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MP warns on postal strike
Monday 19th October 2009, 11:56AM BST.
A Shropshire MP today warned a national postal strike would be catastrophic for both customers and Royal Mail workers as last-ditch talks aimed at preventing this week’s crippling action got under way.
Owen Paterson, MP for North Shropshire and former secretary of the all-party group on sub post offices, said the planned walkout on Thursday would cause horrendous problems for busines-ses and individuals across the country.
About 1,100 workers from across Shropshire and Mid Wales are set to take part in the strike action.
And the MP, whose constituency area includes the Oswestry sorting office, said it could also lead to customers turning to alternative providers such as couriers and express delivery services in the future.
His comments came as a Royal Mail boss said that a 30,000-strong recruitment blitz was not designed to “break” a union.
Operations director Paul Tolhurst said the temporary workers – about twice the normal amount taken on this time of year – were needed to “keep the mail moving” and avoid a big backlog building up.
He said he “hoped there was hope” that the strikes on Thursday and Friday could be avoided, but said the company was gearing up for industrial action.
Royal Mail bosses are to meet the Communication Workers Union at an undisclosed location later in a bid to break the deadlock.
Mr Paterson said: “Any strike will be very damaging to the postal service because people will find alternatives and inevitably learn about new forms of communication.
“A strike would also cause great inconvenience to constituents and I hope it doesn’t happen.”
Relations between the two sides became increasingly fractious when the company announced plans to hire temporary staff. Union leaders are considering a legal challenge.
Meanwhile TNT, one of the Royal Mail’s biggest competitors, says it wants powers to put its own postmen on the streets and offer a door-to-door service.
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The Royal Mail workers are out for ONE day! Anyone would think they were on strike for a month! The media are making a mountain out of a molehill on this one! Royal Mail don’t deliver on a Sunday but that doesn’t cause “horrendous problems” Chill out! you’ll never notice the difference apart from not getting any mail on Thursday!
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Maybe Mr Patterson should worry more about the way the Royal mail management are trying to force changes through without consulting the union & workforce.
The CWU have an agreement with RM from 2007 that all changes & job cuts would be negotiated rather than driven through without consultation as they are now attempting to do.
This dispute is about these decisions, NOT about money, although they still paid bonuses to managers at the same time as freezing pay for the workers!!
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Actually ‘Local Resident’, the CWU are sending half the staff out on one day and the other half on the second day so that they only lose one days pay each but to cause maximum disruption. Everybody I’ve spoken to in our street isn’t giving anything this Christmas to our postman, so in effect she’s lost a second days pay.
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I’ve never seen the point of tipping the postie anyway. They are doing a job. I do my job well, but I don’t get tips for doing it.
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I would suggest going with private couriers. Anyway is’nt the Post Office outdated now? Most people do business online so the sending of letters will soon become redundent.
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Unfortunately I find the service from Royal Mail so diabolical I can never tell the difference between those days they’re out on strike and the days they not!
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Baz
The strike will only affect the deliveries for ONE day! Shrewsbury Mail centre is out tomorrow and deliveries and collections will resume on Friday! It depends on where you work on what day the strike is, but it will only affect you for one day. Give us a couple of days and the “backlog” will be cleared.
Y Mab
Couriers wont deliver and dont want your business of delivering a single letter anywhere in the country for a standard rate. They just want the business mail and parcels. This was cherry picked by them when the Govt deregulated the Royal Mail. And another thing ROYAL MAIL DELIVER THE MAIL NOT THE POST OFFICE!. They may belong to The royal Maill group together with Parcelforce but talking about the Post Office in the context of delivering mail is wrong.
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There are plenty of people on the dole who want jobs, so if the Posties go on strike, then sack the lot and employ some people who want to work. Simples !!
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Charlie
Cant do that…..it’s against employment law!
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Local Resident- are you having a laugh?? the postman that strike are foolish and have just ruined Royal Mail. Why don’t they just get on with their jobs like evryone else and stop moaning.
this country would be a much better place without unions making like hell for the public.
i say we abolish unions once and for all!
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I thought that the Royal Mail employees were onto something…..
I went into the office this morning, and told my employer I Was going on strike until he gave me an extra £10k per year and an additional 5 days paid holiday. He promptly punched me in the face and sacked me. I went home and I told my girlfriend and she slapped me and dumped me.
On the bright side, I’m going to get a cheap council house, job dodgers allowance, no council tax, free training to help me find another job and 365 days a year holiday. I’m now much better off and much happier! …. Labour > Making Britain Great again!
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WHAT WOULD HE KNOW OR CARE HES A TORY
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Darren
This strike is NOT about pay, it’s about working conditions & management style.We are striking to protect the Royal Mail and to stop management ruining it. Why do you think you don’t get your mail until later in the day? Lazy postmen? No it’s management trying to save money.
Big Matty
Your boss can’t sack you for asking for more money/holidays and he certainly can’t punch you! So you will have to keep working I’m afraid.;-)
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What Local Resident actually means is that public sector workers can quite legitimately hold their employers to ransom. Private sector workers on the other hand cannot try these tricks as they WOULD get sacked (one way or another), with the law being manipulated to keep it legal!
Working conditions, don’t make me laugh! Every industry in the country is subjected to cuts, streamlining and other methods to improve financial efficiency. My 9-5 job often involves early mornings, late nights, and weekends for no extra pay… far from being a martyr to it I’m grateful to have a job. It could also be argued that I do the jobs of many people, an argument that would only really be upheld in the public sector!
How about the Royal Mail do what i have seen happen to so many throughout the country recently (including people I know!). Cut their wages by 20% and put them on a 4 day week, it would help secure their jobs and make offer some financial relief to the Royal Mail too.
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I presume you are on a salary then not hourly paid, if you are hourly paid more fool you for doing unpaid work!
All RM posties (apart from some long serving lads) are on a 30hr a week contract and struggle to get overtime when workloads are impossible to meet! Why should we work extra for nothing! Cutting these hours down by 20% would be impossible, reducing wages by 20% would put us well under the LEGAL minimum wage, together this would put all posties on benefits etc. You willing to pay more taxes to pay for that!
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