UK postal strike

[Shadow Marine]

Hi,

I know this is mainly a US site, but there are a few Brits who do use it. Well For all those not in the know Royal Mail will be hit by strike action from next Thursday (it was only announced on Thursday, the unions only have to give 1 week notice).

So please be aware of this before getting worried about your packages from our great Country.

Details can be found on:
http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/cont ... romo_home1

I have a feeling unless Royal Mail and the unions get their heads banged together by Government this could continue for a few months.

Thanks,

Rob

[porkuslime]

When they go on strike, it is for only a couple days.. or is it open ended.. a "Strike from Thursday until we feel like calling it off" thing.. ?

[GearHead]

Sounds like the latter. Damn, and I was seriously considering placing a few orders over there...

[GMMStudios]

Unions are lame.

[kturock]

Unions are lame.

says someone who's never been protected by them. [presunibg that if you do run a business, you are fair and equitable to your employees].

Unions were started by businessmen to protect them from thieves, both the legal and illegal type.

Later they they became the prtection of the working class.

Some states, like here in Florida are 'right-to-work' states. You can be fired at any time for any reason, like the boss doesn't like you pants; and you have NO recourse.
So without a union, you get paid whenever, and whatever the company decides.

If businesses treated workers fairly, they'd be no need for unions. In this time, if unions were in more fields and more states, their wouldn't be a 'health-care crisis'.

[GMMStudios]

Well I was half kidding, but Unions are why American car companies can't compete and have had to have been bailed out while some like Toyota do just fine.

It's a two way street:

If businesses treated workers fairly, they'd be no need for unions. In this time, if unions were in more fields and more states, their wouldn't be a 'health-care crisis'.

If unions treated businesses fairly, a lot of current problems could be avoided.

I am not saying either is more guilty than the other, both can be predatory at times, neither is innocent. However placing unnatural financial stresses on a business will ruin it (see GM)

I personally believe what you have in Florida is correct. Free market should be absolutely FREE. The "market" or economy is practically a living breathing thing, and when you begin to put unnatural limitations, stresses, and boundaries on it you kill it...

Your level of earnings should be decided by competition, what you are worth, among many companies. So yes your company should be able to pay you whatever it likes. A business wants you to be happy, or else it will have low morale, low output, low earnings itself. A business wants to be efficient. The balance is in a free market you would also have competing companies vying for your employment as well. Unions kinda kill off both by saying "you are going to pay us what we say" so the company has to either pay you or go out of business.

To be honest I think the latter is LESS fair. Nothing limits a Unions demands other than its own minimal notion of self preservation. A business' demands are based on what would cause all to benefit.

[GMMStudios]

Also note two things:
1. I highly respect the workers themselves especially those that do manual labor like electricians and construction.

2. Understanding how business and the economy works takes a minimum amount of economics education that 90% of Americans don't have and the media/certain political organizations feed on/spread fear through. It is unfortunate but a lot of the "business is EVIL!" garbage is just fear mongering and attempts to enslave you disguised as genuine concern for the working mans lifestyle.

[reegsk]

Well, I would agree that both have serious issues. But unions are necessary in a capitalist society like the U.S. Unions started because workers were working over twelve hour shifts in factories, were lucky if they had a lunch break, and hey, while trying to get a huge output you mangled your arm? Well, guess what -- we aren't giving you anything and good luck finding another job somewhere else. Look at the meat industry in the U.S. today -- it's output driven, so you have people working as fast as they can (all very low-income and many recent immigrants) with crap like sharp knives. They have no union, so you can be fired whenever they want, you get paid whatever they want and if you injure yourself, they don't have to do anything. It's preying upon the week and unfortunate.

Working in a school, I can really see both sides of the coin. On the one hand, unions are great. If you have a teacher that does something a parent doesn't like (fail their child for cheating, the kid says he didn't cheat), the union will defend them with insano lawyers that pretty much keep your job. On the other hand, if you have a HORRIBLE teacher (and believe me, I work with more than a few), the union makes it so that you can never get rid of them.

Unions are necessary in the modern, capitalist economy. Otherwise, the few people on the top would control everything, and the rest of us would just have to shut our mouths and suffer through it.

[GMMStudios]

Oh I agree they are necessary I just think they are too often abused, that is why I said my original comment was half kidding.

[kturock]

i so hate windows, microsoft and IE8.

the incompentant techs at asus, who've 'repaired' my laptop twice and still it doesn't work correctly, downloaded and installed IE8 'for me'. it just deleted my entire 5 paragraph post. the more they repair, or have me download, the worse it gets. [i've reinstalled windows 3 times, they have twice more. yet drivers aren't working properly and neither does the newly replaced opticaql drive]

unions are only abused when management is incompentant.
there are rules and laws governing both sides. only when 1 side is too lazy or stupid does the other run rough-shod over the other.

[reegsk]

I have to say, while a postal strike must really suck (especially for us Bartertowners), it's a good thing we have the internet and phones. Seriously -- a postal strike even fifty or sixty years ago would have been devastating. Still a major inconvenience. . .but not as bad as it could be.

[mrrshann618]

it is still fairly devistating for common parcels. I'm sure there are other ways to send packages but there are people, like me who insist on paper trails for various transactions.
Yes there are ways around it.

Kturock did you have your memory modules checked? I had a corrupt SDRAM once that would cause my system to blue screen at least once a day, I removed that module and everything settled back in line. The corrupt potion of the module would be accessed and have my system go into conniptions as it didn't know what to do or how to recover.

[GMMStudios]

i so hate windows, microsoft and IE8.

the incompentant techs at asus, who've 'repaired' my laptop twice and still it doesn't work correctly, downloaded and installed IE8 'for me'. it just deleted my entire 5 paragraph post.

Hehe it's fine I will assume it was well written and had valid points!

[Ironhide]

Well I was half kidding, but Unions are why American car companies can't compete and have had to have been bailed out while some like Toyota do just fine.

No, they are part of the problem. Most of the problem lies in the fact that it is cheaper to build a car in Mexico and ship it to the US than building it here in the US. Thank the whole "Most Favored Nation" trade status for that.

[Stanislav]

No, they are part of the problem. Most of the problem lies in the fact that it is cheaper to build a car in Mexico and ship it to the US than building it here in the US. Thank the whole "Most Favored Nation" trade status for that.

Kind of, but as to his original point, most of Toyota's cars that sell well in the US are...built in the US. Not all of them, but a huge part of them. Camrys, Venzas, and Avalons are built in KY. Tundras are built in TX. Sequoias built in IN (I think that is the plant, it is in the US, just not sure about the state). And Tacomas are built in CA. A lot of Dodges, Fords, and GM cars are built like you said, because it is cheaper to build them outside and ship them in.

Whole thing about the Postal thing in the UK, the Unions are on the ball. Striking now...2 months before Xmas? Good planning on their part. Not that I am happy about it, but I bet they'll get their demands met faster than average.

Rich