Further postal strikes announced for 6th-9th November
by Sue Bailey
The BBC reports that two new dates in the ongoing postal strike have been announced. Friday 6th and Monday 9th November will see all-out strikes, in contrast to recent action where different parts of Royal Mail have walked out for 24 hours at a time each.
Royal Mail have said that the backlog of undelivered mail has risen to 35 million items, but that they have cleared items delayed by last week’s strike. The Communication Workers’ Union called RM’s estimate “laughable” and said that the true figure was between 50 million and 60 million. Anecdotally, we’re hearing from many online merchants that their post does seem to be getting through still, though whether that will continue in the face of all-out strikes, remains to be seen.
Brendan Barber, general secretary of the TUC, who is chairing talks between the two sides, seems to remain optimistic that a settlement can be reached soon. He said that proposals had been put to the CWU and to RM’s management, and
They’ve agreed to look at those proposals over the weekend and consult appropriately with colleagues, with a view to returning to the TUC for further negotiations early next week.
46 Responses on "Further postal strikes announced for 6th-9th November"
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Well, Brendan Barber hasn’t really been very effective has he? The strike situation is now the worst it has ever been !
Thanks a bunch!
As my old Gran use to say… I’d like to knock their bl**dy heads together.
This is a feeble attempt at two days in a row.
Clearly the CWU haven’t got the balls to do it in one week because their loyal members won’t like losing 2 days pay will they?
I thought Fat Billy No Mates said they were going to up the ante. This is just feeble.
Come on Billy. Get some balls and let’s have a real strike. What about 3 days in a row? Go on – let’s see how strong your union is then.
This is stupid ….. do they not understand its the customers they are hurting !! The people who in effect pay their wages ! I have no sympathy for them now…. they are not proving anything! if you aint happy hand your notice in and join the dole queue, there is plenty of people there who would love your job.
I have just been reading some news here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/oct/29/mail-strike-backbone-post-union
…Regarding the strike action. I find the quote below very telling:
David McGow, 42, a postman at the depot, said: “I just want to know that I’ve got a job until I’m 60. Nobody wants to strike
…Well, two points:
1)There are no guarantees in life, least of all how long your job will last.
2)I am fed up with hearing “I don’t want to strike”, then don’t, very simple.
I also found this link:
http://www.hiddenhurt.co.uk/Abuser/signs.htm
…I think there is a very interesting comparison to be made, for example:
Always blames others for their own actions, controlling behaviour, unrealistic expectations etc etc…
Couldn’t agree more with Ellie, there are people in this country working in some shall we substandard working conditions and others who are unfortunately out of work all together the postal workers should be extremely thankful they have a job at all in this current situation. As Ellie has said there are plenty of people willing to take up the job so if they are unhappy, leave. All sympathy has been lost for them I’m afraid the first round of strikes was to prove a point and to try and bring about change now going into what would be a third round of strikes they are no better off but have served to disrupt an already disrupted service. If this continues more and more people and businesses will seek services elsewhere leading to the decline of the royal mail and the loss of union and union workers jobs. Congratulations union members for destroying a fine postal service and in the process shooting yourselves in the foot. *Applause*
The (state run) postal service was well on it’s way to being destroyed before these strikes started to take place.
Adam Crozier was brought in to be the “New Labour” version of “Ian MacGregor” but unfortunately the postal service (despite the droping volumes, and properganda) is still essential to millions and needs to be state run (at this time).
Would anybody here like to be £400 a month out of pocket and told that when they finish there shift to do a third more work for nothing would you do that Nick or ellie? would you? no you would not work for nothing and a pay cut, you come on here not knowing the facts so please get the facts before mouthing off, no postal worker can afford to strike but we can’t afford not to
No, frankly – we don’t like being £400 (and the rest) a month out of pocket – unfortunately this is the precise effect that your action is having on some of us. Difficult to sympathise with those doing their level best to put us out of business.
I like many other people starting up a business, worked for nothing for many months. When business is slow, my wages are the first to be overlooked as staff and suppliers take priority every time.
Every time Royal Mail loose or misdeliver an order I am out of pocket.
I work 18 hours a day some days. I don’t get sick pay. I don’t get holiday pay. I don’t have a pension.
So, to quote yourself right back at you
“you come on here not knowing the facts so please get the facts before mouthing off”
“no postal worker can afford to strike but we can’t afford not to”
I can respect that. Better to stand up for what you believe than ‘fiddle while Rome burns’.
