Royal Mail to shed up to 20,000 jobs

[delurking]

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/royal-mail/8575070/20000-Royal-Mail-workers-face-the-axe.html

If this is true this is a huge shame for those who lose their jobs. Given the impact of technology (internet/email/texting), ever increasing competition in parcel delivery and the massive pension blackhole the've been facing I suppose it was just a matter of time. I'm really not sure how this business can be turned around.

I assume the CWU will strike if this is true but will the public really care?

Have you noticed what a great hatchet job the media did on R.M in the previous year? I am convinced the gov encouraged such programmes as Dispatches to 'secretly' record posties being skivers/inefficient etc - all so that there will be no public outcry when the whole thing gets privatised. For a while the Daily Heil was running an almost daily story on how workshy and communist the average postie was. It is all bollocks. I worked as a postal worker for 4 years. We worked hard for low pay. The posties were the best people I have ever worked with (and I have had many different jobs).

The reason RM was inefficient is because they had loads of temporary staff who were not trained properly and who had no reall incentive to work hard (lower pay, no uniforms or prospects etc).

The public are deluded if they think that they will get a better deal if RM gets privatised. Prices will definitely go up and service will gets worse. But will anyone care enough to do something about it now? Sadly not. I hope the CWU strike.