01/11/17 Mount Pleasant Bulletin from Anna and Jim

[jimallen]

Hi there, here's the Mount Pleasant bulletin of the 1st of November... comments welcome!

BEHIND OUR BACKS
Yes, RM bosses and the union officials are back at the
negotiating table, behind closed and double locked doors -
where talks will be “confidential”, as always, for 7 weeks
plus and we’ll be left in the dark. It doesn’t have to be this
way. We made a decision to strike, knowing from bitter
experience that this is the only way to gain anything from
the bosses. So the question for us is what we do next.

WHAT IS THE REAL DIFFERENCE?
We're told the difference now, (what a big deal!) is that the
union and RM have jointly agreed a “mediator” (academic
and professional HR advisor, Lynette Harris). But it’s hard
to imagine what she will add to the mix... or is it best
described as a “mix-up”: of the union leaderships’ interests,
our interests, and RM and its shareholders interests? But
these interests can’t be “reconciled”. They gain, we lose;
we lose, they gain. Simple, really.

BUSINESS AS USUAL?
As for that little online video with RM bosses explaining to
us that they’re "pleased to enter a new phase of talks" that
will take "close to Christmas to be completed" and that till
then, it's "business as usual”: it was a joke! As if it can be
“business as usual” when we stand to lose most of what
we’ve fought for over decades?

WE AREN’T PUPPY-DOGS, HOWEVER
Of course, the bosses may have every reason to be
pleased. They think they’ve got an obedient union
leadership on a leash and the courts on their side - so what
else can they ask for?! Maybe we should remind them that
we, the workforce, are not “obedient” and certainly not on
their leash!

FEARING THE GRILL?
We were very angry that the CWU HQ organised a march
ending here, at HMP, without telling us! Even our reps
were only told at the last minute, if at all! Were Dave Ward
and Terry Pullinger afraid of having to answer some
awkward questions? Like, for instance, why did they lie
about signing that no-strike agreement?!

GIVE WAY TO THE GROWN UPS!
For those who were there at the CWU march, it was
embarrassing to see the union officials’ pathetic little sideshow.
Including a “Postman Pat” running after a couple of
big “chickens”? What was that supposed to mean? And
what next? Santa and his little helpers at Xmas (reindeer
being a bit costly this year)? The 2 Kings and 1 Queen in
January? In the meantime, RM goes for our throats - but
no reason to worry, union HQ will come up with another
little pantomime…

RULES ARE MADE TO BE BROKEN!
We need to remember. RM bosses have only ever backed
down when we've used our collective strength - and we've
seen enough unofficial walkouts (even) recently to prove it!
It is up to us on the ground, to wipe that arrogant smile off
their faces.

THE QUIET BEE
Finally, some fresh air on nights last week, when the Buzzy
Bee buzzed off on holidays! After he's created such
havoc, maybe he wants to make himself scarce to let
things cool off? What about gardening leave?

BATTED AND BOWLED ...OUT?
We still feel just like ping-pong balls on the shop floor - as
soon we're done with our duties, managers find new ones
we’re meant to cover. At this rate, we'll end up finding our
next duty outside, in the fresh air…

SHARED WORKLOAD, OR SPLIT DUTY?
We thought the split duty was a new management
invention. But now we hear that some of our mates have
been doing this for a while already. Of course, the idea is
for managers to load more duties on fewer backs! It’s
really getting frustrating. We need more hands, not more
new management inventions to cover for the lack of them!

ONE AIN'T TWO
There’s worse to come: we hear 86 of our workmates are
taking EVR in December - this is a lot! Not only are we
going to miss our mates, (and we do wish them all the
best!), but we'll be missing their hands on the shop floor as
well: already on flats, managers want one of us to cover for
two jobs… etc... But they really must be dreaming, if they
think we'll be sorting twice as fast - we'll take our time, as
long as we need!

AS SOON AS NOW!
On the drivers' side, many of us would prefer to leave
ASAP, but the wardens (screws!) at HMP won't let us go!
Some of our mates are so fed up they've just resigned
without any redundancy package...

UPSTAIRS/DOWNSTAIRS
Yup, upstairs is the nice managers' offices and in the
basement… the mess, inside a mess, and we cleaners are
in the middle of it! Our changing rooms have no heating, a
jig-saw puzzle of carpet for women and no carpet at all for
men and a wide open space above the walls where all the
dust from building works blows in… it’s a hazardous
“mess”! We're told it’s temporary, but we know that
"temporary" for RM can last forever! So we need
improvements now!

ANOTHER KIND OF JUNK MAIL
And most of the cleaners' yorkies used for rubbish aren’t in
much better shape either: broken and unusable. We’re
told to use mail yorkies instead, as we are all “one RM”,
after all! But couldn’t this result in the mailing of garbage
and the binning of mail?! Wait… RM is already doing this,
isn't it?

WAITING FOR XMAS TO PLAN FOR XMAS?
We’re still waiting to hear from management what is going
on with Xmas pressure overtime. Can someone tell us
who's going to cover for the extra work? And when are the
casuals coming, if indeed they are coming... Because we
really can’t see where and how they’ll be accommodated?