latest 22/4/15 Mount Pleasant bulletin from workers fight

[anna]

ROMEC BELONGS IN HOUSE
Good to see the continuing campaign to get CWU branches (and others?) on board, in the fight to force RM to take Romec fully in-house! And good to see also, that this campaign is not just relying on the good sense it makes - as with BT - but putting the idea forward that action will be needed. Because we all know that RM has seldom, if ever, shown any good sense - and, moreover, has never backed down without us going on strike.

SPOILT HIS RATTLE
So Tweedle-Dave's and Tweedle-Billy's battle, has been declared a win for T-D - despite the fact that 80% of us didn't vote. The turnout - at 19.2% - and the even lower turnouts for the election to the union executive bodies are not a good sign! And by the way, why didn't Billy send us a postcard asking us to vote for him, like Dave did?

ONE JUST LIKE THE OTHER
Of course, since union officials at this top level have very long since lost contact and concern for us as ordinary union members, to be honest, it really cannot make an ounce of difference whether it is Dave or Billy who's up there. It said it all that they electioneered just like politicians in a general election - they show they care only when they want our votes...

THEY AREN'T THE UNION, WE ARE!
As for low turnouts, maybe the encouragement to be more interested in the union could start "at home"? With regular open union meetings which welcome everyone - with some social life? And never mind that RM says "no" to meetings here - and in work-time. Let's do it. After all, the union office up on the second floor is a faraway place for most of us...

UNION-WTS INSTEAD!
The need for such meetings on a weekly basis (!) to talk about OUR problems and not have to listen to RM brainwashing us - as in the so-called "Work Time Learning" - is proven by the fact that these WTL meetings often turn into a meeting to air our frustrations... Much to management's frustration!

HAVE WE ALREADY LEARNT EVERYTHING?
Talking about RM's Work Time Sleeping, the full-timers never seem to get it anymore... Why this discrimination? We also need time to sleep - maybe even more so?

OLÉ?
We've been busy, very busy, in the bullring, so much so that mates’ elbows and backs are giving in, with all this packet- throwing. We look like the walking wounded - you'd think we'd been fighting real bulls - instead of the bulls**t management...

THERE ARE REAL VACANCIES TO FILL!
But "busy" is the word everywhere - even after the holidays are over and everyone's back. So where is the strategy to make sorting rational: more frequent, earlier collections? And most of all, why not give full-time jobs to all who want them and then advertise for new permanent full-timers?

WHO'S GOT THE BRIBE? ( Part 2)
So never mind the £30m spent refurbishing HMP - RM is still incapable of ensuring that we have enough working lifts! When we have 20 yorkies to bring to the 1st floor for processing and we find out that only one lift is working, are we supposed to wait all night long? Mind you, we're not in a hurry… so we would like a tea/coffee machine by the lifts, some chairs... a table, a couple of magazines…

RULE MAKERS, RULE BREAKERS
The Romec cleaners' Elephants took 2 whole months to draw up the re-sign and now they don't even stick to it. Within 2 weeks we have chaos; they said no casuals... we have casuals, even tho' we're so permanently short of permanent workers! And while one manager still finds an excuse to exercise his favouritism, all over the place we have one person doing 2 workers' work! What's so obvious to us is apparently a total mystery to these Dumbos.

OUT TO CUT
What is RM preparing with the telemetry-spying in our cabs? We know of course that this is a job cut plan. They want to catch us out, literally.... What we can bet on is that their claim about "improving" our skills and road safety is all rubbish. RM is only interested in “improving” one thing: its profits (and share price). As if they give a damn about the rest!

WORRIED ABOUT HER
The whole Board was apparently in tears after they heard Moya was not getting a salary hike.... So they've now decided to pay her 5% more, after the general election...
What a relief. We couldn’t bear the thought of her getting less than our 2.8%! But why only after the election? Surely she and her friends in government aren't afraid of upsetting voters?

[SpacePhoenix]

WHO'S GOT THE BRIBE? ( Part 2)
So never mind the £30m spent refurbishing HMP - RM is still incapable of ensuring that we have enough working lifts! When we have 20 yorkies to bring to the 1st floor for processing and we find out that only one lift is working, are we supposed to wait all night long? Mind you, we're not in a hurry… so we would like a tea/coffee machine by the lifts, some chairs... a table, a couple of magazines…

Long term having a MC split over multiple floors will go against it, if RM can find a suitable site somewhere to build a new MC all on one floor then MP would be in trouble

[Martin Walsh]

The Mount had 33% of their members in the GS Election one in three of the membership.
The Tories bought in postal votes as they knew the returns would be lower. You will see where Branch's engaged with the membership on this election they got an higher turn out ! One branch got 39% ! Dave Ward held meetings in the mount during the campaign including with W1 and WC members.

[Lincox]

1 in 3 is nothing to boast about Dingo. It is a sad indictment of the fact that the Union is not a union as it is unable to engage more than 50% of the membership.

[Martin Walsh]

Is It really when Bob Crowe died the RMT elected a new GS with 20% of the members voting, the RMT gets a lot of praise but the turn out was roughly the same.

When we had the agenda for growth industrial action ballot the turn out was nearly 70% with some branch's in the high 80's.

We have to face that most members do not vote , this is nothing new and has been happening for over 20 years ever since postal ballots came in. Previous to the law change the NEC was elected at conference .

[motherhubbard]

Is It really when Bob Crowe died the RMT elected a new GS with 20% of the members voting, the RMT gets a lot of praise but the turn out was roughly the same.

So we are as useless as the RMT at engaging the members.
Still nothing to crow about. (tee hee hee)

[Lincox]

Is It really when Bob Crowe died the RMT elected a new GS with 20% of the members voting, the RMT gets a lot of praise but the turn out was roughly the same.

When we had the agenda for growth industrial action ballot the turn out was nearly 70% with some branch's in the high 80's.

We have to face that most members do not vote , this is nothing new and has been happening for over 20 years ever since postal ballots came in. Previous to the law change the NEC was elected at conference .

Two wrongs don,t make a right. The PEC are not engaging the membership. This can only be achieved by organisation and that means having monthly meetings and providing encouragement for members to join in. As a member of the old NUIW union, we engaged the membership. A monthly meeting with no holds barred. A sandwich and a pint after it, together with a game of pool. All problems were taken up immediately with the manager by the local rep and appointed colleague and the conclusion was passed down to the membership within 1 week. That is what active unionism is about Dingo. In the last 3 years of my employment with Royal Mail the local rep did not attend our unit on one occasion. No wonder that the membership are regarding these people as being puppets for Royal Mail management. It is up to the PEC to show the way, and unless they start to become active across the whole of the country, there will continue to be no energy within the CWU and it will continue to be considered as subordinate to it,s masters.