Whats with all the strikes....

D18241 · 23 Oct 2009 at 08:49

Wonders whats going on that is causing every one to go on strike all of a sudden

bus service in sheffield
bin men in leeds
uk postal service
fire men in sheffield

possible council strike also

waso_dude · 23 Oct 2009 at 08:50

people are too greedy thats all..

atpbx · 23 Oct 2009 at 08:52

Labour government.
Economic mismanagement.
Public services cant just keep getting pay raises year in year out when there is no money to pay for it.
Unions realise labour only realistically have 8 months in power left, and want to black mail them into signing off on unsustainable pay increases.

D18241 · 23 Oct 2009 at 08:53

Dont get why they dont like the pay and just go on strike surly you would just go look for another job

GHz · 23 Oct 2009 at 08:57

They should be happy to have a job in this day and age what with the economic down turn. Pluss when RM or who ever do have to cut jobs then they know who to sack first.

Wossi · 23 Oct 2009 at 08:59

Our postie doesn't seem to be on strike. Saw a Royal Mail van in our estate this morning.

atpbx · 23 Oct 2009 at 09:02

D18241 said:
Dont get why they dont like the pay and just go on strike surly you would just go look for another job

Because to be quite frank, they have it easy.
Being a postie, not the hardest job in the world (I was in the multi drop business for 13 years and know what it involves) you dont have to pick anything heavy up, you dont do long hours, you dont do this, you dont do that.

Being a bin man, not the hardest job in the world, you drive around in the lorry, you wheel the nice wheelie bins to the back of the truck, the truck picks them up, you drive away.
If something requires effort (a heavy bin, walking over a pavement, picking a bag up, opening a gate) you dont do it, you dont work long hours........

etc etc etc.
The vast amount of public sector jobs are over paid, under worked, low productivity and highly militant to the point where if the management supplies the wrong colour loo paper its down tools and everyone out.

That kind of attitude and work ethic in the private sector results in getting the boot, which is why they dont find other jobs, they sit and blackmail the councils and government into making their life even easier than it is.
Because doing that once a year is far easier than having to work for a living.

Dolph · 23 Oct 2009 at 09:10

Every time Labour are in power, they screw up the economy, and then public sector staff strike and kick off when they are expected to share in the pain of their political arm's incompetence.

malfunkshun · 23 Oct 2009 at 09:19

I was about to say what Dolph said. I can just about remember the tail end of their last stint and it wasn't pretty.

LordSplodge · 23 Oct 2009 at 10:38

Dolph said:
Every time Labour are in power, they screw up the economy, and then public sector staff strike and kick off when they are expected to share in the pain of their political arm's incompetence.

This ^ Unions can smell a week Government and thus start going for blood.

Berserker · 23 Oct 2009 at 11:18

atpbx said:
Because to be quite frank, they have it easy.
Being a postie, not the hardest job in the world (I was in the multi drop business for 13 years and know what it involves) you dont have to pick anything heavy up, you dont do long hours, you dont do this, you dont do that.

Nice generalisation. Multi drop ≠ Postman, so your experience doesn't seem to count for much. What with the increasing volumes of junk they have to deliver, and the internet generation ordering books and whatever else online, the postman's bag is getting heavier, not lighter.

Being a bin man, not the hardest job in the world, you drive around in the lorry, you wheel the nice wheelie bins to the back of the truck, the truck picks them up, you drive away.

If something requires effort (a heavy bin, walking over a pavement, picking a bag up, opening a gate) you dont do it, you dont work long hours........

And another silly generalisation. They might do that in your area (have you watched them do it?), but they don't do that in mine.

The vast amount of public sector jobs are over paid, under worked, low productivity and highly militant to the point where if the management supplies the wrong colour loo paper its down tools and everyone out.

That kind of attitude and work ethic in the private sector results in getting the boot, which is why they dont find other jobs, they sit and blackmail the councils and government into making their life even easier than it is.

Because doing that once a year is far easier than having to work for a living.

