talkmagic.co.uk

My attitude is if you don't like the pay and work conditions - get another job!
Causing aggro for the general public doesn't really get people on your side.

grrr - got a show on friday! It seems my S.O.M won't arrive in time

Here is hoping it will get to England, and arrive next week then!

I have just as much trouble getting deliveries off the private companies (actually more trouble). Just recently we had one say that we weren't in when I was actually outside my front door mowing the lawn. THey couldnt ask him the next day because he'd called in sick. When told that he had obviously lied and bunked off early, I get fobbed off with the company policy.
As for unions, I would be md to do my job without being a member. Though for all the right wing grumblings, they really dont have any power these days. And I'm sure big business has screwed far more people than the unions ever have, it just become accepted practice. At the end of the day though, its always the same end result, the average joe takes the brunt of it.

And...my in laws are moving house and ordered a massive arga. It took three men apparently to put it on the lorry. So what do they do...leave it in front of the front door in the rain and refuse to carry it any further. Leaving two pensioners (one a lady no more than 5'1") to haul it inside.

Lord Freddie wrote:My attitude is if you don't like the pay and work conditions - get another job!
Causing aggro for the general public doesn't really get people on your side.

But I do like the pay and work conditions (very much, in fact) - that's my point. Causing aggro for people is very unfortunate and I totally sympathise with people who pay a lot of money for what is essentially a very unreliable service. But it's not just about getting people on our side. As I said, unless you actually work for the companies in question, then you don't see the effects on staff of not striking. Sometimes it's the only way to get companies to sit up and take a bit of notice. As paying customers, we're just interested in getting a good service for our money - and rightly so. We don't care about what goes on behind the scenes and how workers are being treated. But if you happen to be an employee, then it's a whole new ball game. I'm not expressing myself very well, I know. I'm just saying there are always two perspectives with these things. It's important when faced with yet more strikes not to make sweeping gestures or statements that are not really based on facts but are just knee-jerk reactions, "bloody post office/Tube workers, not another strike. Greedy b******s" etc. It's not always as black and white as that.

I would sympathise more if I wasn't waiting for some goodies! It always seems to be the same people that go on strike. Postal workers, public transport...if these jobs are so bad that you need to strike all the time then leave!
Obviously, not knowing the ins and outs of it all, I cannot empathise with the workers, but these are public services and the strikes are designed to upset the public and make the bosses listen. You can't expect the public to sympathise.
Still, one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter and all that. Depends what side you are on, I suppose.

Blapsing_Beard wrote:grrr - got a show on friday! It seems my S.O.M won't arrive in time

Here is hoping it will get to England, and arrive next week then!

Me too beard. Let me know if and when yours arrives? Then I know to expect mine also!

Lord Freddie wrote:I would sympathise more if I wasn't waiting for some goodies! It always seems to be the same people that go on strike. Postal workers, public transport...if these jobs are so bad that you need to strike all the time then leave!
Obviously, not knowing the ins and outs of it all, I cannot empathise with the workers, but these are public services and the strikes are designed to upset the public and make the bosses listen. You can't expect the public to sympathise.
Still, one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter and all that. Depends what side you are on, I suppose.

That's it. (I'm also waiting for magic goodies!) Basically, I think people fall into one of two groups:

1 - Joe public: pays for and rightly expects a decent service, whether postal or travel related. Simply not bothered with the whys and wherefores of strikes - they are a bloody nuisance and just cause untold problems for untold people, not to mention costing many individuals and companies considerable amounts of money. Publice services should not be allowed to strike and staff who go on strike deserve no sympathy whatsoever.

2 - The worker: Sympathises with the general public (believe it or not, some of us do!) but sees no other option but to strike in order get, for example, a realistic pay rise. Striking staff do not get paid for striking so it's not a decision taken lightly - and going on strike is an individual decision (for every worker who strikes, many have voted not to). Quiting the job is not a realistic option for any number of reasons. Strikes are the last resort but necessary if it means there is a chance the company will submit to union demands (which may or may not be valid and reasonable demands).

It's a sad fact of life that strikes will divide these groups of people and cause animosity. It's human nature and inevitable. I expect most people will fall fully into the first category. Although I work for London Underground, I fall somewhere in between the two (although I have colleagues who have the sod-the-public-I-want-more-money attitude). Before I started working for LU, I was also a commuter so I know what it's like. (Can't really make any meaningful comments on the postal strike because I'm obviously not staff).

It annoys me when people complain they don't earn enough money. This is a country of opportunity. There's always drug dealing and prostitution to fall back on.

Lord Freddie wrote:It annoys me when people complain they don't earn enough money. This is a country of opportunity. There's always drug dealing and prostitution to fall back on.

Or... just get a like-minded lass and start a baby-making factory—go off work with a 'bad back'—shell out a couple more kids, and then live off the state quite happily in your 3up, 3 down with your brand-new 'funded' Zafira on the beautifully tarmacced drive.

Of course, if perchance you're managing to earn a 'few quid' here and there behind the taxman's back whilst your back is 'on the mend', then who's to say you're anything but enterprising???

As Freddie says, this is a country of opportunity!