Are you sure your union are playing this one correctly, though? So far they seem unable to communicate a compelling core reason for the strike and / or a clear vison of how they see the postal service prospering in the future. It’s ok ralllying against privatisation, but what viable alternative are the CWU putting forward? (I’m anti-privatisation, too).
In the past 2 weeks, all my post has got through with minimal delay to a few items only. Can posties really afford to dramatically escalate the dispute? If not, you might be better to seek a different way around the concerns you have.
Andy Said:
>> Would anybody here like to be £400 a month out of pocket and told that when they finish there shift to do a third more work for nothing would you do that Nick or ellie? would you?
Andy – before I started my own company, I regularly worked 1 or 2 hours every day for no extra pay – it was expected of me. I was also then “on-call” for free. This is not unusual in many large corporate companies.
However, when I got bored of it, I got a new job.
When you say “Finish your shift” do you mean you’ve worked your contracted hours, or do you mean that you’ve finished your delivery round early but not your contracted hours?
From what I understand, in the past, if you finished your shift early you could do more work within your contracted hours and get paid overtime, even though you were still being paid for your normal shift. It doesn’t take much to realise that situation of paying normal time and over time for the same hours worked is a bit bizarre.
If you mean you’re working past your clocking off time without being paid that doesn’t seem right, but neither does being paid overtime before your normal hours are up.
Andy – “Would anybody here like to be £400 a month out of pocket and told that when they finish there shift to do a third more work for nothing would you do that Nick or ellie? would you? no you would not work for nothing and a pay cut, you come on here not knowing the facts so please get the facts before mouthing off, no postal worker can afford to strike but we can’t afford not to”
Before I was lucky enough to land my job I worked as a volunteer for years at the charity I am now at… I now do not earn much… No I wouldn’t want a £400 pay cut… But that means I would be on only £200 a month!! But I would rather work for that and get help other ways than not work at all! I know so many people out there applying for anything and everything just so they can be working. The recession has hit a lot of people remember? Pay cuts and redundancies are mega now! Even in a place as small as ours we are having to look at redundancies and cutting about half of our staff! Which means longer hours for us that stay with no extra pay! I constantly work WAY over my contracted hours and never get a penny more…. Because I think there are people out there that need more than a bit of cash in their pockets… The service users of my place are already feeling alone and isolated because of their condition… Stop the work we do and they are back to actually being alone and isolated because they do not have the confidence to do things alone!
wish I had a choice
if I dont work, I dont eat, my bills dont get paid ,the vat, and tax man would drain, my bank accounts, possibly take my house and car, a few dozen folk would be out of work ,and the dog would be taken to the pound,
wife and daughters airmiles would not be worth having, the hairdresser, and the the ugly parlour, would go out of business
why not get real posties
just read the news or lack of it,
the strike is an irritation, at best!
most are working round it, the longer this goes on, more and better options and alternatives to Royal mail will be available,
less impact and influence the CWU will have
My postie told me that there’s a lot of conflict within the CWU right now. London vs ‘The Rest’, apparrently. Maybe that’s why this is much less than the escalation that the ruddy faced man promised.
All my post is getting through – upgrading some items to Special Delivery, but even 1st class has only been delayed by one day, if at all.
if anything these one day partial strikes are proving the Royal mail managements point
some jobs and workers can be done without, and the post still gets delivered
Post as usual for me today (I live in London).
Yeah, right, undelivered items sent…after 1 month I still haven’t received my FIFA 10 from a store that delivered with Royal Mail Signed For and they haven’t even given an information on the track & trace.
Did your postie forget to ask you for a signature?
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v31/n18/roy-mayall/diary
If you can bring yourself to actually listen to a postmans side instead of just blasting your gums off about how mad we are and we will lose everything then I have provided a link.
Read that before, someone else posted it on here somewhere. But OUR point is that WE ae your customers and WE don’t care about numbers of letters, volume of mail or “Granny Smith”.
WE do care though that YOUR actions are losing US money, in the thousands. So either do your job or find another one.
I challenge any postmen/women reading this to answer this with a yes or no:
Do you think that by striking you are improving your position and that it will all end in your favour?
Striking is a last resort against a company and government driving for privatisation, which may be alright for shareholders but your service my friend will be like the rest of them—rubbish!
If you think it is bad now just wait and see how much your mailing cost will be!
Maybe we will or won’t win but we are just trying to protect our jobs and service to all.
personally I am just waiting to see if there is a pay off and I’m out because i can’t stand it in there any more as many of my full-time colleagues with many years in have already left!
