Hi there thanks for comments and sorry this is a bit late.
BEFORE THE FALL
So now the rest of the state's 30% stake in RM is being sold just as promised - after the election. And 15% is put straight into the hands of "institutional shareholders" i.e., the big players. Says it all about the reason for the sale: it's so the friends of Osborne can make yet more filthy lucre, before the share price starts to dwindle...
SOLD DOWN THE RIVER
Should we be shedding tears over this final sale? Well, only if we have any tears left from October 2013, when we were sold by our own comrades in the leadership of the CWU. General Secretary Dave Ward responded last week by complaining that leaving just 1% of these shares for us to buy was unfair. "As a minimum, if this Government wanted to say they were interested in the workers then they could at least increase the workers' stake in the company. Cheers Dave, we're so glad you care. But do you really think that's what we want?
"BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY"
What's this? A transformation into "David X"? Ward said later that "the CWU is not going away and they [RM] should know that we will defend our members' terms and conditions by all means necessary." Wow. Problem is the difference between what Dave considers "all means" and what we consider "all means". For Malcolm X, "by all means necessary" meant arming yourself.
WHAT FUTURE?
We’ve been wondering what will happen in 2018, when the present agreement ends? This 5-year deal only guaranteed conditions which were already eroded. Obviously, unless we flex the muscles we still have (a lot!) the government will open up the market properly, to prevent companies like Whistl and CityLink going bust in the future - which means no more RM monopoly - i.e., bye-bye USO. But let's be clear: the USO isn't going to be defended by a "parliamentary lobby" (Ward's "means"). If residential mail delivery is to survive at all, let alone in the USO, and all of our jobs with it, it's going to take a (real) and determined strike by all of us.
WHAT'S THIS "NEW CODE OF CONDUCT"?
Already the de facto "no strike deal" is being strengthened: see this "new RM code of conduct" which has been given CWU approval "after months of detailed discussions with the union's senior national team". There will be more emphasis on "informal resolution" of problems "where possible". 3 branches voted against, 69 for. We'd better make sure we know what else is in this "code" and why these 3 branches didn't approve! Maybe, unlike "senior CWU officials, they don't see the "goodwill on all sides"!
WHAT A WASTE
We noticed the "reuse, bring and swap" poster at the door, earlier this month, inviting us to bring things we don't use at home and exchange them between ourselves... A pretty nice idea to recycle things, while saving a bit of money. So, responding in this same spirit of greenness, to RM's poster "What does the environment mean to you?", we thought of bringing all the junk mail that we get at home (after processing it here!) and ask RM to exchange it for the bits of forest which have gone because of it!
PS from EC, W1, WC1-2: why not recycle the junk mail before we deliver it?
WE HAD OUR SAY!
We're surprised that Romec management dared to invite us cleaners to group sessions with "Investors in People" to say what we thought! Did they think we'd pretend everything was great?
Of course, whether they get the approval of this self-styled "judge" of company performance, or not, probably makes no difference... But for us it was a chance to say exactly what we think! And especially how the total lack of "investment in people" here, is the root of all the problems!
STILL USING 0-HOURS!
Yes, one of the big issues now is that on nights, 2 cleaners who left haven't been replaced - and a zero-hours casual worker is meant to cope with the extra burden. Weren't we told that casuals and zero-hours would be banned and existing temps made up to permanent?!
WE'RE GOING NOWHERE
In the meantime Romec is still trying to get engineers to take severance - but not enough of us are prepared to sign up to this. For one thing the money isn't any good - and for another, we expect to be taken in-house - and prefer to sit tight until we are...
PANIC-PERCH
Our Feathered Friend on Processing Lates is chirping frantically these days, whenever we go anywhere - and getting terribly agitated if we aren't on our workstations several minutes before we're even due to start work... Of course, there's meant to be a general push to turn the screw on us and squeeze out every working second! And this is just a very nervous version of it. Nevertheless, Bob the Builder on Nights better buck up - he's got competition...
IT'S OK TO HAVE IT
This PSE - pension salary exchange - is still bothering us because now we must decide whether to opt out or not. Well there's no loss in it for us - we can agree to it (not opt out) and our pension contributions will be paid by RM. We may even gain a quid or two. The only point is that it's a legal tax avoidance scam - but one which the government (and therefore HMRC) recommends!
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