Today was the end of the second of two, 48-hour postal strikes which, according to the Times, have "crippled" the nation. I don't know so much about how accurate the "crippled" comment is, but I will say, it has been a right royal pain in the proverbial. Mostly, this is because, as you all know - I AM STILL WAITING FOR MY COMPUTER TO BE DELIVERED!
The issues at stake are the usual - money, job cuts, pensions, working conditions. The posties want more than the 2.5 or some such pay rise that is being offered. There's the possibility of the loss of some 40,000 jobs. The pension issue, I'll be honest, I don't actually know about, but I did hear some postie dude who phoned up LBC to talk about the working conditions. As far as I can make out, the management at Royal Mail want the posties to work in teams who would cover for each other when colleagues are absent - effectively making the posties work overtime for no extra pay.
Now I'll admit, that all seems pretty crap to me. And as such, in part, I'm sympathetic to their plight - I recognise their democratic right to strike (hey, I took part in the teacher's strikes back in 2002) - but come on - 48 hours at a time? With a 'rolling programme' of more strikes next week too? You've got to be kidding, right? Who do they think they are, Tube drivers?
Seems to me, the Poms are pretty good at this "strike" malarkey. First of all, seems like every other month the Tube drivers are on strike because of 'pay and working conditions'. Well, what do you expect in terms of working conditions - the trains run underground, and you knew this when you signed up for the job - so of course you're not going to see daylight in the day... Then there was the Firefighter's strike of 2002 - now that was a doozy! I had organised a trip to the Wigmore Hall for Year 7 that day - 150 kids on 3 coaches to go hear one of the "Bright Sparks" type concerts. It all started off fairly smoothly, we got all the kids on the coaches without too much hassle, headed off to the concert through typical standstill central London traffic, made it in good time to attend the concert. Kids slept through the concert (it was pretty dull, to be honest) and then it was time to hop in the coaches and go back to school.
Because the concert had taken place in the morning, the kids hadn't had lunch, and the way the kitchen operates at CEBS, we had to be back in time for lunch or there wouldn't be anything left for the kids. The first coach turns up and we ship a load of 'em off back to school. But the 2nd and 3rd coaches don't arrive. Slight problem. Where are they? Much phoning of CEBS, the coach company, CEBS again, the coach company again. Kids getting restless downstairs, being baby-sat by the staff (who are also getting restless). Me and Tina (the Head of Year) upstairs waiting for the coaches - and then we discovered the problem. One of the coaches, the 2nd one, to be precise, had spontaneously caught fire in the middle of a congested one-way street, literally around the block from where we were waiting. The 3rd coach is immediately behind it and can't get through. And all this in the middle of a firefighter strike!
The Government's contingency plan for the firefighter strike is to employ the Army's "Green Goddesses", antiquated fire trucks at least 50 years old, with a top speed of 50 mph, a portable pump, 2 hose reels and a first aid kit. Hm. Now I feel safe, don't you?
Anyway, the Green Goddess comes, puts out the fire, and then the police have the task of re-directing all traffic so that the 3rd coach can reverse down the one-way street and drive around a different way to get to us at the Wigmore Hall. Meanwhile, another coach is enroute to pick up the 2nd coach's passengers.
Suffice to say instead of being back at school at 1pm, it was 3.30pm before we got there. Thank you very much firefighters for your helpful strike!
Of course, now, thinking back to this, and in light of the postie's situation - I respect their right to strike, but only as long as it doesn't affect me - but it does. In the midst of all this pain and suffering, there is still one huge, serious, matter of life or death issue that hasn't been resolved - WHERE THE DEVIL IS MY COMPUTER?!!
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