Culture. BA Strikes

Due to be going to NYC in a couple of weeks and I'm livid reading through some of this strike action stuff. Anyone got any insider info?

BA and Royal Mail are pillars of this society and I for one am only too prepared to lose thousands on a holiday and receive my mail a month llate so their staff may live in the dark ages and threaten strike action if own way isn't obtained. It's just give and take as far as I'm concerned. I'm also glad there aren't any other air lines I'll be using next time instead of BA, nor a hundred other private mail carriers to change over to like we did at work a few months ago.

I feel genuinely sorry for a lot of Royal Mail staff - I really do. They're being routinely shafted by their utterly inept management and their only real outlet for any grief is through old-fashioned union action - because their unions themselves have been so inept as to paint themselves into a corner, caving to almost every whim of an over-zealous management body - they're left with few options other than strike. And because they're the only part of the company the public see - they're killing themselves with the strikes. The management will let them ruin their own reputation, turf the poor bastards out and restructure the company as a distribution infrastructure for the numerous private carriers. The postie as we know it is dead.

All of the above is wild speculation.

The fact is - Royal Mail's postal system is massively out of date and in order to bring themselves in-line with today's market, they are at some point going to have to update their systems; meaning roles will become redundant in place of computers and automation. It's the same as is happening across all sectors and these companies (old British Institutions) with a Union presence are just fucking things up for themselves and giving rise to their competition in the process. There's no logic in holding a company to ransom and preventing them from taking measures necessary to stay afloat.

Article here from a few months ago...

British Airways to raise £600m as it reports £100m loss

Result is BA make some changes and the Union say they'll strike unless everything stays the same.

Idiots.

BA just needs to figure out what it is—or at least what it wants to be. If it's a full-service airline, act like it. Don't charge for seat-booking and have staff that act as though passengers are shit on a shoe. Icelandair, by comparison, dropped its full-service ideals a couple of years back. Ticket prices dropped slightly, meals were removed entirely (you can now buy sandwiches on board), but the experience of flying on the airline's gone from a low-point of, well, BA, to pretty good.

Having moved away from the UK, (and going back for a week), I've been really shocked by how many of the services in the UK don't stand up to their counterparts in other countries. This isn't a grass is always greener mentality, it's just utter confusion about how things could be so poorly done in one country, and so well in another.

Take trains, as a popular example. Bypassing for a moment the whole notion of Japanese trains being on time, and the service being faster and with nicer rolling stock, everything else is better too. The tickets are cheaper, and yet every station has free, clean toilets, manned information desks and gates during all opening times, and good, clear signage and computerised signage in two languages.

There is also the knock on effects - having manned gates mean that the system of payment is so much easier. Recently in the UK, I jumped on a train with a travelcard and realised while on board that my destination was outside of the ticket coverage. Now in the UK, you never know if the station guy will charge you an extortionate fine, let you honestly settle up, or have gone home early and left the gates open. In Japan, you are expected to buy the cheapest possible ticket, (normally one stop), and then before leaving the station, and to pass through the gates, topping it up if need be. It's simple, effective and means everyone pays the right amount. How much would this cost to implement, really? Especially considering that train travel is cheaper in Tokyo than London, even at the current exchange rate!

Another example is postal service. How is it than in Tokyo if I have a missed delivery, I can call before 3pm and arrange for delivery that evening. That's not just slightly better than what any service offers in London, but many factors better, for cheaper?

Paying bills is easier too. You get your bill, you go to the local convenience store and pay it. This used to be possible in the UK with the Post Office, but long queues and dilution of offerings has meant its now a ball ache.

Moving abroad has opened my eyes to all the little things that seem to be so poorly done, and deemed acceptable, in the UK - what scares me more is I think it has as much to do with the mentality of the populace than anything else.

Iceland's tiny postal service also beats Royal Mail, simply by cunningly doing van deliveries in the evening, when people are home. My favourite services experience out there, though, was an IKEA delivery, where the guy asked if we were going straight home. We said yes, and the IKEA delivery truck beat us there.

Ha, I got sent that about a bajillion times when I said I was moving out here - it looks old but they certainly don't get as fussy as we do in the UK about cramming onto trains.

Another example, my morning - can you imagine the following scenario playing out with the NHS ... Woke up with a very swollen right eyelid. Called my office and the HR guy helped me find a local eye clinic. Went along, with no appointment, and was seen after a 30 minute wait. Had a full check-up, followed by a consult with the English speaking doctor, and prescribed anitbiotics and steroids. Total cost, 1 hour, 30 minutes and 2,500Y, (about £16).

Admittedly, this is with insurance, which covers 70% of costs, and is compulsory, (much like the UK). Taken from your paycheck and less than NI.

I'm stunned by how good the level of care was, and the attention to me as my Japanese wasn't good enough.

When I've been in London its either been wait a day or two for an appointment, (if you are registered) or go to a walk-in clinic, where you can't be prescribed anything.