To be honest it’s a great piece of writing… if you want emotionally charged propaganda.
I don’t care for bull from either side – I just want a postal service that works. I don’t care what the union and Royal Mail have to do or what concessions are made, at the end of the day there’s a job that needs doing and someone needs to bang some heads together and get on with doing some work for a change.
Yes probably a bit harder work for longer hours, but guess what, times change, life’s tough and there’s a recession out there.
Customers are being punished for doing nothing other than posting letters.
I hope the sack the fat one from the union on the telly.
A couple of point really…the chairman is getting paid 50 times more then a postman because he is the chairman – why nobody turnsround and question him why he is worth guessing worth 15 times a posti salary..I mean he hardly has the same qualifaction or responsibility.
To all the postman and women you are not going to have a job (or the same nice job / better get used to a tnt unfiorm) in the next five years max and if you are looking for somebody to blame its the fat chap of the telly – Why this is outragous not its not – You lost our vote the public we dont like to be blackmailed!
I was 100 percent against privatisation but now I’m fully for it – and guess what when tnt or some other company does the final mile guess what you either do it or sign on.
I would not be surprised if the goverment is not doing anything because thats what the what you lot to do – strike – because every time you annouce another strike – we the public hate you more – my postmen is of the xmas list.
FINAL WARNING YOU STRIKE A COUPLE OF MORE DAYS WE NOT ONLY SELLERS BUT THE PUBLIC WILL HATE YOU – YES HATE YOU -
WE ALL HAVE TO PUT UP WITH BS ALL DAY LONG AND WE SUPPORTED YOU OVER THE YEARS AND YOU THROW IT BACK AT US – I THINK YOU ARE DISGUSTING AND A COUPLE OF MORE STRIKES AND YOU ALL SHOULD BE SACKED! THERE IS ENOUGH PEOPLE TO TAKE ON YOUR WORK!
I am a member of the public. I do not share you views or feelings
.
I will be happy when the dispute is resolved though.
I respect the right to strike, and the need for workers to have good working conditions
but I dont agree with the double standards and
manipulation by both sides in this dispute
You are not all the ticket
The Government and Royal Mail both need a firework up their a##.
Both sides have an appalling track record and neither has been performing recently.
I say lets stop hurting the public and small businesses and set pay by performance for both of them! (Greedy bunch)
If this were the case, both would be lucky to receive minimum wage!
At least mail seems to be getting through especially overseas which are my main eBay sales
BUT
on Amazon my UK sales have dipped as buyers lose confidence in buying online. Seems they are waiting until deliveries can be guaranteed
PS Have 30 years experience in mail order Could I get a temp job at my local RM sorting office?
I haven’t got a view on who is right/wrong in this. My main thing is the strikes are affecting my work. I work for a charity for the visually impaired and therefore have to send a lot of stuff through the mail on CD and cassette to those who cannot access emails or anything. I have a regular mail out which is due to go out in the next two weeks and it is causing so much trouble! Can we just sort this? Strike or no strike the people I work with need the information and help we can offer… We cannot do this without a mail service!!!!!!!
RE Feeona’s post above.
These are the kinds of essential things they Billy Hayes and his posse are grinding into the ground. Missed hospital appointments. Missed flights. I am also wondering how many vote ballot papers marked against the strikes never made it to the count because of the strikes. Oooh the irony of that!
You should apply for a job at the Daily Mail
You’ve managed to get in a demonization, a pull on the heart strings & a hint out foul play all in one paragraph.
All very quiet this week on the strikes.
Anyone heard anything?
We salute the brave postal workers for their resolute and heroic struggle and fully support their demands.
Victory to Postal Workers!
send them to afghanistan then and bring the real heros home
Agrees with Northumbrian, I don’t think some people are on the same planet.
Oh the irony…
Sack the lot of em, get this new lot in to do the work..This is the Queens Royal mail service at the end of the day..
If this is the queens mail she should never had let the dutch take half of it (tnt)
A Day off today as my reward for unloading 225 cartons from china yesterday…
29 days door to door & RM cannot get a small packet across the UK in that time.
No wonder we are FU***D…
ha. real heroes in afghanistan. an unjust, horrific war all in the sake of global hegemony, lucrative private contracts and control over oil supplies. not to mention the heroin trade.
victory to the workers of the world! don’t you see how you’re all shafting yourselves in the end by lacking any sense of solidarity? you will all be eaten by the rich. good luck with late capitalism!
There are unhorrific wars?
I dont like eating workers!
