Can they deliver?

THE Post Office has come in for a fair amount of stick recently about
lower service standards and the high level of industrial disputes. It is
of course Postwatch’s role to highlight this on behalf of the consumer
and to try to help the Post Office to improve the position. The lot of the
individual ‘postie’ is often not an enviable one. No one would
describe the wage packet as being generous and the hours are anti-social,
with
quite a lot of pressure. There won’t be many of us who don’t regard our
relationship as individual
customers with our own postmen as being valuable ones and the great
majority
of us are hugely appreciative of the service that this team provides us
with
and the individual friendliness that goes with it. I am therefore
particularly pleased to have read in the Herald of the Horizon
Broadening Scheme put together between the Royal Mail and the College of
Further Education to launch the Plymouth Mail Centre Open Learning
Facility.
That is inspirational and quite clearly the sort of initiative that
enlightened employers are pursuing. Well done to whoever thought of that
one, therefore, and don’t for a moment
think that the watchdog doesn’t appreciate and cherish the role of the
individuals in the workforce and the team they represent. It is, however,
a vast organisation and it must strive to be more customer
responsive, not less so (as the statistics would indicate is happening),
and
so we will continue to chase the organisation as a whole where necessary
while
deploring unofficial strikes. The granting of plc status on April 1 means
that the strengthening of the
consumer’s voice has never been more important. CHARLES HOWESON Chairman
CCPS South & West RegionEVENING HERALD, 29th March 2001