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but plenty of people here were talking very much like yourself a long time back. Me included.
"Ducks in the shooting gallery get in line please. Brace yourselves -- were going in!!" QUA - ARGHHHH!!!!!!!
This will be the cataylst for that split in the membership that several people here have previously metioned.
Kretinsky will be coming for the CWU now...and so will the Board. All in good time...all in good time.
'Death by Executive Action' is now a very real probability...and more than likely planned and thought out many moons ago by Moya Green and Rico Back.
What was it Back said when he finally left the company? Ahhh yes: "I look forward to the day when Royal Mail becomes a parcel delivery business."
Well, Rico, my old son...that day has finally arrived. Much to your great satisfaction no doubt.
CWU: RIP.
Perfectly encapsulated.
No more CWU for me.
If you can get a better offer under present circumstances than what R.M's final offer was...then I beg to differ.
What a total cluster-f..k!!
"IDS has been controlled for far too long by millitant unions and workshy lazy posties who think they are owed a living. The time has come for management to reassert their authority and get this company back into profit by firing the lazy and ditching the millitant unions. Only then when the undesirable element are gone will we see the real potential of this company."
Sums RMG up perfectly.
For Dave Ward and Co to think that they make policy and dictate how this company is run is almost beyond belief.
Dave, and as a postie myself, a little bit of advice: your job is to NEGOTIATE around the inevitable to the very best of your abilities...not try and demand your own way whilst pointing the barrel of a loaded gun.
Only the winners of a war can do that, Dave...not two opposing sides of equal strength.
The word here, Dave, is COMPROMISE...ever hear of it?
And if that means a reduction in sick pay, more flexibility in the working hours and the ending of the legacy payments...then just get on with it. Its coming sooner than later...so might as well be now than later.
between Dave Ward with Andy Furey and Ricky McAuley with Stuart McDonald.
R.M have asked for more time to study the union's counter-proposals. Well...according to my grass they have.
roar past with what looked like a limp and ragged director strapped to the back of his bike...
hope it wasn't another rough night?
My mate sent me some info last night...an email that was sent out from Ricky McAulay.
Seems the Board (and understandably so) are not particularly happy with the indiscreet disclosure of the company's latest proposals by the CWU's reps.
It goes on to say that if an agreement cannot be reached by Thursday of this week...then all offers are then off the table; it also states that the Board will study the CWU's counter-proposals. It ends by saying both sides will meet again on Tuesday (today).
Only 48 hours left before the postie's sucumb to 'Death by Executive Action'.
In 6 minutes that is...or so I am led to believe.
Ward seemed quite upbeat and rather positive in many ways...although still sombre and fiercely combative.
We might see a few more strikes...but I am now moderately confident we should, in a week or two...at the very most, get some sort of workable deal on the table.
Markets certainly seemed to like yesterday's report...the overall operational side of it that is.
This, along with, perhaps, Kretinsky increasing his stake, might be responsible for moving the s.p rather markedly upwards. Would have thought he must be nibbling by now.
Perhaps an RNS early next week?
Things, at last, are suddenly starting to look extremely interesting.
just seen Tbilisi97 drag him outside by his heels and throw him unceremoniously into the back of a Jeep Cherokee.
Hope he is all right...every time he wakes up from a long, hard session he complains of having a sore backside.
Can't be to careful. Cheers!
£3.00 a share?
The short answer is - no!
As soon as Kretinsky starts to get anywhere near 29% of the company...every man and his dog will be loading up on the stock.
He buys it or he compels the Board to split the company...it makes no difference to us the shareholders. Either way - we make brewsters! Unless your average is well above £4.00 a share that is. But there again perhaps he would have to pay more than 34.00 a share. Who knows? But certainly more than the IPO price I would say.
As most of you that post here are aware, I have always believed that Kretinsky was not interested in just making a quick profit when he first began acquiring Royal Mail shares.
But I am now wondering if he actually did intend to gain overall control of RMG right from the outset...was he working and planning things out with a different approach?
I remember reading an article some while back that suggested all he was really interested in was GLS...and how he would like to see it sold off for the benefit of the shareholders. Herein, perhaps, lies some part of the truth of the matter.
Could it be that when the Board announced the possible splitting of GLS from Royal Mail into a seperate company, they were not just offering it as a last recourse if the CWU would not come to terms...but, in fact, that is exactly what they intend to do?
