Most of us here are aware that the media is the last place we should to get our news from. This is becoming more and more apparent as strikers’ voices are not heard but CEO’s are.
Ipswich’s Head Office
Today I drove past a group of people standing outside the main postal office in my area of Suffolk. I stopped to ask them what they were striking about. Since you can’t get a shred of truth from the mainstream news I avoid it at all costs so I thought it would be good to hear it from their own voices.
“The Post Office don’t want you to spend time with your family.”
These were words that really resonated with me because everything we are striving for here is so families get more time together. The Post Office, however, has another idea. Their workers are now going to be expected to work Saturdays and Sundays. If they clock-off work twenty minutes early for a few days they will be expected to work extra time at the end of the month. Sick pay is being cut and early mornings are going to become a thing of the past.
Pay rises for those at the top. Pay cuts for the rest.
According to The Guardian today, “The Post Office boss Paula Vennells received a 7% pay rise last year, while thousands of postmasters took an average 4.5% pay cut.
The former L’Oréal and Argos executive took home £718,300 in the year to March, according to accounts filed at Companies House this week, while 11,500 Post Office workers – the vast majority of whom are self-employed – received a combined £17m pay cut to £371m.”
Working hours are changing too
When I was eighteen working at the post office was a very popular option. Starting early meant finishing early which meant more time doing what you love or being with your family. For many people, me included, an early start fits in with our body clock and our family life.
Later Starting Hours
Starting hours for postmen have got later and later but these new rules would mean they wouldn’t be able to start until 8.45am. That will lead to a delay in getting our post out. Seeing your postman on their early morning round will be a thing of the past. They won’t be the community member they’ve been for the past few decades.
Striking is a last resort
We aren’t news reporters at Joinavision. We are a group of people who want to create a kinder, brighter world which doesn’t support corporations who only care about their shareholders. We don’t want to spend hours looking at the reasons they are striking – the workers are the ones who can do that. That’s why anything we report will be in the words of the people involved – not our take on it.
