Latest Mount Pleasant bulletin for 27th March

[anna]

Sorry posting bulletin a bit late this time. We didn't mention the bad, bad, rise in stamp prices ...

2.8%: WE'RE TOLD TO BE GRATEFUL!
So it's pay-rise time! For us RM workers, it's the 3rd year in that "partnership", no-strike deal, agreed with the CWU behind our backs, which came with privatisation... And now we've got a long letter to tell us that we'll get 2.8%, despite the fact that RPI inflation is lower than expected (1.1% Jan, 1.2%Feb).
The low inflation level meant that Moya and Co., could have decided to review the rise, and pay us less. But they didn't, thanks to Ward's heroic intervention, and the 2.8% will be paid - albeit a little later than usual... But at what cost?

SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY
Well, Ward doesn't spell out the cost, but he writes: "the company needs to adopt a more radical approach ... and the Union needs to open up its mind to new thinking." Doesn't he even realise that he and his fellow-leaders' "old thinking" was opposed to our best interests, already?

DEMOCRACY DOWN THE DRAIN
Yes, here it is: "We have just agreed with the company a range of ideas on products and services and we will be engaging you directly in this debate in the coming weeks." Already agreed? Without asking anyone? This is behaving like another tier of managers, not a union. Democracy doesn't mean you say yes and then tell the members how they're going to implement what you've agreed to.

WE WANT TO LIVE BETTER!
Anyway, our nitty gritty is the cost of living - and this has increased by huge amounts over the past 8 years. It is only in the last few months that some prices have gone down, mainly because of the fall in oil prices - which still hasn't pulled down energy or public transport costs! Besides, we're still on low wages, and the screw is turning because RM has more casualisation and cuts in hours on its agenda!

AFTER THE CALM COMES THE STORM
So, after some quiet days last month on Processing, we're mostly back to the normal chaos (after Mothers' Day and diversions) - tripping over headless chickens and having bees buzzing around our heads. They're giving out a bit of overtime, but leaving the rest of us completely overstretched, because they just don't bother to cover all the work properly! They should beware: over-stretching leads to snapping...

PRIMA DONNA'S NOT YET ON STAGE...
In case anyone thinks that this incompetence and messing-up means the RM is all finished and washed up, let's remember one little thing… as mafia boss Al Capone said one night at the opera, when his fellow gangsters got up to leave - "sit down, it ain't over till the fat lady sings"... There's plenty we can do to prevent the bosses making things worse.

IN THEIR DREAMS
After that audit for WCM we were told MP got another point - and that "we're aiming for silver"... Maybe "we'll" get there by the time of the next Olympics?

STOP, START AND STOMP
Are cleaners' duties now finally settled? We hope so! Romec managers cancelled the re-sign so many times, it was more like a train timetable than a new cleaning roster - a catalogue of major delays, due, no doubt, to those 2 warring dumbos on the line!

SURPRISE, SURPRISE?
We heard that RM CEO Moya Greede has now dismissed the idea of bringing Romec back in-house. She said it'd cost £30m to buy Cofely's shares and that's too much. So Romec is valued at (over?) £60m in her book - since RM owns 51%? Sounds a bit much to us - Romec's now only got the one contract, with RM - and the majority partner, RM, can decide its price! So if it's really so hard, we suggest she offers Cofely a fiver a month...

PEANUTS, WE SAY!
In fact Moya must be joking when she moans over money, when RM is sitting on a such pile of cash! Its property portfolio is estimated to be more than one thousand million! And we remember the Paddington site sold for £111m, Rathbone Place for £120m, and RM will cash in over £600m for Nine Elms!

ALREADY TURNING GREENE
The 2 Tweedle-dums' election campaign has reached the shop-floor now. Apparently we're supposed to vote for Super-Hero-Dave. Is that because he's expected to follow Billy's bulky example and become The Incredible Hulk?

WE CAN DO IT
Yes, we feel it's a bit like the coming general election - there's nothing to choose between them. Changing things at the top won't make the slightest difference. Wasn't Billy Hayes meant to save us all? The fact is, that we have to save ourselves, by organising collectively on the ground along with our best, tried and tested, union reps. That's the job to be done.

[feduppostie]

Have said it before but I really lose interest with your style of this newsletter

you do realise it is 2015 and not 1975?

This is intended to be constructive advice

[fishtank]

Have said it before but I really lose interest with your style of this newsletter

When you finally do lose interest will you stop telling us how much it doesn't interest you?
I'm just interested.

[feduppostie]

I Promise

[fishtank]

I Promise

lol. (behaving myself)