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Surprised to hear what Pullinger had to announce on Facebook...very, very surprised actually.
I have to say that this was rather unwise (perhaps he received bad counsel?) from Mr Thompson.
It will be treated with the greatest disdain by every single postie...whether in the CWU or not.
This will be seen for exactly what it is: the start of a sustained attack on all terms and conditions in the very near future.
Absolute madness!!
Unless they double that offer, at the very least, in the next 5 weeks then there will be a strike....that is 100% guranteed.
Conclusion: whoever is advising Thompson, has decided that the time has now come to take on, and smash up, the union. Whoever this shadowy person is, they have obviously decided to go down the 'Mac the knife' route.
Without a doubt this advisor of Thompson's would have told him he will not get a better opportunity to not just subdue but to forever take the CWU completely apart. What a cynical and callous strategy: attack them when, just like a lot of other people, a lot of them are suffering genuine hardships. My God -- it's almost unforgivable!!
This will not end well here.
There will only be one winner if this does result in industrial action...and we all know who that is, don't we, gentlemen.
DON'T BE TEMPTED TO BUY AT THESE PRICES!! This could quite easily go sub two pounds.
Have to agree with you IsleWorthSpy...very good chance of industrial action this time.
Not just the posties getting ready for a strike ballot, so too the managers.
Union adamant they want a stand alone, inflation linked, no-strings attached pay rise. Thats a big pay rise!
Things are also very much different this time. This time some people are experiencing real hardships.
As investors sometimes we just have to take it on the chin...accept that, on occasion, we have to take a back seat for the sake of the greater good.
These truly are unprecedented times for this company's destiny.
But beware the Iceman...for he still sits waiting.
Er...no.
As IsleworthSpy just stated: papers for strike ballot to be sent out on 28th June -- result to be announced on 19th of July.
Go to Facebook to listen to Pullinger's latest update...explains everything concerning grievances, proposed change, etc, etc.
In brief. All proposed changes to now be discussed seperately. Discussions begin next week.
Union calling for a no-strings, inflation based, stand alone pay rise.
Company's offer remains at 2%.
Would not recommend buying R.M stock at this moment in time. Worst scenario? Price collapses sub £2.00.
This is a self-fueling fire now.
People are not thinking straight at the moment...they are panicking big time.
Its all right sitting on cash if you are a private investor...or even selling the Nasdaq and ploughing it into so called value stocks.
Two things here though. Value stocks can go 2 or 3 years without giving you anywhere near the gains (in fact sometimes they move very little in either direction) growth stocks can provide you with; and as far as your cash is concerned: what do you do with it? Reinvest it? Make sure you reinvest in something rock solid (slow growth) and 'safe'...otherwise you might end up worst off; or wake up one morning and find Royal Mail shares have gone from £2.48 to £3.48 all in the same breath. Because that may well happen if suddenly and unexpectedly R.M and the CWU get all matey-matey again.
Or you can do what I do: switch off -- sit on your hands -- and buy back in when the s.p climbs on positive news.
Simple enough...well simple enough for me at any rate being the simple creature I am.
Moral of this tale? Don't buy RMG here (not for the moment)...not for any price.
You won't find many people here that deny RMG's basic fundamental value.
It's just a matter of perception at this momemt in time.
Mind you, look at the U.S markets! I hold all the FANG companies plus Apple and a few semi-conductor stocks...I am £30,000 down in just those alone. And a lot more to come off that yet.
Point is: give them all, including Royal Mail, a few short years...and this panic driven bear-market will be long forgotten.
Lots of profit here in a year or two from now.
due to the fact it has already just happened.
Still stand by what I previously stated: all the way down to £2.21...and even a lot lower if an agreement cannot be reached very shortly.
Suits me just fine. I still own nearly 6000 shares...with an average of £2.86.
Sitting on my hands at the moment. Firmly believe this dispute is going right down to the wire.
This might well turn out to be more than brinkmanship and bluff...this could actually be the real thing this time.
The posties get their monthly shares bought tomorrow; the price usually rises a day or two before each monthly purchase...this time it has remained, over the last couple of days, pretty flat.
Expect a fall to the low sixties sometime in the next day or two.
