Do you understand strike action?

[OllieMartin]

I think companies are tending to ship out there call centre jobs to Bombay so they can find away around the minimum wage restrictions in this country. They employ poor buggers on tuppence happeny an hour whose speech you can't make head nor tail of!

Interestingly, south africa is fast becoming the new 'call centre haven'. Mainly because the accent sounds more familiar than an indian one.

[Bigmallly]

call They employ poor buggers on tuppence happeny an hour whose speech you can't make head nor tail of!

Love it............

[HeyWayne]

But, if we get to the point that nobody is objecting to these conditions being the norm, aren't we sending ourselves down the road towards complete exploitation of all workers? The UK already has a terrible record on things like working hours compared with our European neighbours, and the fact that somebody is prepared to fight this slide, I believe, should be applauded and supported, before we find ourselves like the exploited workers of Asian countries, and our own downtrodden ancestors.

Our working hours may be higher than the average European, but then so's our average wage. Considerably.

I'm not convinced that they're being altruistic about it either.

[HeyWayne]

I think companies are tending to ship out there call centre jobs to Bombay so they can find away around the minimum wage restrictions in this country. They employ poor buggers on tuppence happeny an hour whose speech you can't make head nor tail of!

Interestingly it's not unique to the UK, all my international colleagues will complain of the same thing - "foreign" call centres.

[OllieMartin]

Interestingly it's not unique to the UK, all my international colleagues will complain of the same thing - "foreign" call centres.

You'd be gutted if you had an indian accent, but worked in an English call centre. You'd get grief off everyone who spoke to you!

[pigletwillie]

France has just upped its 35 hour week as it realises that it cannot compete with such restrictions. Being an hourly paid bod I can opt to work an average of 48 hours or more if I wish, or can do less also without being forced too.

If the current strikes continue I fear we will see more posties in TNT orange and a lot less in post office Red.

As an aside, the average French wage is some £6000 less than the average British one, the Italians earn even less.

[Bigmallly]

Well, not only have we got the binmen & posties on strike, the fireman are starting an 8 day strike next week (How convenient)........and they want my support.

[susieq100]

Regarding the Postal Strike - my eldest son works for a firm that uses Royal Mail to deliver thousands and thousands of parcels a day - a very lucrative contract for RM. RM want to close a local sorting office and move sorting and despatch 40 miles away. This will have a big impact on my son's firm's ability to offer next day delivery, plus customers faced with the prospect of travelling up to 40 miles to the nearest sorting office to collect parcels would not be happy. Big impact on the business. So a meeting was arranged with a business manager for RM and folks from my son's firm - including him. His firm laid out all the circumstances in the hope that they could reach some kind of accommodation - after all, they spend literally millions on postage - they would have to go to Citilink or DHL if RM could not reach some kind of compromise. RM's reaction - OK - go on then! Management have an agenda - they want to run the company down so that it can be privatised. Absolutely scandalous!!
I think the CWU are their own worst enemy - they need to let the public know EXACTLY what is going on in terms of pay and conditions.

[digthatchick]

- they would have to go to Citilink or DHL if RM could not reach some kind of compromise. RM's reaction - OK - go on then! Management have an agenda - they want to run the company down so that it can be privatised. Absolutely scandalous!!
I think the CWU are their own worst enemy - they need to let the public know EXACTLY what is going on in terms of pay and conditions.

My son ordered his new Xbox from Amazon on Thursday evening at 6.30 pm - Friday morning 8.20 am knock on door - one Xbox - thank you City Link.

Cost? £4.35.
Could RM beat that? I doubt it.

[basketcase]

I could appreciate people striking if their working conditions or treatment was poor. I can't however, truly appreciate striking over pay.
No-one is ever paid 'enough'. What i mean by that is, I've never met anyone who would turn down a pay raise on the grounds that they 'didn't need the money'. I regularly have conversations with co-workers about contentment with their salary and I end up asking them the question "How much is enough money?", there is no answer, because very few people live to less than their means.
So if they strike, and are then paid more, will that solve all their problems? Will they work, content for the rest of their lives. I doubt it.

If i've missed the point, please feel free to rebuke me. Just my 2 cents.

My nephew used to work for RM. As other posters have said, it used to be a good job with reasonable prospects. In itself the erosion of pensions etc would be cause for concern, but...

It's not just about the pay, it's about the way posties are treated. He became quite badly disabled, spending a lot of time in a wheelchair. If he had to take time off because he couldn't stand up, he was threatened with disciplinary action; he was practically driven to a nervous breakdown by the management - if it hadn't been for the union he would have been. Some of the offices make life as difficult as they can for wheelchair users and others. He wasn't the only one. People would go on holiday and come back to find that their jobs had been given to somebody else in their absence. Management (not all - there are some decent people) treat the workers like dirt.

It's easy to say "get another job" but where? In this climate? Maybe with a family to support. And what about what's left of the pension you've worked for?

I don't tend to be political and don't have a 'union' background. Unions did get too big for their britches at one stage but they were formed to give powerless individuals strength.

And, in the case of RM why wouldn't Management go to arbitration, which is what the workers pressed for and were willing to do?

[pigletwillie]

They employ poor buggers on tuppence happeny an hour whose speech you can't make head nor tail of!

A bit like the ones in the North East then

[Snadger]

A bit like the ones in the North East then

We tark proppa englush roond ere man!

[Bigmallly]

We tark proppa englush roond ere man!

Tek no notice Snadge, I understood thee.

[SarzWix]

Tha shud beh bah-lingwul like me - ah knar what yuh baith on aboot like

[dexterdoglancashire]

I dont understand it either. All I know is, it will probably be the end of Royal Mail as we know it.