Member Info for OliGarch

Jimmy, "There's a fundamental difference though from trying to recruit some extra seasonal staff for a couple of months versus trying to replace the vast majority of your workforce for a couple of days due to being on strike. The latter is substantially more difficult and near economically impossible".

I have heard this before.
Wasn't it that tool Kwarteng who suggested bringing in an auxiliary workforce to cover strike action? After all anyone can push letters through a postbox?
I thought that in the corporate world there was no such thing as"impossible" and that anyone who suggested otherwise was a defeatist?

Jimmy, I was arguing the point that the other couriers need to step up to the plate and take as much business as possible? Surely, if I am getting this right from the feel of public opinion, if RM UK were to fail then the void would simply be filled by the competition? Okay it may take a year or so for Amazon and DPD to build up their networks but surely doable? And then there's always Deliveroo for what remains of letter deliveries?

Jimmy, "To the RM staff, I can assure you beyond doubt you do not have the support of the UK public....... stop impacting everyone else in such a negative and disruptive manner!"
As I posted recently, these strikes may cause the UK operation to lose business but Simon Thompson has already stated that he welcomes competition.
If you are alluding to the fact that turkeys are voting for Christmas then it could be very good news for the competition as they will pick up increasing traffic volumes and that will surely mean lower prices for the businesses that use them so a win win and high fives all round?
Another fact to ponder is that if, as perceived, a posties salary is so much better than other mail couriers then why is it so difficult for Royal Mail to recruit? I don't see any Evri, DPD, UPS, Yodel or Amazon delivery workers beating a path to our door either now or in the past, in fact we can't even muster a decent volume of Christmas casual workers who traditionally have been oversubscribed?

Jimmy, I guess that many businesses that rely on a delivery company will have different views and contracts depending upon your product however there are quite a few businesses that are complaining about the Royal Mail strikes because it's costing them more to send with Evri and DPD as seen on recent TV interviews.
It's also interesting to note that other couriers are actually blaming Royal Mail for their own current service deliveries.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/12/11/private-delivery-firms-struggle-huge-demand-royal-mail-workers/

Redceo, "Oli, Try life as a youngster. Minimum wage, rented, shared accommodation and having to use a bike to save money".
That's the story of my life as a twenty one year old living in London in the mid eighties with a small terraced house and a massive mortgage, taking on a couple of lodgers after my mortgage tripled to around 60% of my take home pay. Oh and cycling to work in central in London as well which was pretty hair raising in itself.
I am now in a position to financially assist my now adult children from the current situation but fully aware that many are much less fortunate.
Cecil Rhodes was correct in that we have indeed won the lottery of life.

AngerSharkz, this isn't a question of being Marxist or even anti Tory, however I think that you will agree that the UK has been a mess for a few years now (Brexit, COVID, Putin etc...) and it's all coming to a head, not helped by the disastrous Tory leadership debacles over the summer and autumn which virtual rendered the UK Government helpless during a crisis. It's not a good look and certainly not a future election winner. The reason that the Tories are coming in for so much flak is because they have been in power during all of the above? I guess the argument could be flipped onto the Labour Party for choosing the wrong Miliband, Corbynism, not being able to define a woman etc...) and generally making themselves unelectable?
The bottom line is that the UK is a mess and will probably be the sick man of Europe for years to come.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/55089900.amp

We are all taking it on the chin.....
The difference is that some have taken a right hook from Ebanie Bridges whilst others get a left upper cut from Tyson Fury.....

I will get this one in before Maximas....

Parcel volumes
Now you see them
Now you don't....

Bristolcupid, I seem to remember seeing a post from Simon Thompson on the Royal Mail internal propaganda forum last year saying that he very much welcomed competition as this drives businesses to improve in order to survive so the BoD will be very pleased with this news.
Of course we all know that money talks and when this dispute is over then a lot of the business will flow back as many companies will be looking towards their bottom line.
There have been numerous articles in the press recently from small businesses protesting that they have had to pass on the costs to their customers as the competition are charging up to £2 more than Royal Mail for small and medium parcels.

Maximas, I would hope that everyone who is off sick for more than seven consecutive days has a fit note from a doctor or surgeon. Anything less than seven days can be covered by self certification.

JB, "commonsense"? This is Royal Mail we are talking about.....lol

https://www.gov.uk/taking-sick-leave#:~:text=Employees%20must%20give%20their%20employer,may%20be%20fit%20for%20work'.

Broch, depending upon the type of illness, I would recommend staff to go back earlier on a phased return as this is not counted as sick leave. I had a knee operation several years ago and after ten days I went on a phased return starting at two hours a day, incrementing by one hour a week until I was back to eight hours so effectively eight weeks of recovery for ten days on the sick record and no stage one letter.

I have seen some flyers on union notice boards indicating that there have been "multiple reports of people across multiple units being told that anyone who's sick leave spans strike days will be reported as "Unauthorised Absence" and that this is for the foreseeable future.
As a result we are now seeing staff who clearly have colds and in some instances even produced a positive COVID test result returning to work. Nice.....

AngerSharkz, you are quite right and yes QofS and daily office clearance failures tend to get overlooked in December however I still find it laughable that the competition are whinging to the press and blaming their current failures on the Royal Mail strikes.

****nal, I can't argue with you there. The RM UK rollout of parcels automation has been a total disaster. Over the last decade and a bit, we have had project managers purchasing the wrong equipment and then spending vast sums of money in having it modified only to see the resultant failure scrapped. Then we have wasted money on projects where the business would not pay for software upgrades meaning that we could not automatically bill the customer. The really galling bit is that these project managers either get moved onto another project or are head hunted by other companies proving that failure really does pay

In my opinion, Evri and DPD have got some nerve to blame their failures on another courier especially when they have advanced warning of the strike action dates.

Signs of improvement..........
The Postal Executive unanimously agreed the following re-ballot timetable after consultation with the SDGS Department:
Serve notice – Monday 16th January 2023
Ballot papers despatched – Monday 23rd January 2023
Ballot closes – Monday 13th February 2023
Once a ‘Yes’ vote is returned the first day of strike action could potentially commence on Monday 27th February 2023. Branches should also be aware this does not prevent strike action being taken on change up until 17th February.

AngerSharkz, I recently read (a few weeks ago on another forum from someone who does the charts) that if it couldn't find support at the 213p level then a drop to the mid 180p level would be on the cards before the end of the year?

MaryBr190, "Union leaders paid more than PM.
Never head that on sky bbc cabal, do you"?
I presume that you mean Cable TV? So 1990's.....
There's a good reason for that, it's because it isn't true.
Back to school for you I think.....
Nov 2022 —
The Prime Minister is entitled to an annual salary of £164,080
CWU General Secretary Dave Ward (salary package £142,485)
RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch (salary £84,000)