God, Royal Mail is on it's arse!

I am very patriotic and its utter crap to see Britain go from one of the biggest industrial countries of the world to not even being able to have our post delivered on time.

Saying that, our country still kicks the living sh!t out of living anywhere else. *Places tounge in cheek*

But, I just wish we would get our act together and stop making an arse of ourself.

[/Some what small rant over with]

That is the strangest rant I've heard in a long, long time.

Why does a bunch of disgruntled postal workers reflect badly on the state? I mean, I know it's a state-run operation, but they're postal workers - they're supposed to be disgruntled, it's in their nature!

Anyway I'm a dirty lefty so good on them, but I'm also selfish so I'll be swearing bloody murder at them if my customers start using it as an excuse to pay me late.

I've never actually seen a gruntled postal worker.

If they're being screwed so hard that they've taken the decision to disrupt an entire country, they're either justified or just being bastards. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, pick the first option and raise my glass to 'em. Given the new desires of many governments around the world to start acting like corporations (or at least suck up to them even more than normal), it wouldn't surprise me if Royal Mail were attempting to ream their employees. Governments sometimes need to be reminded, in no small way, that they are there to serve the people who elect them, which includes their own employees.

Our nurses are ready to strike down here soon and not before time. They've been shafted time and time again over the years on things like improved conditions and pay and I'm totally with them. I spent enough time in hospital as a kid (and have enough ICU nurses as friends) to appreciate the shit that they go through. [/tangent]

I heard they have gruntlement assessments as part of the interview process.

I guess in the future they won't want to hire people that are too gruntled to start off with, it'd just make their inevitable disgruntlement a lot harder to deal with.

Maybe that's been the US Postal Service's problem in the past - their new employees' original gruntlitude levels were often off the chart so when they finally lost their gruntledness it turned apocalyptic. I'm sure Royal Mail would rather have a strike than a postie going postal - although, they'd probably do a cost/benefit analysis and select the spree killing over any industrial action (that shit costs money!) ...

Kev/Hank...

Where do you get these genius topics?

A postal worker is made from the same mould as a bus driver.
Difference is, the bus driver usually has a PCV license.
I am lucky, we have a great 'postie' for our village, and I don't blame him one bit for wanting a better deal. This bloody government in the UK has no pleasure greater than screwing the British working man (or woman!)
I had better stop now...because if I start going off on one here, I'm likely to find loads of flaming bananas heading my way!

Ah well, should be pretty quiet at work until Thursday without any post being delivered.

What I don't get is how the postmen expect the country to be sympathetic to their cause when their way of protest is by screwing us.

I know they are meant to be on strike. But

a) who delivers the letter to them telling them to go on strike. Oh, the postman I guess, since they aren't on strike. But

b) who sends the letter to tell them to stop striking, or will the strike last indefinately?

It's not a personal action against the people by any member of staff, it's a union action against the regulating bodies.

By striking they show exactly how much disruption can be caused, and then they'll threaten to do it for longer and longer until eventually whatever ruling they're unhappy about is overturned. Usually salary.

It's pretty much the only way working class people can actually get their opinions heard.

@tristan


Now if the telecoms companies went on strike as well, then we'd have a problem. Can you imagine an entire nation with no phones or net access for 48 hours? We'd all die or something

So I take it you'd all be happier paying higher taxes to pay the posties more then?

My opinion is that anyone who strikes deserves to be summarily dismissed. If you're not happy with your job, find another one. The Royal Mail (or any other company, for that matter) will soon start paying its workers more if they can't recruit anyone.

I don't understand why the Communication Workers' Union thinks it's acceptable to stop delivering my mail for a week because they're angry with the government.

Because anyone who is part of a union of any sort (except the Students Union, which is rather different) is a sad loser who won't get any nice post anyway.

Quote from dawesdust_12 :

Kev/Hank...

Where do you get these genius topics?

Hank gets them from his ghost writer.

Quote from StewartFisher :

My opinion is that anyone who strikes deserves to be summarily dismissed. If you're not happy with your job, find another one. The Royal Mail (or any other company, for that matter) will soon start paying its workers more if they can't recruit anyone.

You're assuming workers' pay and conditions were just fine before the unions were formed. So why did they bother to form unions? :rolleyes:

Exploitative companies who deliberately try to avoid their workforce becoming organised don't seem to lack employees (McDonalds?).

It's very annoying. The company I work for relies almost entirely on the Royal Mail service, but now we can't despatch any orders until Wednesday of next week. I dread to think how much money we're going to loose!

If I said I was going on strike, I'd just get fired. To be honest, if you don't like your pay, get a better job.

Quote from thisnameistaken :

You're assuming workers' pay and conditions were just fine before the unions were formed. So why did they bother to form unions? :rolleyes:

Because they wanted better pay? We all want better pay, but not all of us are prepared to hold our bosses to ransom over it.

