new bulletin from Mount Pleasant re "agreement"

[anna]

Hi This is the Workers' Fight Bulletin for 28th January responding to the recommendation to vote yes for the "agreement". We are on the "no" side.

A HUGE "NO" VOTE WOULD DO US PROUD
So it was a packed meeting on Lates to hear the union explain why it wants us to vote "yes" for the Agreement. As if a guarantee for our jobs till 2019 from "the new RM" is even worth the paper it's written on! Sure, we need to secure our jobs, and Ts&Cs, for our working lifetimes - but RM says maybe till 2019, "subject to review" - and then attaches lots of strings, even to this half-hearted 5-year "promise". Our only guarantee to have our jobs into the future is to fight for every single one of them and carry on fighting!
The speaker told us the Mount had produced the biggest "yes" for the strike! So let's try to deliver the biggest "NO" to this agreement!

WHAT'S THIS NONSENSE?
The CWU said if we don't vote for the agreement, it'll put RM in a bad position in front of the competition. It's what RM has said every time we had a strike. So why this boss-talk from the CWU? What next? Will they ask us to say "yes" to a pay cut "for the sake of beating the competition"? Following that logic, any strike which threatens the profits/operation of a company is bad. Never mind that this is the point of a strike!

LET'S BRING THE RM SHIP BACK TO DRY DOCK!!
Yes, and if there's a convincing "NO" vote - it'll send a message to the share market that their latest gambling bonanza is just so much fluff!! Wouldn't it be good to see them panic! And how easy to do it!

LEGALLY BINDING - US - HAND AND FOOT!
Since Deliveries issues aren't resolved, the compulsory arbitration/no-strike deal is essential for RM - to tie us hand and foot, in order (they hope) to prevent us resisting yet more cuts and pressure. No way!

ALMOST UNREADABLE, BUT IT'S STILL REVEALING
Why haven't we been given the full agreement to read? We don't all have computers/internet, but we still need to see the whole document! Then it will become even more clear that the reassurances RM gives have gaping loopholes attached!

CREEPING CASUALISATION
Why are temps already routinely used in parts of RM, like deliveries/driving? Some are on 3 month contracts, if they're lucky. It's unacceptable.

HOW DO THEY WORK THAT ONE OUT?
How dare Romec argue, that after losing contracts elsewhere, it's justified in cutting engineers' jobs in RM, due to a "surplus"? And on top of it, it's ignoring all the protections we've fought for over the years. So we're voting for strike.

WE PREFER TO STRIKE
And us Romec cleaners are also voting for strike. Negotiations over the new duties allocations completely broke down. Nobody wanted to work weekends so managers decided they'd just allocate duties and ignore seniority. And just like for the engineers, they also won't respect the agreement on the "surplus of workers" they say exists (which surplus?)! They're playing very dirty. And they've picked the wrong opponent.

MINIMUM PAY
Us cleaners did finally get our pay arrears almost a year late. But where's all the interest gone - owed on this super-late payment? Since our 2014 pay rise is almost due, we should be asking for at least £100/w rise - and for them to scrap the bonus and put it on the pay!!

LEAVE IT OUT!
One more thing: Romec's new annual leave" plan is unbelievable! They've made 8/12/14 to 4/1/15 a "closed period" except under "exceptional" circumstances and one manager told us that if we have a "good" record on sickness, we might get more than 2 consecutive weeks leave, but otherwise it wasn't allowed!! What if "home" is 1,000s of miles away and it takes nearly a week just travelling? This is discrimination, bullying and b***cks!

MOYA ON BENEFIT STREET
Moya Greene could play the role of the poor sister on Executive Boulevard - with her pay packet of nearly £4m, earning far less then her CEO peers... who average £14m! Yes, poor her. It's nothing but a state handout. Move over Benefit St!

REINSTATE HIM: WE'RE BLACKING TQ1 AND TQ2!
Our mates in Torquay are balloting to fight the sacking of a driver whose van rolled into a bicycle shed because the handbrake was faulty. The worst of it is that the so-called safety notice over these Astra vans, which cautions everyone to leave them "in gear" when stopped, hasn't even been circulated properly...

AND WASH YOUR MOUTH OUT TOO
We heard that 2 Romec managers came in to play with the scrubbing machines last weekend and sweated so much they emptied the drinks machine. We suggest that while JJ's at it, she scrubs her manners as well.

WE NEED MORE FIRE STATIONS, NOT FEWER!
The end of one of the oldest fire stations in London was bad enough, but the closure of this old friend across the road is part of the closure of over 20 others across London - with firefighters cut and fire safety compromised. It wasn't enough to have the "wake" a few weeks ago, outside. This attack leaves us all with unfinished business - the fight to reverse the cuts!

PS: We heard this wasn't even "our" fire station. If we'd had a fire we'd have had to call Euston! Logical! [email: contact@w-fight.org]