22/03/23 Mount Pleasant Bulletin

[jimallen]

Hi, here is the Mount Pleasant bulletin of 22 March, comments welcome!

SO, THEY'VE GOT NOWHERE?!
The CWU "updated" us on the talks (already extended
past 12 March) last Friday. A whole 2 weeks after the
joint statement in which the union negotiators promised
to "find the most constructive way to work together in
local revision activity", they suddenly discover that on
the ground revisions are creating an "untenable
situation"!
Apparently, the "integrity" of the statement is being
undermined "by an out-of-control senior management
team under the mantra 'our business to run'." So the
union leaders call on the Board to "control"
management – but just who do Ward et al. think the
Board is?!

OUR ONLY WEAPON
The "realignment" which has taken place here – a de
facto re-sign – has changed duties and cut jobs in a way
which we cannot go along with. However don't we
have a "live" strike vote!? We can use it!

FOR THE PUBLIC, NOT BOSSES!
Speaking of whose business this is to run, yes, it does
belong to the shareholders… but that's the problem!
The only answer is renationalisation. A non-profit
service. Yet all union leaders talk about is helping RM
bosses avoid losing profits!

ISN'T THE USO RM's MAIN ASSET?
The Select Committee referred RM to Ofcom over its
delivery of the USO. It bought the Thompson's
complaint that the USO "limits freedom for manoeuvre
and makes it harder to be fully competitive on parcels,"
and wants the government to "work with" RM to come
up with a solution by the end of next year… Of course,
if it didn't need to "compete" on the market for profits,
no other solution would be needed!

PROFITEERS' FAIRYTALES
Everyone – the Select Committee, CWU, and
management – "agrees" that RM is in "financial
difficulty" and may be bankrupt in 4 months! Well,
there were very fat profits in the last few years, so if the
company has indeed now run out of money (and we
don't believe it!), they know where they can find it – in
the shareholders' pockets!

THEY DON'T LEARN...
Managers are finally accepting they messed up when
they tried to get workmates who had been on light
duties - for good reason - to come and sort packets. So
now these management bright sparks will have to send
our mates straight back to their old jobs!

FESTIVAL OF MIS-SORTS
Processing managers on Nights are trying to get some
of us on packets to work the PSM when PSM workmates
are on their breaks. Yes, the poor machine is not meant
to get any rest, and as a result it's multiplying the missorts,
out of exhaustion! But not to worry, managers
tell us they're working on it...
PS: Night managers are also clearing some of the
morning shift's work on the PSM, with the obvious
intention of cutting yet more jobs! We need to throw a
spanner in the works!

WE WANT 1 IN, FOR EVERY 1 OUT
We're not surprised our mates want out of this place.
So despite RM cutting the VR package, more people in
Processing are leaving. But we don't hear a word about
replacements – we need them!

DELIVERIES MAYHEM
DUMs want to go ahead with their revisions in W1 next
week – yes, really! So more job cuts, more work added
to our already too-busy rounds and more postboxes to
collect from... Have they learned nothing from the
revisions in EC, where work fails more than ever, thanks
to their cuts?

THEIR VIRTUAL REALITY
Now DUMs tell us to deliver priority parcels first and
then return down the same streets to deliver the rest of
our rounds. Never mind that most W1 streets are 1-
way, so this will take ages and undelivered mail is going
to pile up!
Of course they have no idea of what rounds are in
real life, because they plan all the deliveries on a
computer screen!

HE HAS A SORE TRUNK
The union officials have been coming down in the past
two weeks, to slap the elephant's trunk over his
favouritism. Apparently his excuse for not giving some
of us extra hours, was that he was "worried about our
health"... True, working too many hours is bad for your
health, but so is earning only £11.95/hr, especially when
you've got mouths to feed at home!

OUT OF ORDER!
When are these bloody scanning in/out "booths" going
to be thrown in the skip? We get managers calling us to
the office claiming we didn't scan out (or in), thanks to
the faulty machines. In fact a couple are already
officially "out of order". And knowing RM's love for high
tech, the rest must be running on Windows XP (circa
2000)...

HOW MANY TIMES HAVE WE TO SAY THIS?
Night shift got this questionnaire asking when/how we
use the canteen, and if we want something other than
their veggie option, which is all they offer. What sort of
questions are these? Obviously we want more choice,
and yes, we want a decent canteen. But one question
they didn't ask is: "how many staff do you think should
be in the canteen on Nights?". To which we'd have
answered: AT LEAST TWO!