And if indeed this is so the case, is Kretinsky aware of this? Or could it be that Kretinsky even suggested all of this in the very first place?
If, as shareholders, we get pre-emptive rights (?) to transfer half our shares into this new company...what price then GLS stock? And, just as importantly...what price then Royal Mail stock? Would Royal Mail stock then plunge to simply junk bond status? And woud GLS stock then shoot up considerably when released from the Royal Mail millstone presently slung about its neck?
Are the Board going to allude to any of this come Thursday next week? Or will they just straight out say it?...after a successful conclusion to the negotiations of course.
I am not really qualified to fully understand just how the splitting of the company effects us the shareholders...but if any of you more informed commentators amongst us would like to comment...I would be very interested to read your thoughts.
Spot on, Newdealz, with your latest post. I too think there still might be a dividend to be announced.
I would though also add that Kretinsky might have helped move the s.p upwards over the last day or two...he has to start adding again at sometime.
Could also be those who are short buying back.
"Or is it DK topping up again ? Any thoughts welcome ."
Same thought has occurred to me also.
........
If I had any spare dosh I would certainly buy a few more right now. As you wisely commented: "Perhaps buy some before the 17th as a hedge in case the negotiations go well. If they don't then load up some more after the 17th. Surely it's an open goal ready to be scored?"
I would imagine I am in the same boat as most posties at this immediate moment in time: watching and saving every penny just in case this all goes t!ts-up...again.
However, I reckon this time there will be a deal. If the company are willing to back date that 3.5% offer...that, then, should be enough to push it over the line; added to that the £500.00 cash lump sum of course plus our £200.00 Christmas bonus. Sounds a good enough deal to me.
And who can honestly argue against the stopping of legacy payments (apart from the very fortunate that still receive them). I personally know at least a dozen people still receiving legacy payments from when they used to work at the original Speke Airport over 20 years ago. Why? And why should RMG have to buy them out?
And the sickness payments? This, most certainly, needs addressing in a big way...major overhaul in fact.
Let common sense prevail here...and lets get this sorted. Better that than 'Big D' sorts it for us.
The CWU would not like a proper taste of what the 'Big-Man' would dish out. And probably will at some point in the very near future.
As you no doubt are fully aware of, once the company gets past Christmas...then, the CWU power is greatly curtailed.
We both know, that whatever review or consultation with the union, or whatever promises are made regarding usage of data-capture, or any agreement on any other contentious issue that is hammered out...it won't be worth a tinker's toss once the Board is ready to discard it...or whenever Kretinsky is ready to discard it; which all amounts to the same thing at the end of the day.
The CWU might force what very much might look like a climb-down by the Board...a complete reversal almost. But it won't last. Come what may, the last gravy-train has long since left the station...and its not coming back either -- not ever!
Who is bossing who then?
Seems to me that the CWU's position has gone from two seperate grievances and: "in the first instance, we will be damned if we discuss any concessions or anything to do with terms and conditions when negotiating a double figure pay rise". To: "Okay then -- lets get it all on!"
Whichever way you slice the rancid old sausage it still cuts the same: everything has just been unceremoniously dumped in one big heap upon the dining room table.
There was the usual defiant utterances from Mr Militant Ward of course: "no compulsory redundancies!". Unless that is, it means that the senior men might just have to give up a big dollop of their overtime and, Heavens above, their undeserved legacy payments...Militant Ward might just balk at that one and thus serve up a few thousand expendable (expendable in the old guards eyes) new-starters (probably defined as anyone with less than 5 or 6 years in). But what the Hell...who gives a ****.
To conclude...here is my unvarnished opinion. The company gets what it wants. The union gets what its given. The CWU negotiators get out still wearing their pants and shirt (pockets picked clean though). And Kretinsky? He is given free-rein and a clear run to the finishing line. But to do what exactly?
To that question I would offer this: either on the 17th of November or sometime in the near future we are going to get a far clearer picture, than present, of just what the Board intends to do regarding the direction they propose to take the company in; and if they do just half of what they have already declared they would like to do...you just know there is going to be big trouble - again! But by then...it is going to be far too late for the CWU to do much about it.
Splitting the company? Owner/drivers? Flexible hours? 35 hour working week? Who knows? ...But I am willing to bet big that Daniel does.
This year...Bonfire-Night might not come but once.