ozzieeagle

Best let you know there is a strong possibility of a strike pre Christmas at Aus Post.

Ballot papers being delivered right now. It's going to seem like a strike over nothing to the general public so here is some detail.

Reason for strike is working conditions/job security.

Basically AusPost want the current arbitration system removed in favour of a judicial process... whereas any changes to hours or holidays etc are stopped at present whilst the arbitrators sort out the rights and wrongs. With the Judical process it can take upto Two years to hit the courts, meantime the changes are implemented.

Further detail is... they could remove all Sunday shifts, thus removing 1 week of all participating full timers holidays... even though 2 years down the track they could be deemed to be wrong in doing this... whereas the current system maintains the current conditions until the arbitration system has sorted it through. They could even make all fulltimers into parttimers with one months notice and with no arbitration system in place gain a defacto change while the judical system catches up... and with a massive organisation like Apost you can bet they would put in all the delays the lawyers could think of.

It all comes down to shift penalties and working hours. No one is arguing that there will be future change... it's just the need to have it sorted through arbitration.... So there is plenty of warning in major changes in future working conditions.

Apologies once more.... I think it could well happen.

I'd be posting xmas mail by the end of the week if I where you guys.

asher

OMG have just breathed a sigh of relief over UK post strike now we get an Aussie one
why always at Christmas? it doesn't make them popular!

ozzieeagle

UK may always have strikes at Xmas.... I've been with Apost for over 14 years now and there has never been one at Xmas before. The Union actually tried to get this in October however Apost fought the right to send out ballot papers and won at that time.

Pollyana

Abolition of Aus Post and bring back pigeons sounds good right now - this week's fight is over repeated requests to the idiots not to leave my mail in the flowerbed by the roadside but to leave me a card saying "Please collect from Post Office".
Package from Melbourne still not appeared here after 2 weeks isn't helping. To be honest I don't think if it matters if I do post cards by the end of the week, they won't get there till sometime next millenium.......

ozzieeagle

Why aren't they putting it in your mailbox ?

BTW it's easier for a postie to do exactly what you ask....(they would set it that way before going out) so you must be getting a lot of relievers delivering your round that dont know the finer points of your particular round.

Pollyana

Apparently its an age old problem with this block of units. The guy that lives nearest the mailboxes has asked repeatedly for the delivery men to leave cards for all 7 units instead of dropping the larger items around the mailboxes if they don't fit inside. He is an angel, as he regularly picks up the stuff, takes it indoors and then dishes it out later, but he is sure stuff has gone missing before now. I'm going to have to resort to paying for a PO Box, which I really object to, but its getting to the point where I will have no choice.

God knows where the last package from Melbourne is - jamming a machine at Aus Post probably, at least if they strike the will have to stop the machines and retrieve all the stuff thats fallen down inside!! (with memories of my own 2 months stint at Northgate Sorting Office!)

ozzieeagle

Hmmm it would only take one objector amongst your 7 units to force the Postie to leave the mail..... maybe even from a different block of units.... IE: no mail to be precarded on this round, except at delivery point.

Bad situation that one.... best of luck.

Pollyana

Ahhh, thats interesting. Looks like its a small fortune handed over and the hassle of collecting my mail from somewhere 30 mimutes away

WHY has this godforsaken country not got front doors with ye olde fashionede lettere boxes in them!!!!

DunRoaminTheUK

I was beginning to miss French culture so this is a pleasant surprise

moneypenny20

Does anyone know why we have boxes outside like the yanks when UK ideas are historically quite big here? We have a good postie but the old one was better, used to drive down and hide parcels on the verandah to save us going to the local office.

Pollyana

I was told by an Aussie its because a) the postmen were too lazy to walk up garden paths and b) too many of them got bitten by dogs in gardens.
System stinks whatever the reason!

ozzieeagle

Big Blocks.... Some of the older smaller places in Carlton and Fitzroy actually have letter boxes in the door that are no longer used.

MartinLuther

Because they only care about themselves. Like transport workers and public holidays

MartinLuther

It's a big place.

I've walked to all the house doors on our street and you have to walk about 3 maybe 4 times as far compared to just walking down the street.

moneypenny20

Granted, there's no way I'd want to be a postie around my way but so many of the 'estates' are very similar to UK estates and the houses close to the road, just wondered how it all started but I guess in the old days everyone was spread out more. Only in the last 20 odd years that these UK type areas have popped up.