)LET'S BREAK THE BOSSES' BACK!
We've plenty reasons to vote for strike when the
ballot comes out on the 24th! But is it really about the
small print of agreements as the CWU officials and
their leaflets claim? Yes, their noses are out of joint.
But have they really only just discovered that RM is a
capitalist business? And that the bosses don't play
nice when they want to make more money on our
backs? For us, the big print says “ENOUGH IS
ENOUGH”! The only way to stop RM's attacks is to
fight, all out, as long as it takes – RM and
ParcelForce together!
SMELLING A RAT
Yes, RM Group managers are at it again, now saying
they want to transform ParcelForce into a separate
legal entity and TUPE our ParcelForce workmates
into it.
Of course, ParcelForce has been posting videos
on RMtv to reassure everyone that it's all about
logistics and that workers won't be affected... as if we
were born yesterday! Every move they make is to cut
wages and Ts&Cs. And they want workers to sign a
new contract to achieve this, which they'd be asked to
do after TUPE expires in 12 months...
BRIEFING FOR WTS
Has anyone seen on the CWU division 5 website that
leaked RM crib-sheet for managers explaining how
they should try and stop our strike? For instance,
they want us to understand that the 2nd hour being
cut from the Shorter Working Week was never a
“promise”. And they're meant to ask “what do we
need to do to either save or earn £100m?” That kind
of says it all...
LOST IN PROROGATION?
But no one can say that these attacks are something
new! Didn't Moya Greene oversee the privatisation of
RM with job cuts and pension cuts?! And by the way,
what on earth has happened to the promised CDC
(albeit lousy) pension scheme? Has it fallen under
Johnson's prorogation guillotine?
WE SHOULD BE THE “HAWKS”
How union officials can still defend the 4 Pillars
agreement, is anyone's guess... Because what the 4
Pillars have been supporting so far is shareholders'
profits and certainly not our Ts&Cs!
Officials even register their disappointment that
Rico (are they on first name terms with this guy?)
didn't take their advice when he put “Hawk” managers
in senior positions... And according to them, “set
industrial relations back years”. It's about time they
were set back... to striking point.
ALL OUT!
By the way, walkouts have continued over the
summer. For instance, mates walked out at Merlins
Bridge (Wales) and for a few days in Plymouth (PL5
and PL6). And of course, these walkouts are due to
the same old reason – nasty managers pushing more
work into fewer hands. Isn't it time to coordinate all
these fights? Surely all together we are stronger!
RMPFS PAY OFFER
We've finally received the confirmation of our pay
offer at RM-PFS and, as expected, it falls short of our
needs... Why should RM pay us less than the Living
Wage Foundation's minimum (£10.55/hr in London)
and get away with promising we'll reach it by 2022?
We're not going to survive on peanuts in the
meantime! How can the union recommend this?
AND ROMFORD?
We haven't heard any news about Romford MC's
possible closure... But the rumour mill keeps grinding
and this time we hear that Romford workmates might
be moved to a site in Beckton's industrial centre?
That doesn't make any sense for any of us!
WE WANT THEM TO STAY
So every time now there is a bank holiday, we can
expect managers to ask casuals to fill the gaps? We
reckon they brought about 50 in during the week after
the August bank holiday. So that's about the
minimum we should expect managers to recruit?
MORE EVRs?
But no, managers are still looking for more EVRs in
HMP! We now hear that they want to have 40 more
of us gone by December – which is good news for
our senior mates who can't wait to leave this place,
but it isn't good news for those left behind!
BETTER RED THAN GREEN
What an anti-climax... On deliveries we were trained
on fancy electric Mercedes-Benz vans and ended up
stuck with very much less fancy Peugeot Partners.
But before anybody starts clapping their hands at
how green RM's become, check out where the
funding for electrification comes from: the
government's Ofgem and other publicity-seeking
corporations... Yup, it's partly from our pockets.
THEY MUST BE MAD
Apparently RM won an award... for Best Mental
Health Strategy. This means that there were other
companies that were worse?!