Mount Pleasant Workers Fight bulletin

[anna]

Hi there - very sorry I am late in posting this - it is from Thursday 7 April
While managers may be balloting over 1.3% offer, nobody had heard a word from CWU HQ as to the offer or anything else for workforce. Not even branch officials. Apparently.
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EGG HUNT?
On nights, we were kept in the dark until the very last minute re our Easter break holiday. On the Thursday night, we still didn't know how many nights we'd have free. Of course, work-freak and petty power-hungry Bob the Builder, in his bonus hunt, couldn't allow "his" shift to go short.

CONTROLLER
While the new PDA is meant now to solve all our problems (oh, it has scan buttons on both sides!!) we're a bit concerned. There are electronic sensors everywhere, picking up the signals... and those on the ground floor seem to have migrated to other parts of the building. All the better to track us with.

TELEMETRY OFF
On the subject, we're wondering what RM's going to ask us next, regarding the telemetry devices fitted in vehicles. For now, we can turn them off, but we have to make sure it stays that way - we don't want RM "monitoring" us all day long!

CHAOS TO COME? IT'S ALREADY HERE!
It's ridiculous us doing 5 jobs at a time - and what happens when just one thing goes wrong? Everywhere's the same - supplies can't be got because there's no-one there anymore - the person responsible has been shifted to weekends, with no replacement! We're spread too thin!

DON'T HOLD YOUR BREATH...
Yeah, so the union review of "vacant duties" throughout RM - duties we've been covering for a long time already due to EVRs, is overdue! And BTW, this is only going to get worse with the latest EVR offer! Yes, the headcount in HMP and everywhere else has hit the floor! Will the exec suggest we organise a fight to replace all the missing mates?

"FIGHT"? WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
Apparently not - no surprise there, then! In fact we've only recently seen the already out-of-date, glossy 8-page "People's Post" campaign "booklet"... and while it's content is clear as mud, it's also clear no fight is on the union agenda. It muddles everything together and the "new agreement" (also overdue!) including radical changes - cuts! - afoot in deliveries are hidden somewhere in the middle - and not even highlighted!

YES, THERE ARE REAL THREATS
Yes, everything's thrown in there in a mix. Threats to the USO, shareholding, the situation in POL and the danger to pensions. On page 5, they mention how night shifts plus night drivers' jobs will go completely and sequencing will be "one, later wave" with delivery spans of 6 hours and how 9am-5pm shifts will become the norm! But this plan is already underway! So what's to be done now?

BUT LET'S IDENTIFY THE ENEMY
Sadly, for Dave Ward, the main enemy is "Evil Ofcom" - not the privateers who own RM (fully!) and the government who owns POL + our pensions, or bosses like Ms Greede, shareholder and employer in one, against us! He implies Greede is on our side against Ofcom! Very handy! So he can avoid proposing to fight RM's job-shredding and ask us to write complaining letters on her's and his behalf, to MPs.

REFRESHING THEIR MEMORIES
Yes, it's a joke to tell us that all we can do is contact our local MP, sign a petition, join the campaign and tell family and friends! The level of attacks that may be in store for us (from RM and the government, as always!) can be fought only one way, with our feet - together with other workers in the same boat, starting with POL. If the officials don't remember that, it's up to us to remind them!

ATTEMPT TO SEE
Anyway, we had a good laugh when we read how the CWU is "attempting to see" if it could use the 12% stake of RM workers' shares to have a voice on the company board. As the English saying goes: "there are none so blind as those who will not see".

SAME DIFFERENCE!
So in Romec we got this official letter to say RM wholly owns Romec now. What's it mean for us? Change of uniform, pay rise, shares? No, our conditions are unchanged. It's a royal disappointment! But it won't stop us fighting for RM Ts&Cs, decent pay - and all the rest!

FUN FAIR DOWN IN THE BASEMENT?
What's going on with all these construction works? Is it the van parking area already? Does that mean that the Mount Pleasant development's going ahead? But what about the Romec office down there, and the gym, and the traffic office… Oh, and what about the railway?

STRONG LADDER NEEDED
So we hear that the Romec Elephant may be climbing up the ladder to apply for a higher-up job. As far as we're concerned, the farther he is from the shop floor, the better it is. Hopefully the steps on the ladder will stand up to his elephant weight and we won't have to see him again.

MANAGERS ARE (MOSTLY) ALL ANIMALS
But now we wonder who's going to apply to fill his shoes? We should start stating our zoological preferences now… (no giraffes, foxes, nor mice to nibble our pay)... You don't want to apply for this, do you, really?

CONGRATS IN ORDER?
Ah, a familiar face on the Courier cover, but they gave this one instant promotion to top job: the caption said he's manager "of" HMP instead of "at"!