As for Kretinsky? He is undoubtedly now just watching...and, patiently waiting. When the CWU announce that the ballot papers are being sent out...the price will drop again. Three weeks after that when they announce a colossal majority YES vote in favour of strike action...then, again, the price will drop even further down.
It is at that point I would expect Kretinsky to perhaps make a move in a series of strategic moves that could very well see him ending up as the owner of the great Royal Mail.
The future of this noble and venerable institution now hangs precariously in the balance. In fact...it may just be too late.
It's destiny might perhaps be already decided.
Both I would presume, AngerSharkz.
The ballot is just a straight yes or no for industrial action...but obviously they will have to include whatever offer the company will be offering at that time.
It would then take a second vote to ratify any acceptable offer that the CWU would be willing to recommend to the membership.
This may well end up in just a straight 'no strings attached' pay deal...but I doubt if it will just come in one lump sum.
And don't anyone be surprised if there is a lot more to it than just a pay rise...whatever the union insists.
littleton1, regarding your £2.40? Don't worry...when the ballot papers are returned and the result announced in three or four weeks time...the price will drop well under £2.40.
You might just see £2.40 next week even.
The original offer from R.M was nothing -- 0%!! Thought everyone was aware of that.
Then came the 3.5% offer with (Pullinger's words) "more strings attached than Thunder Birds".
Presently the offer remains at 2%...and without the aforementioned 'strings'.
Our rep was certainly buoyed up for the occasion.
He declined to tell us what it is, regarding a pay rise, that the union will be demanding...but when pressed replied that the union would probably start at 8 or 9% and settle for 5. Fair enough. I would assume there might well have to be a further little sweetener somewhere down the line to satisfy all members.
He also remarked on the further deterioration of the 'toxic' atmosphere that now resides in many workplaces.
"If they want a fight at local level...then they can have that also", he defiantly announced.
Supposedly, we should be receiving our ballot papers in the next 8-10 days or so.
A couple of paragraphs from Davie Robertson's contribution at the recent Liverpool CWU National Briefing.
"On PFWW, initially not part of the deal, we were told the deal we would get in PF would be totally different.
A day later, the same deal appeared on our table. Rid PF of SA and have total flexibility, rid the function of guaranteed earnings, and drive a future agenda of only employing owner drivers."
Not going to argue with you. I have the full piece propped up in front of me...word for word; and that includes the words of every other big name speaker (Pullinger, Baulch, Fury, Maden) that contributed at that briefing.
As for Kretinsky? Who knows what he is actually going to do...perhaps he himself is not fully convinced...or perhaps undecided?
But this I do know: he had the opportunity to make several hundreds of millions of pounds of profit...not tens of millions -- hundreds of millions!! And turned it down. Why?
Perhaps you might offer an opinion on why he seemingly was not interested in even trimming his position...never mind not selling a single share when the price soared well over £6.00?
Two nights ago they sent 20,000 parcels across from Unit 3 to put through the Parcel Sorting Machine at Unit 1 (the new Hub).
Only one in three scanned correctly. Thousands were sent back to UNit 3 to be hand scanned using a lot of extra agency workers...which has incurred an extra added cost obviously.
And don't think this is the first time it has happened...this has been going on for several weeks now.
And on that happy note -- time for my nap!
Goodnight to you all. Sleep tight!
The new North West Hub at Warrington, is, at the moment, a complete disaster.
Pullinger made fun of the new Hub a couple of years ago...about it being a complete shambles...he was right about that much.
Try as they might they just cannot get the software to read the postcodes correctly. Not only are the parcels jamming in the chutes when they do manage, by mere chance I suspect, to get the correct parcel down the correct shute (one of 800!!) invariably it misses the york and ends up on the floor.
Apparently two engineers were heard overtalking the other night. Seems that the problem is in the general construction. It is on different levels (probably because the building is not big enough) and this is effecting the machine's ability to scan correctly.
Oh dear!!!!
More lies then to cover up sheer incompetence when taking part in those early morning conference calls.
I think something was mentioned which amounts to re-writing the software.
Errr...that won't be cheap. Not by a longshot.
Someone right now, no doubt, is getting primed right up for the big fall. Fall on their sword that is.
