Mount Pleasant bulletin 22/10/14 from anna workers fight

[anna]

Hi - here is latest Mount Pleasant bulletin. Comments, add-ons, and criticisms welcome. Cheers from Anna

PIG IN A POKE FOR US, BONANZA FOR THEM
Last week was the 1st anniversary of RM’s flotation. The 600+ peak share price a year ago is no more. Tuesday it was 432.7p - still higher than the opening price at 330p, but on the slippery slope.
Of course, the shares we got as a bribe can’t be sold for another 2 years... Unlike “priority investors” who sold over 90% of their shares, immediately, making £169m between them. But that’s what the flotation was all about and we knew it, and so did Bill and Dave.

ALL FOR THE GOOD OF THE COMPANY...
Maybe Ms Greede should start paying union dues - she keeps referring to “our” union! But if you have the courage, read how she got the illustrious leaders Bill and Dave to sign up to privatisation (Financial Times special “Royal Mail: the inside story” 17th Oct) and sell us out. It was simple: the old wine and dine trick - but while listening to Siouxsie and the Banshees, we’re told... Yeah, she has big dues owing...

MANY HANDS WOULD MAKE LIGHT WORK
Why were we already snowed under with international packets last week (and no reason it won’t be happening all the time now...)? The worst of it is, that we’re too short of eyes and hands to read the often chaotic labelling and tiny writing, including lots of small packets from China full of samples... It’s giving us a huge headache. Of the going-home kind.

LOGJAM
Another thing: why bother to send everyone from the other sections down to packets to help, when there’s no equipment to take the work away? The mini-yorks, full of post-dated work were parked neatly along the walls - so there’s nothing to sort into! Is it too hard for the bosses to figure out that nothing can move if there’s nothing to move it in?

PREPARING FOR XMAS...
What’s supposed to happen on 25th December? HMP warders just don’t seem to know. RM HQ is putting out press releases to make it sound like they do (recruiting 19,000 casuals and reducing 2nd class small packet prices by £1, just until January, to try to “beat the competition”). But here, toilet class (WC) organisation will prevail!
So cheers and bonzai to that! Or was that bronzai? Yes, the “independent audit” (from Chrysler, USA?!) on our kaizen-ability, just scored us a bronze. Can someone explain what this means? Anyone?

NO PENNIES FOR THE XMAS GUYS
Yes, we’ve already been told there’ll be no overtime this year in the run-up to Xmas. Bad tho’ OT is for the health and the unemployed, it’s something that many rely upon - especially under-paid part-timers.
Of course this pre-ordained restriction may just be bravado on the part of management - because it’s hard to believe they won’t need us. If only to come in to fix their many mistakes.

WILL THEY BE SERIOUS, THOUGH?
Maybe there’s a small victory for Romec cleaners, which proves we are right to say “no” and get the union involved : we hear that the duties are going to be looked at, giving us at least a chance to have a say. But will the boss listen, and take on more permanent workers, on equal pay - and to offer proper jobs to ALL of the temps?

BOSSES SHOULD GET THEIR JUST DESERTS!
Why are our two Romec workmates who were unfairly dismissed not back yet? We can’t wait much longer for them... Because we all know that it’s the management and the company behind them, not our mates, who need to be punished, and if these fellow-workers aren’t reinstated promptly, we’ll be seeing to that!

THEY NEED WORKLOAD LEARNING
In fact it’s not just RM full-timers who’re deprived of WorkTime Learning. Us Romec workers are too. So we suggest we all have this WTL every week - so we can find out what’s happening, but even more, because we’d like to teach the managers a thing or two about what’s possible and what’s not.

FOLD THIS GOLD
Yes, Romec bosses still want “Gold standard” (!) cleaning at the front door, when the walls were painted with cheap emulsion paint! And dirt-free golden toilets when they’re in heavy use all day and night. And still getting blocked. The ceiling is leaking on the second floor into the bargain. Give us a break.

TAKING THE PROVERBIAL
We heard that Romec’s Mr Pee said the union doesn’t pay our wages and so we have to listen to him, not them. But what wages? The mean 2.5% rise with backpay which was meant to be paid already was delayed “due to payroll problems”! Again?
Anyway, he should remember he’s just a paid minion himself. And we know who to listen to.

