To think Royal Mail workers should not be striking

[Hitthehighseastoday]

They’ve already been offered a 9% pay raise and declined. Royal Mail is already making a loss. It’s a national service for the public which is now being severely disrupted by strikes, it’s appalling.

I think it comes down to your priorities OP.

Do you want a postal service that serves every corner of the UK for the same price? Do you think it's important that well-paid while perhaps slightly lower skilled jobs are available in every community in the UK, as opposed to piece rate delivery jobs which incentivise drivers for being quick, rather than safe?

RM staff have, on the whole, worked hard with management to modernise. They're not daft, they live in the same world as you and me and know who is delivering their Amazon parcels. The fact that they now feel the need to make a stand - I think means we need to listen to them.

Oh shake your head.

You say you rely on the service. Then back them on fair pay and t&c's.

The execs in this dispute have acted appallingly.

The needs of the public have changed somewhat in the last 500 years, and even more so in the last decade or so. If the business isn't modernised it won't be around anymore and no-one will have a job. You cannot have staff saying "this is how it's always been done since I joined here after leaving school 20, 30, 40 years ago and this is how it's always going to be" because that won't fly in the real world, people will have their parcels delivered by Hermes or DPD or one of the myriad of other companies there are now, and all RM will be left with is doing the massively money-losing stuff like delivering a letter from Lands End to John O Groats for the price of a 2nd class stamp.

This

I worked with, not directly for, RM a few years ago, when they were trying to open up more income streams, one of the things they planned was for the RM vehicle workshops to start doing servicing, repairs etc for other companies, it didn't go through because the mechanics refused to do it and threatened industrial action. You can't run a business like that.

Do you honestly, seriously, think RM and staff haven't been grappling with this for the last decade or so though? They have - and salary increases have been reduced and constrained accordingly as staff have tried to work with management to make changes and cut costs. But there comes a time when you have to stand up and say 'enough'.

Note: I don't work at RM, I'm a very minor-league supplier, but I've seen this at first hand since 2010 or so.

What are these strikes going to achieve other than forcing people to use RM's competitors for their delivery needs? It's not the 70s anymore when if Royal Mail went on strike, nothing got delivered.

Workers only strike when nothing else has worked. I completely support them. Too many overpaid fat cats grabbing more than their fair share.

👏👏 this is spot on

Excellent post! Read it and educate yourself OP!

@Hitthehighseastoday jesus, you’re so out of touch aren’t you. Get your head out your bottom man.
Their Terms and Conditions are being threatened, a long with the pay issue. On top of that they keep threatening redundancies.

It’s attitudes like yours that mean the fatcats at the top continue to get away with taking the piss out of the hard workers (usually keeping the business going!) at that bottom

It’s not a national service, the government sold it off. It’s not just about the pay. The 9% has strings attached like annualised hours and loss of sick pay.

If you run a small business that relies on the postal service and are losing a considerable amount of money because of the greed of others....a fair bit I'd say.

@amylou8 are you suggesting that postal workers are being greedy for wanting fair pay and protection of their current terms and conditions?

Solidarity with all striking workers ✊🏽

By modernise I presume you mean downgrade wages and conditions. By public service I'm assuming you don't realise it's been privatised. 9% is nothing over 18 months with inflation at over 11%

Workers have the right to strike so I can't really say they shouldn't.

However I hate it when my parcels are sent by RM and prefer it when they are sent by other couriers as I find they turn up earlier and when they say they will. I do think more people will move away from RM following all the strikes simply because there are more options now,

Why are you a upporting companies that treat their workers badly (for example Amazon).

Lets have all workers self employed, with all employers getting richer and richer and avoiding paying taxes and benefits and their workers getting poorer and poorer.

But you get your parcels earlier..... ok then.

I have no problem with then striking, but they need to be aware that other delivery companies exist, and people will start using them instead for reliability. They may end up out of a job.

Everyone needs a fucking raise. The UK wages are disgusting.

Or they may end up with fair pay and fair conditions

The coal miners didn’t.

Why are you a upporting companies that treat their workers badly (for example Amazon).

Lets have all workers self employed, with all employers getting richer and richer and avoiding paying taxes and benefits and their workers getting poorer and poorer.

But you get your parcels earlier..... ok then.

Yes I want my parcels to turn up on time. If the service is provided elsewhere then I will use that. That is my choice just like it's the workers choice to strike.

@KangarooKenny doesn't mean that others shouldn't try!

Otherwise all employees become a pushover.

What do you mean by ‘modernise’?
Zero hour contracts/gig economy workers?
That’s not good for the employees, only the company.