Public Enemy Postie
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The phone-in on the radio in the background tells me that there’s not a lot of love lost between the public and the humble postal worker as the prospect of strikes loom.
I find it quite sad how many people can only see the how a strike would inconvenience them rather than any degree of empathy for a rapidly diminished workforce who are enduring an antagonistic management and a government hell bent of paving the service for part privatisation.
Meanwhile much of Britain at times unable to put themselves in the shoes of others and finds it easier to believe that everybody else is having a cushier time than they are.
Striking, it has to be said, is seen in this instance as akin to a man with a gun at his own head and threatening to blow his own brains out if he doesn’t get what he wants. Unlike say France striking seems to be a less effective bargaining chip in this country perhaps because in Britain today there is much less of a sense in the wider population that we are all ‘in it together’ any more.
In this environment it would seem that the public has probably now been won over to the prospect of opening up the domestic postal service to commercial competition.
Another one bites the dust. Will we miss it when it’s gone or is it just now a service that is past its metaphorical sell by date?
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Yes, I think you are right about the lack of empathy and understanding that people have. Well, a lot of people simply don’t make the effort to think outside their own personal world – some because they don’t feel they have the energy to do so, I suppose, but most because they have become so conditioned to the “me first” individualistic world we live in.
I think the decision to strike was always going to be a bad move in terms of public relations and support. I just hope it doesn’t mean the service falls to pieces. I already miss my local post office a great deal and I will certainly miss my lovely postie if she disappears.
Hi RB-looks like the 2 day strike is on. I doubt they had much of an option after management refused to allow Acas to mediate in the negotiations. I do eventually envisage the demise of the traditional daily postie over the next few years and us all having to pick up our mail from our nearest nominated nearest post office of ‘letter & parcel centre’. All in the name of questioning the cost of everything and dismissing the value.