or joined up vision of what modernisation really means. They must stop imposing change and work with the union to agree the bigger picture of modernisation that the postal service badly needs."

http://www.cwu.org/news/archive/growing-postal-strikes-and-a-national-ballot-as-royal-mail-refuse-to-negotiate.html

Some people seem confused. People are trying to keep theirs and others jobs in a recession, where is the problem with that? Or should people only try and protect their jobs when the economy is doing well?

Right on comrades!

GG – you appear to be horribly confused between the job the post office does and the job an individual postie does.

FWIW I do agree they have a point in this case, and the way the royal mail has been managed (right from the top where the policy is ultimately decided politically) is appalling. However it doesn't do anybody any favours to come out with the same tired old union cliches. Still not convinced the union wouldn't oppose modernisation involving job cuts even if said job cuts were in the best interests of the company – however they do seem to have a point right now.

GG – you appear to be horribly confused ……

Well I certainly don't feel confused.

As far as I can figure out, postal workers collect and deliver mail. Something which I would find impossible to do myself.

Which bit do you reckon I'm getting wrong ?

Which bit do you reckon I'm getting wrong ?

Well lets go back to the beginning. Your response to project's suggestion that an individual postie's job was easy (with the infrastructure of royal mail behind him) was to suggest he couldn't do it himself (without any infrastructure). Which was I suppose factually correct, but disingenuous in the extreme.

Something which I would find impossible to do myself.

Do you mean you couldn't do a postie's job or you couldn't do the royal mail's job?

Do you mean you couldn't do a postie's job….

Pretty much so – yes.

How could I get on with my job if I had to spend the day driving around in a red van delivering and collecting my own mail ?

its a bit frustrating for me as I'm trying to excange contracts on my house and all communication is done by post, so these strikes will not help that in any way.
🙁

well at least our parcels will only be stacked up rather than stolen

It's called collective bargaining, a fundamental right in a democratic society, and often the only way employees have to prevent employers from completely taking the pi$$. I'd suggest that allowing employees to protect their jobs and/or conditions of employment is probably more important than someone receiving their titanium bolt on Tuesday instead of Monday. House contracts is a bit more irritating I'm sure, but I guess the whole point of striking is that it causes some short term inconvenience in return for what should be longer term stability/security.

That should be Monday instead of Tuesday. I know what I mean, but I don't even know what day it is.

It's called collective bargaining, a fundamental right in a democratic society,

Unless you work for McDonalds or Walmart.

its a bit frustrating for me as I'm trying to excange contracts on my house and all communication is done by post, so these strikes will not help that in any way.

You could always do it yourself…I think that's what being suggested above 🙄