After all...they only finished building the machine in January. So why leave it to now to trouble-shoot it?
Unbelivable...but...sadly true.
I have the full transcript positioned right here in front of me concerrning: abolishing Sunday rates and premium rates; reducing sick pay to statutory sick pay; pushing the network back; the Delivery Director who wants 346 Hubs for parcel delivery; putting us all on flexible hours so therefore no pressure overtime...just normal 'working' time. So on and so forth.
And yes! that direct quote from good ole Davey Boy.
And why is it you only put in an appearance when things start to turn really ugly?
Remember: If Kretinsky makes an offer, as shareholders we have the right to refuse it. He would have to make an offer (or so I have always presumed) that the MAJORITY of shareholdrs find acceptable.
As for the highest price he paid in twelve months? I am quite sure he made at least one purchase when the s.p was still over £4.00.
Then there is the problem of quickly accumulating the other 8% of shares before speculative investors catch on to what he is doing and hence up goes the price.
Don't think he could buy another odd 80 million shares without alerting the market to what he was doing.
Quite happy to be corrected (again) if I have it all wrong.
Well perhaps not next week...but certainly if he thinks that in the next week or two the s.p is going to fall another 60 points...then...who knows?
I cannot understand what possible other reason he would have to accumulate such a big holding yet turn his back on the opportunity when the share price went over £6.00 to sell off a big chunk and take huge profits.
That makes no sense whatsoever...unless?
I myself have never traded Royal Mail shares. I just sit on my hands and buy more stock if the opportunity presents itself. And now it looks like it will again.
As for the owner/driver route that R.M want to pursue allow me to quote Davie Robertson when speaking from this the CWU's latest National Briefing in Liverpool:-
"and drive a future agenda of only employing owner/drivers".
There were many issues raised at this briefing...and no doubt you will be able to read it on the CWU website...or failing that on Facebook very soon.
Kretinsky is still holding.
I now firmly believe he will make a move on the company if the s.p should continue to fall lower.
If R.M don't put a sensible offer on the table by this time next week...then ballot papers will be getting readied to be posted.
Might be too late by then. Big D might have already stepped in.
"Good luck, I hope the posties reading this get a half decent pay deal but if you expect actual help when the cull comes, you won't find it from the CWU or any other union. Pay your dues, do as you're told, follow your designated leader and if you end up unemployed you'll soon find out how much your membership is 'valued'."
Absolutely bang on !!!
Firstly, its not so much the content...but the jingoistic fighting talk by Pullinger, who else, that preceded it.
"we will smash the company to bits before we hand it over to the shareholders"...words that Pullinger has used more than once before in previous confrontations.
Terry needs to be careful of wielding that threat like a sword...the company is in a far stronger position than last time. More importantly...so is Kretinsky. And more importantly to that...if you are reading this Terry: the company DOES belong to the shareholders...NOT the CWU executive. This is something that both Wardy and Tel Boy have never been able to come to grips with.
Most of you know much of what the company is demanding...but to just to recap on a few points.
1. Annualized hours for full time employees. In other words, you can be sent home early if not required. Basically, just an agency worker.
2. Attacking the sick pay. No more six months on the sick with full pay. The company is of the opinion that some employees use this to their full, unscrupulous advantage. Oh really? Lol.
3. Pushing back the AM service...looks like they want the company to be more PM orientated. This would severely disrupt the normal lives of many posties in delivery for sure.
4. Putting more mail on the trains in pursuit of their carbon footprint. Something I have expounded upon before several times recently.
5.And the big one!! Reducing/getting rid of the fleet and replacing it with owner/drivers.
According to one of the speakers this is why R.M of late have been sidelineing the drivers and engineers (Romec I presume) from ongoing talks concerning pay and conditions.
I have long espoused that this is where R.M could make massive savings...and was stating this quite sometime back on this very site.
However, this is a highly,highly contentious issue as far as the union is concerned. They see it as a massive assault on the exsisting network...and indeed mentioned just that in their meeting in Liverpool.
In truth, the CWU (and just about every R.M driver you speak to) is very, very anti train...and for all the most obvious reasons.
Trouble coming? You bet your sweet @rse there is.