31/05/22 Mount Pleasant Bulletin

[jimallen]

Hi! This is the Mount Pleasant bulletin of 31 May... we appreciate your comments and read them with interest!

NOTHING NEW
Was that letter from the "Operations Development Director"
(there is such a thing!) we found in our work areas last
week, meant to make us think that RM have
"compromised" regarding the pay "offer"? It says now that
the 2% pay rise is "unconditional" and that RM even "wants
to pay more", but only if we agree to their strings - just as
it's been saying all along! So what's the point of this letter,
other than being a waste of paper?

EVERY "LITTLE" DOES NOT HELP!
What's for sure, is that this letter is full of nonsense, to put
it politely! It says management's made the 2%
"unconditional" "to help with cost of living" - do these
people even read what they write?! RPI inflation was
11.1% in April. So their "unconditional" pay offer is a 9.1%
pay cut, right now. And who knows what inflation will look
like later in the year!

PATHWAY TO ALL-OUT STRIKE
CEO Simon Thompson keeps whining about an "expected"
fall in profits in the coming year. Yes, he has the cheek to
say this, when RM just announced a record £758 million
adjusted operating profit this year - up 8% from the year
before! Now he says the "Pathway to Change" agreement
"only" brought £59 million of savings (that is, cuts to jobs
and conditions), and that more cuts are needed! Well, his
tears and complaints won't fill our shopping trolleys, won't
pay our rent or heat our homes.

IT HAS TO BE DIFFERENT THIS TIME!
The gate meeting turnout during morning shift 2 weeks ago
was good - about 200 of us, including some who didn't
have a break at that time. The union official told us he was
angry about the insulting pay offer, and so are we,
obviously! But then what? The usual "support your union",
and "get the bosses back to the table" (behind closed
doors!)? We know where that has led us in the past. This
time we have to find a way to break those doors down, and
really have our say!

OUR OWN ORGANISATION NEEDED
Why was the gate meeting organised only for the early
shift? We all want to have our say. So if the union officials
won't bother, we need to organise our own meetings, and
discuss what we want to do!

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER?
Unite/CMA have finally announced that they'll be having a
formal strike ballot for the managers facing job cuts. But as
RM bosses said themselves, "We are unclear why
Unite/CMA would plan to issue a formal ballot at this late
stage when managers are already in their new roles, the
new structure has already gone live, and many managers
impacted by the programme have already left the
organisation under voluntary redundancy." Indeed, weird
timing, but never too late for managers to join us on the
picket line.

MANGLED PARCEL-POO-PRODUCTION?
Last week Boss Baby was at it again, telling us how
wonderful the Parcel Sorting Machine is and he even
showed us a video about it. So apparently the machine is
so simple to operate that we just need to feed it with
parcel "food" and wait for it to digest it. The worry is what
we'll get on the other side, but Boss Baby assures us it
won't be crap... which we highly doubt, knowing RM's
previous record with technology...

NOT A GOOD START
BB also said it will take only an hour to train us to operate
this beast of a machine, and that we'll all be trained... In
fact, he's using the excuse that the PSM is so easy to
operate, that there's no need for machine allowance! So
cutting jobs and cutting machine allowance, that's what
management wants to get away with?!

H&S? WHAT'S H&S?
As for H&S training for the PSM, we've heard nothing.
But this monster will take up considerable space and
disrupt everything. We know managers lack any sense of
space when organising work areas - we're all on top of
each other as it is! Frankly, H&S is long gone, replaced
by "look out for yourself" - and each other, we might add,
because that's what we need to do!
PS: There are still a few final touches to reinforce the
floor which this PSM (parts already arriving) will stand on.
So let's hope it will hold, because we don't want to end up
suddenly joining our workmates in the basement!

PERMANENT HAZARD WARNING
That reminds us that it was just a few months ago that 6
or 7 pillars of the facade between the memorial and
Phoenix gate had to be repaired... because the material
used to cover the bricks started to peel off. It wasn't
intended for outside use! Yup, management does
everything on the cheap... so we need to remain ever vigilant!

HAND US THE BUG-ZAPPER!
On letters, we notice that as soon as King Etcetera goes
off to do his rounds in other work areas, stand-in
managers suddenly pop-up here and there, buzzing in our
ears like annoying flies... Can they please go buzz
somewhere else? Maybe they can follow Etcetera on his
rounds?

PAY-SLIP SLIP-UP
PFS workers had a shock when we didn't see the London
Allowance on our payslips this month... turns out it had
been incorporated into our basic pay. So can the
Elephant make himself useful for once and ensure that
this never happens again (and apologise!!)? London
allowance (and any other allowance) must always be
itemised separately!

FARE-YOU-WELL!
We'd like to wish our workmates who're leaving all the
very best - we'll miss you! And while you are
irreplaceable as work-comrades, we're going to have to
make sure that new workers are brought in to take over
your jobs!

[bustedflush]

I have to say that this is a throwback to the grim days of the 1970's. The vitriol (workplace issues aside) reminds me of why the majority of the UK electorate has an underlying fear of socialism and has not elected a government of that ilk for nearly half a century.