A REVOLUTIONARY OFFER?
After the mayor gave the MP development its planning permission last week, one of the world’s best modernist architects, Zaha Hadid, offered to help design an alternative housing development! The question is whether this great offer will be enough to get the already-agreed architects to collaborate - and build the social housing which Hadid is likely to insist upon!

WE LOVE PROPERTY… SORRY, PARCELS!
RM has sold part of MP; it is in the business of "sell and leaseback" centres like Warrington - and now we've read it has sold Paddington for £111m… we wonder if all the drama about dropping the USO hides a desire to convert RM into an estate agency... to the benefit of big private property developers, of course.

[wabbithunta]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaizen" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Kaizen (改善?), Japanese for "good change". It has been applied in healthcare,[1] psychotherapy,[2] life-coaching, government, banking, and other industries. When used in the business sense and applied to the workplace, kaizen refers to activities that continually improve all functions and involve all employees from the CEO to the assembly line workers. It also applies to processes, such as purchasing and logistics, that cross organizational boundaries into the supply chain.[3] By improving standardized activities and processes, kaizen aims to eliminate waste (see lean manufacturing). Kaizen was first implemented in several Japanese businesses after the Second World War, influenced in part by American business and quality management teachers who visited the country. It has since spread throughout the world[4] and is now being implemented in environments outside of business and productivity.

The Sino-Japanese word "kaizen" simply means "good change", with no inherent meaning of either "continuous" or "philosophy" in Japanese dictionaries or in everyday use. The word refers to any improvement, one-time or continuous, large or small, in the same sense as the English word "improvement".[5] However, given the common practice in Japan of labeling industrial or business improvement techniques with the word "kaizen" (for lack of a specific Japanese word meaning "continuous improvement" or "philosophy of improvement"), especially in the case of oft-emulated practices spearheaded by Toyota, the word Kaizen in English is typically applied to measures for implementing continuous improvement, or even taken to mean a "Japanese philosophy" thereof. The discussion below focuses on such interpretations of the word, as frequently used in the context of modern management discussions.
Kaizen is a daily process, the purpose of which goes beyond simple productivity improvement. It is also a process that, when done correctly, humanizes the workplace, eliminates overly hard work ("muri"), and teaches people how to perform experiments on their work using the scientific method and how to learn to spot and eliminate waste in business processes. In all, the process suggests a humanized approach to workers and to increasing productivity: "The idea is to nurture the company's people as much as it is to praise and encourage participation in kaizen activities."[6] Successful implementation requires "the participation of workers in the improvement."[7] People at all levels of an organization participate in kaizen, from the CEO down to janitorial staff, as well as external stakeholders when applicable. The format for kaizen can be individual, suggestion system, small group, or large group. At Toyota, it is usually a local improvement within a workstation or local area and involves a small group in improving their own work environment and productivity. This group is often guided through the kaizen process by a line supervisor; sometimes this is the line supervisor's key role. Kaizen on a broad, cross-departmental scale in companies, generates total quality management, and frees human efforts through improving productivity using machines and computing power.[citation needed]

We had all this stuff thrown at us in my previous job, along with their version of "work time learning", "Investors in People" etc.
End result was that "The Group" (The Holding/Parent Company) had a a board meeting and we, the actually original firm that was by then over 100 yrs old, was closed down and moved to a new location, after job changes, job cuts, working layout, work patterns etc. Also all the specialised work we carried out for particular customers, this was a money earner too. All were cut in the move and they concentrated on the basic simple work that was easier, and faster to complete on time! They left all the "specialised" work to the competition. Sounds familiar doesn't it?
This resulted in over 300 jobs being lost, from the site director to the cleaners. No-one was spared. I've been at RM for over ten years now and we're on the same path, following the same pattern. All we need here to complete the cycle will be monthly pay and some more jobs given to you to do due to jobs being cut (again)

Same s**t... different place!

Kaizen this Moya...!
:dcfo :dcfo :vcfo