Mount Pleasant Bulletin 13/01/16

[anna]

Hello here is the bulletin (first one this year) - good news that Romec definitely coming back... ironic how it's happening AFTER privatisation and wonder now if they will improve ts&cs.

UNSOCIAL HOURS =T+½, TX2!
Everywhere bosses are trying to cut night and overtime pay. Now it's the NHS junior doctors who're meant to accept a 26% cut in their pay as part of the £22bn cuts to the NHS! These doctors, whose overtime is compulsory(!) are told they will only get a T+½ premium from 10pm-7am on weekdays, instead of from 7pm-7am and no premium rate on on Saturday, until after 10pm! Yet against all odds and despite furious criticism, they went on strike this Tuesday! We definitely stand with them!

ABOUT TURN?
Yeah, us postal workers already got our throats cut on overtime premium rates under the Way Backwards (?). No reason why we shouldn't fight to get our Saturday T+½ premiums back again, though!

ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER IN THE SOUTH...
Good news: Bridgewater's postal workers have won their fight to get their mate reinstated! He was dismissed after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, but he could still work. So 100 of them took unofficial strike action, forcing managers to back down. Now he may get a part-time job (still "may", as the agreement isn't quite reached yet). Next time, let's hope managers think twice before treating workers like cattle!

...AND IN THE NORTH
We read in RMC that 40 postal workers in Cupar (little town in Fife, Scotland!) also walked out (last month) to get their mate Davis Mitchell reinstated, after RM had him charged with theft. Even the courts dismissed this case but RM refused to budge. This time it was the turn of Cupar workers to show that "no strike deals", won't stop any of us from fighting for what's right!

IMPROVISED FIRE FIGHTER
We got a bit of a scare in packets on Monday night last week, when one of the parcels caught fire, burning the plastic bottom of one of the yorkies! We presume it was a lithium battery and of course, on top of the fire hazard, there are toxic fumes… which makes us wonder why we were asked to stay at our posts, working, instead of evacuating the place!? Next time, we won't wait for the permission of the buzzy work-freak Bee to get away! Anyway - that's just basic H&S!

BRING THE FIREFIGHTERS BACK!
In fact, we heard that RM won't deliver these batteries any more (at least by air), as the Civil Aviation Authority has classified them as restricted goods…
But we wonder how such items will be detected here though, when we don't really know for sure what's in the packets that pass through our hands? (No scanners or x-ray machines, for instance, and HMRC moved out ages ago.) Sounds like we need to get that Fire Station opposite re-opened!

THE LULL BEFORE THE STORM
We finally managed to take a bit of a breath last week in flats, now that the Xmas rush is winding down… But we know this is a very short respite, since, when offices are fully open again after the holidays, the chaos and madness will be back here in HMP! Fortunately, nothing stops us from taking breaks for fresh air (or smoke?) outside, whenever we want… Well, nothing should stop us…

NEW PEOPLE WANTED
Yup, now that the casuals are gone, we feel the need for additional hands here, even more. Of course, new workmates are wanted, but paid at the correct rate, not the miserly £7/hr that RM dared to pay the casuals over Xmas this year! Equal pay for equal work!

TRACKING TOO MANY
Indeed. In PSA, where we could do with many more hands… we're processing and scanning more and more of these T-24, tracked parcels which are meant to be delivered within 24 hours. Yes, RM is very happy to announce expensive services to its customers (after having cut day collections and deliveries) and they expect us to cope with it! Well, we remind them that WE do the work so that those packets and letters can arrive at their destinations in 24 hours! So WE decide if 24 hours is reasonable or not, or whether T-24 should be renamed T-48… or T-Uncertain!

LET'S HAVE THE TRULY NEW
Actually, come to think of it, wouldn't it be better if there was a completely separate department created each time they come up with a "brilliant" new service. Like a separate tracking department, for instance? Or something like that? It could also be "creative" of lots of new jobs..!

THE BIG ROMEC QUESTION
So, we keep hearing rumours that RM will buy back the share it sold in Romec. It makes a very big difference to those of us under the yoke (or should we say joke?) of this Cofely-Romec joint oppression! There still aren't enough of us cleaners, for instance - and the managers still haven't learnt to respect our personal boundaries!

WTS vs WTL
If only Work Time Learning really was used to tell us about the new things (like codes, etc.,) which are coming in. But instead it's just used for RM’s brainwashing - so no wonder we take the chance to catch some shut-eye! But then we're still left to second guess everything we're confronted with on the sorting floor, because we haven't been told a dicky-bird about it!

EVEN WTS WOULD BE GOOD
Also, a lot of us don't even get the WTS - we're too "busy" to be given a session by management - even if it's been scheduled as regular Time Out!

[SpacePhoenix]

So WE decide if 24 hours is reasonable or not, or whether T-24 should be renamed T-48… or T-Uncertain!

No you don't, any T24 item that isn't delivered next day fails. If you get too many days failing T24 then chances are that a bollocking will be passed down the chain from higher up

[anna]

Yeah sure, but what is meant is that "we should be the ones who decide..." If only.