The Communication Workers’ Union has announced further strikes commencing next Monday (15th October). The action will cover various parts of Royal Mail’s operations for 24 hour periods between 6pm Monday and 2pm Friday.
Talks between the CWU and RM have broken down without agreement, though there is perhaps a glimmer of hope in the union’s comment that “real progress has been made in many areas”. The union state that support amongst their membership has been “overwhelming”: on the other hand, Royal Mail say “there continues to be an increase in our operational staff attending work”.
RM advise that currently Special Delivery is being delivered. A backlog of other mail is building up, which will be dealt with in sequential order (i.e. in the order it was posted). “We will do our best to return to normal as soon as possible but customers should expect significant delays.”
With regards to the actual terms of the dispute, the CWU have now been offered a 6.9% pay increase over the next two years, which is a significant improvement on RM’s original offer. However, they have chosen to reject this because the offer “is subject to linking unacceptable strings including a reduction in pensions benefits”.
15 Responses
And as this is pure opinion on a news story, I’ll put it in the comments: I’d like to see the whole damn lot of em sacked.
Oh for goodness sake are they really so dumb they can’t see the longer they strike the less work they’ll retain as companies find alternatives? I wonder how many companies are using email this week instead of snail mail? I would love to know how much extra business couriers have gained from Royal Fail.
Bout time workers belonging to unions acting like this upped and left them! Hard to call a strike if you have no members
First time I have been compelled to post, when will the postal workers be treated like the rest of the UK workforce, if things are going well and the company is in profit it is passed down to the workers, when things are tough and the company is loseing money, cut backs and changes are made, I have worked for many companies that did not give pay rises when time where tough. This huge offer being rejected will mean 90% of the UK will not be in support.
Bravo Simon!
When I’m not selling much because the postal workers won’t deliver it I don’t cry and expect a pay rise. I have to work harder and find alternative products to sell that justify using a courier.
I know not all eBayers can do that especially if they already have large inventories of light weight goods and I really sympathise with them. 🙁
I followed a car today with a poster in the rear window
saying,
support a Living wage for postal workers!,
the car was a 2 year old Renault megane,
I thought to myself they cant be that hard up!
ok a renault megane is not an Aston ,
but its certainly not the property of someone thats starving to death
Large inventory of light weight goods here 🙁
There is no practicable alternative for sending my goods atm, so tough times are ahead until the dispute is settled.
I said this before on another eBay forum :
It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if, many present RM workers were replaced with ‘other’ EU workers who will willingly work for the pay offered.
They are shooting themselves in the foot, putting not only their jobs on the line, but also reducing revenue for RM – which only means less ‘in the pot’ to pay wage demands.
According to the Telegraph quoting a senior RM executive, the strike will have cost them “£50m or £60m” by Wednesday: “‘It could cost us as much as a couple of hundred million over time,’ said the executive.”
Don’t they remember the bloody miners’ strike?!
RM are advertising for Christmas temps on their web site. At the rate sales are dying I may well apply. 🙂
Surely time for a Tamebay press release: eBay sellers are suffering and switching to other providers. Tamebay spokesperson says “This will cost RM millions in the long run, RM need to treat loyal customers with respect”.
dw
1. i think the world has moved on – I remember the firemans strike – they lost public support
2. most of us ebayers have shown the initative to switch jobs for some reason – maybe postal workers could do that
3. i am having my busiest week of the year – are my customers thick?
Chris
Now that service is supposed to have resumed, there are lots of wild cat strikes according to the TV news. Now I really am angry!
I can only think that our dispute with the RM management hasnt got through to the public, this strike isnt primarily about pay but about conditions;
the imposed later starts, people have to start and finish later, disrupting lives(ive had to quit my college course) and robbing folk of their early start allowance.
the leaflets we deliver are limited at the moment to 3 per house per week, RM intend to take away the limit and to stop paying us the the pittance we get for it altogether. no-one wants to deliver leaflets they make the already heavy sacks a damn sight heavier, but its in the contract.
SIMON, the HUGE offer on the table is dependent on RM getting exactly what they want, redundancies, closures, flexibility(i start early, miss my meal break, do overtime when needed,) extra work for less money. and to paraphrase a lot of the comments from people “if you dont like it, get another job ,apart from slopping around the house in your pjs watching daytime tv and selling tat on ebay” hey see what i did there? made another sweeping generalisation about your situations, the ones i know SOD ALL about.
The thing is Ritchie I do like “slopping around the house in your pjs watching daytime tv and selling tat on ebay”, although sadly that’s more of a dream than a reality. However nothing I do affects your ability to make a living, but posties striking has a direct impact on our ability to earn money.
Royal Mail used to be a public service run by the government, it’s not quite frankly a third rate joke that’ll be lucky to survive unless it changes. Change hurts, but not changing will ultimately hurt more in the long run.
In the mean time I’ll carry on reducing my reliance on RM as will thousands of other eBayers. That won’t help Posties or the RM either, and nor will all the non-eBay businesses that do the same 🙁
i can understand the frustrations of people who are more than a little inconvenienced by this dispute, there’s nothing i want less than to see a 40% reduction in my wages, money that i wont make up, so i do sympathise with traders believe you me. I count myself as a member of a community, the chap that delivers come rain or shine, that does a service that people rely on but should postal staff be forced to stand for the changes without complaint and take it lying down? we were driven into industrial action by RM bosses that tried roll out a series of cuts to post offices, staff, hours, pay, pensions and conditions, basically saying “here’s whats happening like it or lump it” ony after the strikes began did they agree to talks. Unfortunately this does impact on people and i am heartily sorry, and i hope you do find a way of reducing your need to use RM, our competitors could do with dealing with some of the less lucrative parts of the business, like using their own infrastructure instead of us.