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As mail piles up, posties stop for a bet
Peter Dominiczak02.10.09
Mountains of around 25 million letters may be piling up during the mail strikes in London, but you can bet these posties had other priorities.
They were seen on an unscheduled break to visit a betting shop.
The men took a 15-minute breather and left their trolleys on the pavement in Earls Court.
Tens of thousands of people face late deliveries after a series of strikes over pay and conditions. Union members have already warned that the backlog of unsorted letters, parcels, bills, and presents is already so large that it could affect the Christmas post.
But yesterday, bemused onlookers saw the three postmen have a bet, before leaving in different directions.
Burim Bytyqi, 43, an artist from Earls Court, said: “The three of them pushed their trolleys up to the shop and one-by-one entered the shop. They came out 15 minutes later and went off, presumably to continue their rounds.
“It's unreasonable that there a strikes going on, and huge backlogs of mail and these three men are just spending their time in betting shops. I think people who saw it were pretty shocked at what was going on.”
The Communication and Workers Union say that 25 million items of post in London alone are caught up in the chaos, with some items stuck in the system for two weeks.
The Royal Mail disputed this figure and said nine million items are affected. It said today it would investigate the betting incident, and added that mail trolleys should not be left unattended without being locked up.
A spokesman said: “The safety of the mail is of the utmost concern to us and we will be urgently investigating any breach of security.”
It is not clear if the postmen were on duty or whether their trolleys contained any mail.
The CWU is balloting its 121,000 members on a proposed national strike. The result of the ballot is due at the end of next week and if a strike goes ahead it is likely to take place either during the last ten days of October or the start of November.
Reader views (14)
I am shocked to read on the CWU website that they are asking ofr DONATIONS for the postal workers. Higher pay and less hours! This strike is going to back fire and I will laugh when it does. The CWU come across as greedy and unrealistic on their website. we are all having pay cuts but still working the same hours. Just deal with it!
- Michele, Kent
i'm a postman and i work 8 hours per day. this is inclusive of 40 mins meal break which can be taken as and when required. a lot of postmen in my office rarely take any of their break because there is no time any more. this is giving royal mail god knows how many hours! a lot of bad stories you read in the paper of postmen are isolated cases. the majority of us now work our fingers to the bone. i am 23 and one of the quickest posties in our office. i like to finish as quick as i can and last week i had to go over my cotracted time by 4 hours throughout the course of the week and i was told there wasn't enough money to pay me any overtime. not to mention the breaks i had worked through and not taken! this is because of budget cuts and a computer called georoute working out delivery sizes which should be fair...it didn't work! i used to love my job and i didn't strike in 2007 and i don't want to strike now but enough is enough i'm fed up of working more hours tha i'm getting paid for, unfair treatment of staff and bullying by management. i'm the type of person who is usualy smiling and care free but issues at work are starting to get me down now and i worry about the future of my career. sorry to be moaning but someone needs to stick up for us because the public seem to be brainwashed by tv and the papers who are all fed by royal mail spokespersons. thank you for reading.
- Postie, gloucestershire
Unions, collective bargaining, all sound well and good until one factors in the GREED quotient.
"the safety of the mail" ?? This isn't really about the safety of the mail, its about people not doing what they are paid to do! Its about unions run amok and holding the citizens hostage!
More than enough laws exist to 'protect' the workers rights - its time to eliminate unions once and for all.
- Trunk, US
My letters came in at 10 to 2 today...
- Jock, London
Anyone thought they might have been on their lunch break, and they took it in turns to go in so the post wasn't unattended. What's the problem? Do you spend every second of the day at work actually working, or do you take the occasional break for a coffee/cigarette/quick internet browse?
- Freddie, London
Posties are entitled to a 40 minute break - either in one go or split up during the working day. If you want us to work all paid hours (which most do despite the bosses claiming they don't)then please allow us to take a break as well. PS not based in London so it was not me, but I hope they made sure the "prams" were secure.
- Postman Striking, Up North
The CWU and their members are being rather short-sighted, not to mention greedy. They should take a history lesson and look back to the 1980s - the days of Arthur Scargill and the miner's strikes.
The strikes were the death knell for the coal industry, and now the majority of coal used in the UK is imported from Poland, Russia and South America.
The posties have already lost public sympathy and if they keep striking, then it leaves the door wide open for private enterprise to take an even bigger stake in handling the post and parcels of the country.
I also feel sorry for the hundreds of small businesses who have cheques, and customers orders stuck in the postal system and are on the brink of financial ruin.
Mark my words, this dispute will damage the industry beyond repair as Royal Mail customers will find alternatives.
- Tom Watson, Leicester
My postie was in front of me in the bank queue for 20 minutes on Saturday while telling anyone that would listen that he was being paid double time until later that afternoon.
Maybe it was the same person paying in his winnings!
- Kd, Herts
Of course, nobody else who works nips out for an unsolicited break like a long coffee, a sneaky fag, a gossip by the water machine, or takes the paper to the toilet.
- Anthony, Esher, Surrey
They were probably placing bets on how long the strike will last. Hmm! Isn´t that a form of insider trading?
- Graham Rodhouse, Helmond, Netherlands
Threaded... if you look at the CWU website, demands include higher pay and less hours (http://www.cwu.org/royal-mail-dispute.html) - at a time when many people in other sectors are working longer hours for equal or less pay, I personally find it very hard to see merit in their demands.
The Royal Mail is broke, and to be honest, I see this move as being a little counterproductive - all it will do is force other people to seek alternative delivery services.
- Mark Lee, Vauxhall
I call it sciving, work hard, do they!!!
- C Cusano, Bedford
This might be their only way to improve their very low pay, second jobs are impossible.
No way would I want to put up with what they are suffering from their management at the moment.
It would be really interesting to see the amount of stress related sick leave that is being taken over the last few years
- Jilly, London
Wouldn't be a postie for a gold pig. And you really shouldn't be having a dig at those that are working, but at the management who've engineered this industrial action. Why not publish details of what the disagreements are, so people can see who's up to no good.
- Threaded, Roskilde, Denmark
