[Update] The Royal Mail strike thread

SB_07 · 08-10-2009, 00:20

Quote:

Royal Mail has lost a crucial contract with its second largest customer, the online retailer Amazon, as a wave of strikes threaten parcel deliveries in the busy pre-Christmas sales period.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/oc...postal-strikes

So that's Â£25mil lost, maybe those RM workers might want to get back to work and stop complaining because it's not doing anyone any good.

Raistlin · 08-10-2009, 07:29

Shame that the postal workers are effectively screwing themselves by screwing us. If RM has fewer contracts maybe they now need fewer workers, wouldn't that be a thing.

Also a shame that HDN is cack.....but that's another story.....

Saaf_laandon_mo · 08-10-2009, 08:28

I heard on the radio this morning that Amazon denied they had cancelled the contract, but that they will reduce their dependancy on the royal mail. There was another online retailer saying the same. Can you blame them? I have been waiting 10 days for something that has already been despatched. I had to order some self study material yesterday and i went with the company that used DHL as opposed to the royal mail.

**Damien** · 08-10-2009, 08:53

I have cancelled all my pre-orders with Game because they use Royal Mail. My FIFA 09 game, meant to come on Friday, came on Monday. Same with The Beatles Rock Band.

Good for Amazon really. What else are they meant to do when the postal service cannot be trusted? The strikers are just making their own company lose work which in turn will mean more job losses, they are a commercial company with rivals.

Russ · 08-10-2009, 08:54

Wonderful news for the strike-happy RM.

**Chris** · 08-10-2009, 09:11

That's good old fashioned unreformed 70s-style trade unionism for you.

Ravenheart · 08-10-2009, 09:19

While I have no doubts that Royal Mail management have made some terrible decisions, and should be held responsible, taking industrial action in the current economic climate is a recipe for disaster and will do nothing to help.

With millions out of work, companies struggling and looking to give their customers the best service they can, if Royal Mail can't deliver then they'll take the business elsewhere, I'm sure there's plenty of alternatives only too willing to snap up the extra work.

Xaccers · 08-10-2009, 10:15

Company in financial trouble, workers strike for more pay, company loses more money has to make redundancies, workers strike against redundancies, company loses more money has to make more redundancies, workers strike again, company goes into liquidation, all workers laid off. Unions blame management.

punky · 08-10-2009, 11:04

Good.

I'm sick of being used as a pawn so every public sector worker can extort more money or conditions when the vast majority of other people are taking pay cuts, losing their jobs or having to apply, with hundreds of others, for what few jobs are going.

Hopefully they'll now know that telling people to post christmas mail in october so they heap more butter onto their cherry is completely unreasonable.

Russ · 08-10-2009, 11:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by punky

I'm sick of being used as a pawn so every public sector worker can extort more money or conditions when the vast majority of other people are taking pay cuts, losing their jobs or having to apply, with hundreds of others, for what few jobs are going.

Ravenheart · 08-10-2009, 13:02

They've voted in favour of strike action.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8296660.stm

Quote:

Postal workers voted three to one in favour of action, with 61,623 out of a total of 80,830 workers who voted saying they wanted to strike.

Russ · 08-10-2009, 13:16

I'm sure they'll get SO much public support.

Flyboy · 08-10-2009, 13:30

They are not striking for the fun of it. This strike will cost each individual employee a considerable amount of money. They are striking because of incompetent management, the threat of privatisation, with the inevitable loss of jobs, worsening antiquated conditions and reduced income.

The cancellation of contracts has nothing to do with strikes. A business he size of Amazon do not make decisions like this on a whim. It is because of the extremely poor service they and their customers get from Royal Mail. The prices go up, the service goes down, because they don't employ enough people to do the jobs that need doing. Since the start of e-commerce, Royal Mail's business should have been thriving. More people than ever were shopping remotely and having goods delivered, but Royal Mail refused to modernise their business to cope. They still rely on out-dated and outmoded practices. They insist on their employees do more work, but refuse to pay them a decent wage to compensate. Meanwhile, their boss, Adam Crozier, rewards himself with more and more money, year on year, proportionately far in excess of what he pays the employees of the company he has been given the job of running.

Russ · 08-10-2009, 13:42

No-one is saying they don;t have a valid reason for striking.

But when Joe Public gets the @rse end of their action, as far as I'm concerned they can stuff it. If they've got an issue and want to take action then fine, just don't expect one iota of sympathy from the people they're inconveniencing.

punky · 08-10-2009, 13:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flyboy

They are not striking for the fun of it. This strike will cost each individual employee a considerable amount of money.

As someone who can't strike and hold the public at ransom and use them as leverage, yet has to deal with all the crap they have to... My heart ******* bleeds.