Quote :

Exploitative companies who deliberately try to avoid their workforce becoming organised don't seem to lack employees (McDonalds?).

If they don't lack employees then they must be doing something right.

So you'd all be happy if (for example) you got a letter saying they were cutting your salary by 10% but were going to have less employees so you'd have to cover their work as well as your own?
Must be nice to be able to afford to just quit your job without having to worry about getting another one before the rent is due.

That's what unions are for. One person does it, they get the sack. 5000 people do it, the company grinds to a standstill and the employer has to take notice.

Remember most businesses are run for profit, so they want to pay out less for more net gain. If that means sacking people to save some salary, they will do it. If you're happy to be one of them then by all means go ahead, and good luck with your new position. And the one after that.

Even government "services" are run for profit now. Look at the farce that is privatised health departments. So if the government decides they want more income and less expenditure, you're in the same boat as anyone else.
My girlfriend works for our local council and their union is up in arms because they're re-interviewing people for their own jobs. Again. And at least 4 people from her department are being fired, despite the fact that they're already at breaking point with the amount of work they have to do.

Look at the chain that's been started. My company sends out our base model modems by Royal Mail, so our customers won't get them on time. DarkTimes is in a similar boat. So from a 1-page forum we already have 2 companies who are going to bend because one of the companies down the line has gone on strike. Multiply it across the country and add all the people who get paid by cheque or are waiting for urgent appointments and you have exactly the result they want. Everyone needs the post, so everyone needs the postal workers to keep working, so everyone wants the postal workers to get what they want.

Fast food companies are never short of employees because you need no qualifications to work there, so pretty much anyone can get a job there. But they pay their employees, they are allowed regular breaks, they feed them and they have the ability to progress up the career ladder. That's not exploitation.

Unions are the reason we have rights as employees. We only get paid because a bunch of slaves in a distant century decided they'd had enough of working without pay. Think what your working conditions would be like if your great great (blah) grandparents hadn't refused to work in derelict buildings or with no bathroom breaks or heating, in hugely dangerous mining tunnels or getting whipped for stopping to breathe.

Its ridiculous the amount of striking they do though. I'm all for industrial action where its appropriate and effective, but the unions MUST see that this can only be bad for the people they are trying to represent. Most of Royal Mail's profit comes from business mail and with the amount of strikes, businesses are deserting RM in droves and using the independant competitors instead as RM simply can't guarantee the level of service they promise. Less profit for RM only means theres even less money to give people these supposed payrises. The only way they could affod it would be to downsize, which would mean sacking a number of emplyees, meaning off they go striking again. Ad infinitum.

The French go on strike every other week and it doesnt bother them, why are we having a paddy? Just deal with it.

Quote from DarkTimes :

If I said I was going on strike, I'd just get fired. To be honest, if you don't like your pay, get a better job.

Ditto

Quote from Becky Rose :

The French go on strike every other week and it doesnt bother them, why are we having a paddy? Just deal with it.

Because when jo bloggs doesn't receive his bill for £xxxxx and therefor doesn't pay it he'll have debt collectors on his door step! All thanks to the royal mail going on strike.

Do you know what i do if i'm not happy with something in my workplace? I "deal with it", if you don't like it find another job!

Speaking as a fully paid up member of the TGWU, I can only talk about the GOOD things they have done for me (and my colleagues) in the past.
Unions are a GOOD thing.
We get regular sufficient (but unfortunately not exorbitant!) pay rises..our working conditions are fair...we are shortlisted AGAIN for Bus Operator of the Year (final 3!!!)..
We have a modern fleet of clean, comfortable buses...
Who do we thank for that? Not the management for certain! If it wasn't for the Unions telling them what we will and wont stand for, they would have us driving clapped out wrecks for next to sod-all wages!
The icing on the cake is, we never even have to think about striking...just mention "drive according to ALL the rules" and the management goes into squeaky bum mode
As for "Go get a better job"....great, you find me a BETTER job for me within 25 miles of my home, and I'll have a look. Sorry, but we are the joint top payers in the area, and I am allergic to throwing Mini's together...not that I could work at BMW Oxford anyway..I don't speak Polish!
I have a family to support, and I'm damn sure that I couldn't do that on £4.30/hour at McDoggals.
This is without mentioning the benefits for my family in case anything happens to me at work...the FREE legal representation if ever I have to go to court for ANYTHING...and all the other benefits.

Unions FTW!!!!

Unions for the flamin' win alright.

People bitch unions out a lot (and lord knows there was an era in this country where they were practically the mafia, certainly not the case now) but all in all, if it wasn't for labour organisations, we'd still be working 12-hour days, six days a week for bugger all pay in dangerous, unhealthy third-world conditions and getting laughed by fat bastards in silk top hats.

Quote from Hankstar :

flamin'

Hogan's ghost! I got a flamin' out of Hank!