02/04/26 Mount Pleasant Bulletin

[jimallen]

Hi, here's the Mount Pleasant bulletin of 2 April. We welcome your comments!

IT'S STILL TOO LATE
The union's "Letter to Branches" explains that our pay
rise, which we thought was due on 1 April was always
going to be late. They say it's based on the average of
Jan, Feb and March CPI inflation, so can only be
calculated after 22 April! And since that average is very
likely to be over 3%, the rise will be "re-negotiated"
anyway! So bosses and union leaders take it for
granted that our pay rise won't happen when many
other bills do, like council tax, water bills, phone/TV
bills, etc.?

THE PAY RISE WE NEED
Besides, why is our pay rise calculated according to the
lowest inflation index - even if (for obvious reasons!) it's
the government's "official" measure? This never reflects
the real increase in the cost of living which we feel in
our pockets!

SAME DEMAND - SAME FIGHT?!
And by the way, the few Crown Post Office workers left
(less than 600) have just had a separate vote on a 2-year
pay deal offering a 3% increase this year and 2.5% next.
92% accepted, but on a turnout of 51% - so half didn't
vote for this below inflation, real wage cut. We may be
in separate sectors nowadays, but we're all in the same
union... Wouldn't it make sense if we fought for a real
pay rise, all together..?

AND WHAT ABOUT RMP&FS?
This splitting our ranks by sector and section makes no
sense to us: it also applies to the cleaners and
engineers, for instance. And in this case we all work in
the same place! We know why it suits the bosses, but it
has never suited us. We're against their divide and rule!

1%... 2%... STILL BUFFERING
Each time we scan an item on PSA, we need to wait
several seconds for it to load onto the system... which
after hundreds of items is very annoying! It's a bit like
waiting for a video load on the internet when the
network won't connect... So are these scanners in need
of an update?! Or should we just give up and throw
them in the bin?

GET COMPUTER SKILLS SOMEWHERE
And then in PSA, there's Mr Witless buzzing in our ears
like a fly - especially on Mondays and Thursdays, when
we're busy. He'd be so much more useful somewhere
else, for instance investigating the scanners' software
issue in a far-away office…

CHEAP TECH
On deliveries, some of us have similar issues with our
PDAs... which is probably another case of the bosses
buying cheap software to cut costs. Like the sat-nav
system they use, TomTom, which is 15 times cheaper
than Google Maps - and 15 times less accurate…

LESS MANAGEMENT MORE HUMANITY
There used to be such a thing as "compassionate leave"
which we could take if we had a bereavement. It was
always a bit of a struggle, but now we have to fight
tooth and nail to get it. Yes, at a time when the last
thing we need, is to have to deal with bloody-minded
management!

PRIORITISE WHAT NOW?
So management's trying these specialised NHS
barcodes supposedly to prioritise healthcare letters over
the rest... We've not seen them yet, but it's a clear
admission that there aren't nearly enough of us to
process and deliver both letters AND parcels. And no
wonder, when we see most workmates retire without
being replaced!

ELECTION CIRCUS UNDER THREAT?
With the local election campaign under way, are
managers going to tell us to prioritise electoral material
over healthcare letters and parcels? Or will voters
receive electoral material after the elections..?

COLD HEARTED OR JUST STUPID
This might have happened months ago, but we need to
say it: no manager will stop us from collecting for those
affected by natural disasters, like when Hurricane
Melissa hit the Caribbeans. We've always done this and
it isn't the petty-minded Mia-hem that will stop us from
showing our support to those affected, particularly in
Jamaica where many people still have no roof above
their heads!

OUR FEET...
Union leaders made a big deal ahead of Kretinsky's
"grilling" by the Select Committee in Parliament last
week over the chaos in deliveries. But as usual, it was
just a lot of hot air and statistics. "Prioritising" parcels
over letters was put into question again, just as it was 4
years ago, but this Committee changed nothing last
time, and won't this time either. We know exactly what
could, however!

IT'S THE CUTS WHICH ARE IMPOSSIBLE!
Yes, the MPs obviously didn't ask the right questions -
like: "Aren't the job cuts the main reason why letters
aren't delivered on time?" Instead, Kretinsky was able
to get away with justifying non-delivery by complaining
that the government's USO is just impossible to meet!

IT'S NOT ME, GUV!
What a cheek too, for Kretinsky to blame his attacks on
our Ts&Cs as "necessary" because of competition from
other parcel companies! He went as far as "advising"
the government to "step in" to improve employment
rights in other parcel companies... you couldn't make
this up!

[SpacePhoenix]

PRIORITISE WHAT NOW?
So management's trying these specialised NHS
barcodes supposedly to prioritise healthcare letters over
the rest... We've not seen them yet, but it's a clear
admission that there aren't nearly enough of us to
process and deliver both letters AND parcels. And no
wonder, when we see most workmates retire without
being replaced!

All they need to do is change which config file the machine uses and set which DOs the extraction will apply to. At the end the extracted letters get run on an office breakdown plan using a special refeed config file.

[yellowbelly]

SAME DEMAND - SAME FIGHT?!
And by the way, the few Crown Post Office workers left
(less than 600) have just had a separate vote on a 2-year
pay deal offering a 3% increase this year and 2.5% next.
92% accepted, but on a turnout of 51% - so half didn't
vote for this below inflation, real wage cut. We may be
in separate sectors nowadays, but we're all in the same
union... Wouldn't it make sense if we fought for a real
pay rise, all together..?

If this was a vote for IA it would be carried on that turnout and result, so you can't have it both ways.