And guess what, yet another generalisation. Some public sector workers actually do work for a living. I'll grant you far from all of them do, but the vast majority? Do you have some evidence to back up that claim?

Dolph said:
Every time Labour are in power, they screw up the economy, and then public sector staff strike and kick off when they are expected to share in the pain of their political arm's incompetence.

LordSplodge said:
This ^ Unions can smell a week Government and thus start going for blood.

This, however, I agree with. Let's have the RMT join in too and we'll be heading in the right direction. Winter of Discontent Mk II.

V4NT0M · 23 Oct 2009 at 11:20

Ban striking.

scorza · 23 Oct 2009 at 11:34

People see the people who ruined the economy, the bankers and to a lesser extent the government getting huge rewards for failure or obscene expenses. At the same time they see themselves getting pay-freezes, worse working conditions, redundancies. You push people hard enough and eventually they'll snap and say "we're not the ones who caused this mess yet we're the ones suffering".

Von Smallhausen · 23 Oct 2009 at 11:38

Skyfall said:
Ban striking.

Some professions are.

Dolph · 23 Oct 2009 at 11:40

scorza said:
People see the people who ruined the economy, the bankers and to a lesser extent the government getting huge rewards for failure or obscene expenses. At the same time they see themselves getting pay-freezes, worse working conditions, redundancies. You push people hard enough and eventually they'll snap and say "we're not the ones who caused this mess yet we're the ones suffering".

See what I mean about a lack of responsibility, blame everything on others culture.

The last RM strike was in 2007, what was the excuse then? There always is one after all, it could never ever be the workers/union being a bunch of ***** unable to accept that things change and they need to stop taking things for granted...

Biohazard · 23 Oct 2009 at 11:44

atpbx said:
The vast amount of public sector jobs are over paid, under worked, low productivity and highly militant to the point where if the management supplies the wrong colour loo paper its down tools and everyone out.

National or locally?

Either which way, your talking rubbish. Unless you have personally lengthy experiences in both, covering most business streams, then I am just not going to believe you.

Downing tools and walking out will get you sacked, simple as. In national government jobs anyway.

malfunkshun · 23 Oct 2009 at 11:45

The unfortunate thing is that pretty much every work force that has taken strike action so far (Royal Mail, bin men etc NOT Firemen) are not indispensible, there are private contractors chomping at the bit to take up the out-sourcing or alternate service provision that will be sought if strike action is overly prolonged. As was proven in the seventies, returning to work does not mean another solution will not be sought by your employer. The miners from the seventies being a perfect example. They went on strike which led to rolling blackouts, three day weeks and sympathy action from other unions etc and were systematically removed from their industry in the eighties by building more gas/oil powered power stations and progressively closing the mines as the huge reliance on coal had been reduced and cheaper alternatives sourced from overseas.

steve-h · 23 Oct 2009 at 11:48

Wossi said:
Our postie doesn't seem to be on strike. Saw a Royal Mail van in our estate this morning.

this

its crazy that bin men go on strike... easiest unskilled job on the planet, they should get min wage and be happy with it, I certainly wouldn't expect anything more than that for wheeling bins to a truck.

aardvark · 23 Oct 2009 at 12:08

Dolph said:
Every time Labour are in power, they screw up the economy, and then public sector staff strike and kick off when they are expected to share in the pain of their political arm's incompetence.

yep.

scorza · 23 Oct 2009 at 12:35

Dolph said:
See what I mean about a lack of responsibility, blame everything on others culture.

The last RM strike was in 2007, what was the excuse then? There always is one after all, it could never ever be the workers/union being a bunch of ***** unable to accept that things change and they need to stop taking things for granted...

What about responsibility? No-one took responsibility for the collapse of banks, even those whose job descriptions implied that they were responsible for making sure that their company didn't collapse. Instead they walk away with multi-million pound payouts that they are contractually entitled to. However when low paid workers like postmen demand what they are contractually entitled to, all of a sudden it's greedy lazy workers with you isn't it?