(Did anyone see that Polish newspaper which was basically telling it's countrymen how they can get free £££, free homes etc. in the UK? Priceless!)

im quite happy there's more eastern europeans over here, they work bleedin' hard, cheaper, work longer hours, polite...straight forward..

i get the tube into work very early most days, packed full of builders, used to be full of people from my neck of the woods in essex...bulldog tatts, no necked bullet headed idiots some of them..laughing about signing on, not paying taxes etc...

gimme the eastern euros every time...and as for immigration, i hate the subject, (sorry rant has appeared out of nowhere!) - a generous 10%of our entire population is "immigrated people"...yet its still made out as if we are overun by people everywhere...

what i'd like to do is to emmigrate out a whole bunch of "englishers" - the lazy, jeremy kyle, backward, low-browed trolls that walk this island dropping babies like mindless grapes everywhere...

anyway, strikes you say? i've never seen a union leader go with a few bob when on strike, my dad worked at fords in the 70s and 80s, i know alllllllllllllll about strikes and what it can do to people...rubbish..work to rules do more damage...getting things done in big corporations rely on favours alot of the time...all strikes do is raise bad PR, and save the company money cos they're not paying out...

tube/train staff get paid pretty much the same as a copper or a fireman..they get free travel for their family (thats an extra £1,500 each head), lots of holiday too...thats not aimed or digging at you 808 by the way, just how i feel in general!

and posties, well, i knew a fair few when i used to dj, the sorting office was opposite - they were all knocking back a few crafty beers, opening parcels, nicking pornos, and lazy skivvers...again, not aimed at any honourable posties...

rant over - sorry...unions are a bit of a raw nerve for me it appears! i think its cos i went 3 christmas's as a kid with no prezzies at all...oh and my mum and dad nearly lost their house about 4 times too...

anyway, what we complaining about really...a week? just order from america, and get it delivered by UPS..it'll be here in 4 days...

abraxus wrote:im quite happy there's more eastern europeans over here, they work bleedin' hard, cheaper, work longer hours, polite...straight forward..

I get the tube into work very early most days, packed full of builders, used to be full of people from my neck of the woods in essex...bulldog tatts, no necked bullet headed idiots some of them..laughing about signing on, not paying taxes etc...

gimme the eastern euros every time...and as for immigration, I hate the subject, (sorry rant has appeared out of nowhere!) - a generous 10%of our entire population is "immigrated people"...yet its still made out as if we are overun by people everywhere...

what I'd like to do is to emmigrate out a whole bunch of "englishers" - the lazy, jeremy kyle, backward, low-browed trolls that walk this island dropping babies like mindless grapes everywhere...

anyway, strikes you say? I've never seen a union leader go with a few bob when on strike, my dad worked at fords in the 70s and 80s, I know alllllllllllllll about strikes and what it can do to people...rubbish..work to rules do more damage...getting things done in big corporations rely on favours alot of the time...all strikes do is raise bad PR, and save the company money cos they're not paying out...

tube/train staff get paid pretty much the same as a copper or a fireman..they get free travel for their family (thats an extra £1,500 each head), lots of holiday too...thats not aimed or digging at you 808 by the way, just how I feel in general!

and posties, well, I knew a fair few when I used to dj, the sorting office was opposite - they were all knocking back a few crafty beers, opening parcels, nicking pornos, and lazy skivvers...again, not aimed at any honourable posties...

rant over - sorry...unions are a bit of a raw nerve for me it appears! I think its cos I went 3 christmas's as a kid with no prezzies at all...oh and my mum and dad nearly lost their house about 4 times too...

anyway, what we complaining about really...a week? just order from america, and get it delivered by UPS..it'll be here in 4 days...

What the hell does 'rant' mean?

I'm waiting for S.O.M. too.

I actually expected it to arrive last week, seems like I'll be kept waiting for a little while longer.

I'm waiting for the Silent Treatment too - I expected that to arrive a month ago, but that's a different story. Another week on top won't make a lot of difference with this one.

But I agree that striking is often the only way to make company bosses sit up and take notice. Sure, the existing staff could look for other work, but I personally would rather have experienced posties sorting and delivering my mail. I'm reminded of the time I bought an ultra-rare 7" single from the states. I was living in East london at the time, and the Royal Mail had put a young, intellectually challenged teen on duty in my area. Seeing that he couldn't get this record through the letterbox, he chose to ignore the existance of a doorbell, or the parcel's big 'fragile' stickers, and folded it in half to make it fit.

If all the employable posties left for other jobs, it would just be morons like that left to deliver our goodies.

I think I can live with a strike or two.

Pete

Blockbuster have sent everyone an extra DVD form their list to cover the strike period. The only problem is, there's no way of sending it back.

Tomo wrote:Blockbuster have sent everyone an extra DVD form their list to cover the strike period. The only problem is, there's no way of sending it back.

abraxus wrote:anyway, what we complaining about really...a week? just order from america, and get it delivered by UPS..it'll be here in 4 days...

I wish that was the case! I ordered something from that States over a week ago and it's not arrived yet. I dread how long it'll be before the thing I ordered from Japan turns up!