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Scab!
Posted: Fri 05 Oct, 2007 08.17
by Jenny
So I look out of the window just now, and what do I see? My postie, cheerfully delivering mail. How strange...
Re: Scab!
Posted: Fri 05 Oct, 2007 08.31
by rts
Could be a former postie suffering from demencia who's escaped from a local home?
Re: Scab!
Posted: Fri 05 Oct, 2007 08.50
by Gavin Scott
Jenny wrote:So I look out of the window just now, and what do I see? My postie, cheerfully delivering mail. How strange...
Couldn't you have leant out the window and asked why?
This reminds me of the man with the megaphone.
Re: Scab!
Posted: Fri 05 Oct, 2007 10.42
by Jenny
Well I did think of shouting "Scab!" at him, but decided against it. I don't suppose he'll be round tomorrow, though, unless he's operating an entire sorting office single-handed.
Re: Scab!
Posted: Fri 05 Oct, 2007 10.54
by marksi
Maybe he's not living in the 1970s like most of the CWU seem to be. Or maybe ne needs the money. They're early this year, they don't normally go on strike until closer to Christmas, unless of course they've been on strike since last year. In Belfast there have been almost continuous random walkouts of staff for about 3 years now.
How will a Royal Mail strike affect the as-yet-uncalled General Election?
Re: Scab!
Posted: Fri 05 Oct, 2007 10.55
by Stuart*
My postie was also working yesterday, but appeared at 3pm instead of 7.30am, so I assume he was doing quite a few rounds.
I can understand the reasoning behind a 1 day strike, and it shows the Post Office Managers the level of support. But to continue disrupting the service over the coming weeks is essentially counter-productive. Not only are the staff losing money, they will erode public support and allow competitors to formulate a case which would allow them to do the daily delivery of smaller items.
At the moment competitors such as TNT sort their own mail and then hand it to the Post Office for delivery. If this sort of disruption continues then they will lobby for the right to deliver it as well. This would be very bad news for rural areas as there wouldn't be a sound economic reason to bid for such a service. They would only want to have cities and large urban areas.
The Post Office would then be left with nothing more than the unprofitable deliveries that no one else wanted.
A national postal service is in the public interest. It should remain government owned and subsidised sufficiently so that the staff feel as though they are earning a decent wage, with a decent pension, for what can be a very unpleasant job walking to streets in all weathers 6 days a week.
Re: Scab!
Posted: Fri 05 Oct, 2007 12.50
by cdd
That reminds me: I endlessly saw in the media the term "Scab mail" - what exactly was (is?) scab mail?
Re: Scab!
Posted: Fri 05 Oct, 2007 14.09
by Gavin Scott
I had a postie delivery recorded delivery mail just before lunchtime, so obviously some are still working.
Re: Scab!
Posted: Fri 05 Oct, 2007 14.43
by Stuart*
nodnirG kraM wrote:I'd say out of the 17.4 Royal Mail employees, only 21 clocked in for work this morning.
That's an amazing turn out for any business, never mind on a strike day! I assume they didn't have to pay for the 3.6 people who wandered in unannounced and just started work. There is hope for Royal Mail yet!