Dispute with the stamp of failure

Oct 10 2007 by Bill Gleeson, Liverpool Daily Post

CALL me old-fashioned, but won't it be a joy today to be able to buy a stamp, stick it on an envelope and drop them both into a post box in the faint hope that it may reach its destination within a week or so?

Dream on.

The latest damaging Royal Mail strike may have been due to end on the early hours of this morning, but it will be a lot longer before this business returns to anything near normality.

For a start, before it can do so, there needs to be a settlement to the disputes over pay, pensions and job cuts which are at the root of the current disruption. And that looks and sounds unlikely.

It's been quite a while since we have seen and experienced disruption caused by industrial disputes on this scale.

Putting aside the opposing views of the two sides recently said to have been "locked in talks" it's a worry that we are in the midst of such a bitter dispute which is likely to have a long- term impact on the entire industry and those currently employed in it.

Am I alone in finding the situation reminiscent of the dark days of the miners' strike? Or, before that, the battle between the once mighty print unions and publishing entre- preneur Eddie Shah (followed swiftly by the might of the Mur- doch publishing empire taking on the old Fleet Street operators by upping sticks to Wapping)?

The situation facing those on both sides of the current dispute is bleak. But this dispute is also clobbering many businesses reliant on Royal Mail service as an integral part of their business.

Weekend estimates say Royal Mail could face a bill for £260m after the disruption finally ends. That's a big bill for a company already on the wrong side of the balance sheet.

It's possible that a lot of that cost will be made up of compensation payments payable to businesses left high and dry by Royal Mail strikers.

The other cost is to Royal Mail's reputation and credibility.

Any right-minded business person will surely find alternative ways of sending letters, parcels and packages to their customers and clients.

There is no doubt these are difficult days for Royal Mail and its workforce. Between them, these two groups are succeeding in turning away customers in their thousands.

Winning them back will be near impossible, not least because there may not be much of a business left to win any customers, old or new.

MATT JOHNSON is chairman of Mando Group