Postmen John Fallaize, left, and Paul Wakeham with some of the 1,000 public responses Guernsey Post has received in two days. They will be delivered to the Office of Utility Regulation. (Picture by Tom Tardif, 0874386)
GUERNSEY Post has received more than 1,000 responses to a call for public support in its battle against the regulator.
The company delivered a leaflet to all island households earlier in the week urging them to ‘act now’ by contacting the Office of Utility Regulation – the only way submissions can be taken into consideration.
It included a Freepost response form, 1,138 of which were filled out and returned within two days. More are expected before delivery to the OUR.
Postman higher grade Paul Wakeham, who has worked for the company for 15 years, was impressed with the support.
‘It is nice to see the public are on our side and agree with us. This is one letter per household, not per person,’ he said.
‘It is fantastic to have all of this after only two days. People are saying they already have a very good service, so why change it?’
Mr Wakeham said he realised the gravity of the situation and the effect it could have on jobs.
‘It could risk the whole of Guernsey Post and if the States do not wish to bail us out when we are running at a loss, then that could be the end, but I hope it won’t come to that.
‘It is a concern for all of us. We work as a team so if it directly affects one or 10 it affects all of us.’
He said the OUR director-general John Curran was being shortsighted in his proposals to introduce competition to the market by reducing the area over which Guernsey Post has a monopoly.
‘What we have is not a monopoly anyway because it is only really letters that our reserved area covers.
‘Other companies coming in are not going to be interested in a little old lady who only has one letter containing health tablets per week. They want the cream but not the work.’
He said many services Guernsey Post provided did not make a profit, but it served the island and so continued to offer them.
‘We are on the streets every day, rain or shine, and why should we suddenly be persecuted by one man who seems to be pulling all the strings?’
He did not deny that overtime payments had risen dramatically, but pointed out that was partly because of the boom in internet shopping which had increased demand, so people were having to work more.
Article posted on 20th November, 2009 - 2.29pm
One Article Comment
It’s got so bad the behaviour of the Post office that any response forms in favour of the OUR will somehow get’lost in the post’ by the likes of Mr Steel’s stooges Postmen John Fallaize and Paul Wakeham. Wake up and smell the coffee guys – you’re being used by the Boss to justify all his crazy overspending not to defend your jobs which the OUR isn’t trying to destroy. Ask yourself Mr Fallaize and Mr Wakeham – why do we need a marketing department of 8 people when there is a monopoly postal service. It’s nothing to do with postmens jobs, can’t you see that? Does the Union want even more upstairs staff paid for from the work of Postmen?
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