Royal Mail Strike Action

MoNkeE · 4 Oct 2007 at 14:41

Can't say I have sympathy for them. Last strike, they delayed my loan agreement documents from when I was purchasing my car which was just slightly annoying.

This time - we've just recently found out my Dad has a cancerous brain tumor. He's been off ill for 4 weeks relating to it, and as such no longer entitled to full pay. We're awaiting documents from his life insurance to put him on to Critical Illness benefits or something along those lines - which can't be processed until we receive and return the filled out forms. It's just putting our family ever so slightly on edge!

-RaZ

monkeyspank · 4 Oct 2007 at 14:52

Use a courier. The strikes were documented well ahead of time.

MoNkeE · 4 Oct 2007 at 14:54

We're not the ones sending the document - the insurance company is.

-RaZ

Fothsn · 4 Oct 2007 at 14:56

What a Nice 5 day's off I’ve got

PureAppleJuice · 4 Oct 2007 at 14:59

monkeyspank said:
Use a courier. The strikes were documented well ahead of time.

Quite! Don't know why some people are all 'Ahhh this strike is going to **** me up!'. Enough warning was given in my opinion. There are plenty of couriers, they just charge considerably more than Royal Mail.

Stonedofmoo · 4 Oct 2007 at 15:08

Often because when you order something from a company you don't get given a choice of the courier used.

monkeyspank · 4 Oct 2007 at 15:09

MoNkeE said:
We're not the ones sending the document - the insurance company is.

-RaZ

tell them to use a courier, and do the same when returning the documents. As a side note, I'm sorry to hear about your dad. I hope you get things in order

MoNkeE · 4 Oct 2007 at 15:13

monkeyspank said:
tell them to use a courier, and do the same when returning the documents. As a side note, I'm sorry to hear about your dad. I hope you get things in order

TBH we've not been watching much of the news lately

He'll be fine - he doesn't wanna die and we sure as hell won't let him get away that easy

-RaZ

meghatronic · 4 Oct 2007 at 15:14

Jock Dodds said:
he obviously cant provide evidence because he pulled the figure from out of his ass, pathetic isn't it?

I asked my postman what he earnt. That's what he told me - I see no reason to lie to me. I assumed he's just a normal posty.... apparently not then!

Call me pathetic again and I'll......

vincent1989 · 4 Oct 2007 at 15:14

Jock Dodds said:
i was about to pull you up for your total ignorance and the ham-fisted defence of your laughable point of view but I just noticed your a shelf-stacking kid and clearly oblivious to how real jobs work, not to mention envious that posties earn a good bit more than you!

hahaha, my job is just has hard as yours and i spend just as much time on my feet (i'm not a shelf stacker, i was for 6 months before doing my knee), so get a grip if you think my job is so totally easier than yours, and i get paid poor wages compared with a posty, but we don't complain, we get on with it, because some money is better than no money

(btw, i've been solid at the same job for over two years now, gone through my fair share of problems including losing wages to the incompetance of the pay role staff, losing out on holidays because they can't afford to let me have them off, over 40 hour weeks when we were short staffed, damaging my knee due to the hard conditions etc etc etc, don't try to lecture me you arogant berk)

Fothsn · 4 Oct 2007 at 15:17

How much do you think posties earn per week after tax? basic pay of 25Hrs?

Cuchulain · 4 Oct 2007 at 15:20

fothsn said:
How much do you think posties earn per week after tax? basic pay of 25Hrs?

More than they bloody deserve at the moment.

vincent1989 · 4 Oct 2007 at 15:21

Cuchulain said:
More than they bloody deserve at the moment.

damn straight

meghatronic · 4 Oct 2007 at 15:23

fothsn said:
How much do you think posties earn per week after tax? basic pay of 25Hrs?

jdickerson said:
I asked my postman what he earnt. That's what he told me - I see no reason to lie to me. I assumed he's just a normal posty.... apparently not then!

Call me pathetic again and I'll......

Take £10k off my figures for the average postman.

£14-18k according to google and The Guardian.

I'll ask my postie what his actual job is as he told me those figures (£24-28) last week.

Still, a lot for a paper boy

*

(* I'm not belittling the job, just those striking as it's childish)

vincent1989 · 4 Oct 2007 at 15:24

this is from the learn direct careers advice (no idea how accurate it is)

Annual Income
Figures are intended as a guideline only.

Casual staff earn around £8,000 a year at 16, £10,000 at 17 and £12,000 at 18 or over.
Salary for permanent staff is around £10,000 a year at age 16.
At 17, this rises to around £11,800.
At 18, salary is around £15,200 for the first six months, rising to £16,000 in the next six months.
At 18 or over with 12 months' service, salary is around £16,900 a year.

which is your basic knock on the door postman.

Fothsn · 4 Oct 2007 at 15:31

jdickerson said:
Take £10k off my figures for the average postman.

£14-18k according to google and The Guardian.

I'll ask my postie what his actual job is as he told me those figures (£24-28) last week.

Still, a lot for a paper boy *

(* I'm not belittling the job, just those striking as it's childish)

Is about spot on, for the work involved its not enough IMO, believe me it’s much harder than you guys think, don’t stare at your monitors for too long

it’s not your average office job!

Basic pay minus tax & ni for £25Hrs is £160P/W

vincent1989 · 4 Oct 2007 at 15:33

fothsn said:
Is about spot on, for the work involved its not enough IMO, believe me it’s much harder than you guys think, don’t stare at your monitors for too long it’s not your average office job!

no ones saying it is, but at they end of the day an average, base pay postal worker is only expected to walk around for 6-8 hours with a bag (which, ok, may be heavy). It's hardly a skilled job now is it

Fothsn · 4 Oct 2007 at 15:36

bringerofdecay said:
no ones saying it is, but at they end of the day an average, base pay postal worker is only expected to walk around for 6-8 hours with a bag (which, ok, may be heavy). It's hardly a skilled job now is it

Who said it was skilled? I cant quite belive the comments in this thread and the other one,

Cuchulain · 4 Oct 2007 at 15:36

fothsn said:
Is about spot on, for the work involved its not enough IMO, believe me it’s much harder than you guys think, don’t stare at your monitors for too long it’s not your average office job!

They walk around and stick letters (and annoying advertising crap) in people's letterboxes (very occasionally the correct one), there's no skill or specialist training involved as the pre-requisite appears to be the ability to carry a bag and read english, that's a minimum wage job if ever I saw one.

Vixen · 4 Oct 2007 at 15:39

bringerofdecay said:
this is from the learn direct careers advice (no idea how accurate it is)

Annual Income
Figures are intended as a guideline only.

Casual staff earn around £8,000 a year at 16, £10,000 at 17 and £12,000 at 18 or over.
Salary for permanent staff is around £10,000 a year at age 16.
At 17, this rises to around £11,800.
At 18, salary is around £15,200 for the first six months, rising to £16,000 in the next six months.
At 18 or over with 12 months' service, salary is around £16,900 a year.

which is your basic knock on the door postman.

Almost £17k is a lot for a totally unskilled job.

Personally, I think the strikes are pathetic. Other companies manage to work out pension and mass redundancy issues without striking and losing themselves more money, so I don't see why RM can't do the same. I remember about 5 years ago, the company my mum works for had to get rid of thousands of members of staff through redundancy and early retirement (both voluntary and forced). No-one was happy about it, but they understood that any company actually trying to pay their staff has to make sure they are actually making a profit.