Member Info for OliGarch

Wolves, the CSS machines were always contentious. Tests showed that a decent postie only took 10 minutes extra to throw off their walk over a CSS machine however the argument was that all the 10 minutes added up to lots of hours. The fall in letter volumes has reduced the gap considerably.
Not sure if you can sequence a parcel though?

Fruitster, your 21:50 post reads;
"Absolutely in a plc. It’s about performance if on individual basis.
Occasionally if a unit is non performing the whole staff may be issued with redundancy, but the good staff get chance to relocate".
RM close units based upon location, not upon performance as location is paramount.
If a unit is underperforming the manager usually gets "moved on".
Trust me on this. My previous unit was closed even though we out performed our closest rival because we were unable to expand and they could, plus they were located next to a motorway junction and we were were in the middle of town.

"Sorry guv, can't do a delivery as I'm self isolating for 14 days"

Ispy, was that on VR terms?

My2penneth, there may be a reduction in casuals but how can you know that there will be redundancies for permanent staff? Do you have any insider knowledge or are you just "throwing it out there" like worldgoround?

Fruitster, 17:32, "We’ll be blowing bubbles soon".
I hope that Michael Jackson doesn't find out......lol

ym43, your 12:06 post stated
"1) Possible government intervention"
Why would you think that?

https://youtu.be/9EH1G4EwljM

DerekR, Fruitster, it has been RM policy for several years now to sell buildings and land and then lease them back as it frees up cash to fund projects such as World Class Mail. This was rife over the last decade when mail centre rationalisation programme was in full flight. It also means that the business is able to move it's operation around without the ties if land ownership.
There will be obvious questions raised about releasing capital in order to pay the dividend and whether this model is sustainable going forward so the new cash cow could be GLS?

Scampthedog, I have seen recent posts on here that are under the impression that if the SP goes bandy then the business will be broken up and the shareholders will receive a payout?

Redceo you posted earlier "worse case scenario (which is awful) is that many hard working posties lose their jobs, the company is broken up, the shareholders get paid out".
But surely if RM became unviable that wouldn't be the case as the shares would be worthless and the shareholders would have nothing? The government would then have the responsibility of taking back control.

On the 31st of March 2014 the National Audit Office issued a report to the House of Commons regarding the Privatisation of Royal Mail. It is available to download from nap.org.uk.
On page 7 it states
"Privatisation has reduced taxpayer risk to support the universal postal service, but the government retains the ultimate responsibility. The government is responsible for ensuring continuation of the universal postal service. The UK population enjoys a more extensive universal postal service than is required under European
Union law, including Saturday collection and delivery. Royal Mail has responsibility for
delivering the universal service and is the only company with a national network and scale to provide this. Private capital has created an equity buffer to protect the taxpayer, and Ofcom could intervene if it assessed that the universal service was under threat or the company fails to meet service standards. A special administration regime would be triggered if Royal Mail should collapse, although the government has not quantified the
financial implications for the taxpayer if this occurred (paragraphs 1.2 to 1.3, and 2.22)"

Wolves, I don't think that the 2020 pay deal is part of the industrial action ballot? As far as I can tell it is a re-run of last year's ballot do it will be about the four pillars agreement etc...

Sharetrader10, up until the new CEO took control there was a joint working group that was set up to monitor productivity and keep it on track.
The new CEO sacked the senior management team that were part of the joint working group presumably in order to halt the process this the productivity savings are unknown.

Thanks DerekR, I was working on 2bn shares and not 1bn.

Shareholder10, it is also worth noting that RM could easily meet the one hour reduction of the shorter working week by reducing the dividend from 15p per annum to 10p which would raise the £100m that the business has said would be required although it wouldn't necessarily be that savage as I understand that the savings made during the last financial year were in the region of £65m so it would only require a dividend cut of around 2p per annum.

Sharetrader10, the union and employees had a legally binding agreement with the previous CEO. That CEO then retired, the new CEO took over and immediately sacked the previous CEOs staff thereby making progress on the legally binding agreement impossible.
Historically, RM staff have never had any trust in senior management as they have a track record of telling the union and employees what they want to hear then going back on their word thus the employees have traditionally hit back with the threat of industrial action (which incidentally dies not necessarily mean strike action).
This cycle is usually repeated every 3 years or so and long serving RM employees tend to take it in their stride.

Mais oui DerekR, Mais oui. This time next year we will be millionaires!

Derek, that's a good analogy.
Everyone is after the next big payday!
Shareholders, employees, the CEO.
Wasn't the saying in the 80s "greed is good"? Along with "Frankie Says"...lol

My2penneth, it's fairly obvious that you don't work for RM but the business have been offering VR terms since "Business Development" was introduced in 1984. It ensures that the correct headcount can be achieved as quickly as possible which is a benefit to the business.

If you offered VR in my office you would need to take a step backwards so as not to get caught up in the stampede!