28/02/2018 Mount Pleasant Bulletin

[jimallen]

Hi, here's the bulletin of the 28th Feb. Comments welcomed, as usual!

NOT ONE "HURRAY" THIS TIME
We've heard nothing yet from the union regarding the
meetings to be held at MP in order to discuss this
“Agreement”…(the vote is meant to be 12th -28th March).
We’ve lots of questions to ask and we certainly won’t
find any answers in those "pro-agreement" videos on the
CWU Facebook page! Now that some of the lower-down
union officials, even in the Divisions have been brainwashed
into endorsing this agreement, it’s even more
essential that the voice from the shopfloor is heard -
against it!

DO THE MATHS
Yes, like for instance how can union officials have the
cheek to claim the pay deal is "fantastic"?! With 5%
backdated to October (already 6 months short!) and 2%
for April 2019, what we’ll really end up getting is an
average pay rise of… 1.5% per year! So for instance, if a
worker is on £350/week as of April 2017, he/she would be
just £15 a week "better off" three years down the line!
With inflation alive and kicking, how can this even be
considered, let alone promoted as if it was “huge”!! They
are trying to play with smoke and mirrors - to trick us -
and they’re meant to be on our side!!

BACK IN THE REAL WORLD
Yes, real wages will be cut, and by how much depends on
how high inflation is: at the moment, with RPI at 4% in
January and likely to fall only to 3% by the end of the
year, the cut in real wages we’d experience is 2-3%!

THEIR MAGIC VERSUS OUR WALLETS
But of course, in order to sell us this crap, the union does
its own maths, which seems to come straight out of
another dimension! How the hell they claim the pay rise
will be “12.33%”, is anybody's guess! Even by
squeezing the shortened working week, into the equation,
which supposedly will leave us with a better hourly rate,
we can't imagine how they reach their figure!
But if we took them at their word, 12.33% would give
someone on £350/week now, just £50 more in their
weekly pay by March 2020. So even their dreamt-up
figures can’t stand up to scrutiny!

NO, WE’RE ASHAMED OF SUCH A “UNION”
A word of caution: if you’ve just eaten your lunch don’t go
look at the CWU Facebook videos of the reps’ meetings!
After spinning his yarn to those attending at Westminster,
you hear Moya-Puppet say “are you proud of your union?”
Then he asks the audience to shout “yes” louder, to be
the loudest of all - and to outdo the guys Up North... Did
we land up in a Pantomime by mistake?
Local reps: please, tell us you didn’t join in?

CUT ON PAY = SHARE PRICES RISE
No wonder RM shares are going through the roof! With
the union going along with the cuts and stamp prices
skyrocketing, all the fat cats are licking their lips in
appreciation, as a roughly-translated French expression
goes. 1st class is up 3%, 2nd class is up 3.5%, 1st class
large letters are more than £1 now and 2nd class large is
up 4%! Compare that to the proposed pay rise and
pension cuts, it says it all!

TAGGING US
Another question we have: what's all this talk about
following our every move in the workplace? We’re not
okay with clocking in/clocking out, and even less okay
with managers sticking their noses into our individual PDA
scanners! We know full well that RM is looking for even
more "productivity gains" and trying to get joint working
parties together with union officials to help screw us. No
way can we allow the union to go along with this!

BLACK MONDAY
Obviously there aren't enough hands to cope with the
volumes coming from Sunday online sales… this Monday
was mayhem on packets! Maybe RM should have a
campaign for people to stop web-shopping on Sundays,
since they've been incapable of dealing with this, every
bloody Monday?

NO OT
Of course there should be no need to work OT, but we
find it incredible that when there’s a failure to clear on
Lates these days, managers ask the night shift to work
OT rather than the part-timers on Lates who need the
extra cash rather more desperately.
The obvious point here, is that given this situation,
there’s clearly enough work to have ALL of us on full-time!
We don't want OT - we want decent jobs!

XXL PSM
No… this cannot be true. We've heard the Parcel Sorting
Machine supposedly coming to HMP (slowly that is; we've
been waiting for its arrival for years!) may be further
delayed because it won't fit into the space managers have
allocated to it!? We can't believe managers are so bad at
measuring… well, actually yes, we can.

LONG BUILD
In fact, given all this construction work is taking 3 years
still (oh, noooo...) they can probably eventually manage to
construct an underground room for it, of the right
dimensions...?

RECRUIT SOME SUPER-CLEANERS!
So now we’re being called to meetings so the Elephant
can tell us cleaners off? He says the job is not up to
standard... So there will now be an “Action Plan”! But
what we need is an Action Man and an Action Woman -
and in fact several of them! Otherwise, "no can do"!

HE’S CREATING A STINK
On the other hand, we are pleased at the Elephant’s eye
for detail, even if he has no nose. So wet mops are
covered in plastic and put away in the locker-room. But
what a stink! We used to be able to wash and then dry
them in a machine...

[daveyeff]

its not by any means fantastic. but how is it 6 months short? we were due to get 2.5% backdated to April, but instead getting 5% backdated to October. same amount of back money or maybe just buttons difference. there is no 6 months short. the other 2% gives another £9.30 odd. giving a total payrise over 3 years of over £31.00. like I said it isn't fantastic, but who's getting more?

[k979aaa]

its not by any means fantastic. but how is it 6 months short? we were due to get 2.5% backdated to April, but instead getting 5% backdated to October. same amount of back money or maybe just buttons difference. there is no 6 months short. the other 2% gives another £9.30 odd. giving a total payrise over 3 years of over £31.00. like I said it isn't fantastic, but who's getting more?

The Managers!

[clashcityrocker]

like I said it isn't fantastic, but who's getting more?

Pay growth in the UK is likely to accelerate next year, as companies increasingly face recruitment difficulties, Bank of England agents said in their latest report on Wednesday. The agents, who interviewed 700 companies across the UK between late August and mid-October, said that a scarcity of new employees means that pay settlements are likely to increase from a range of 2 to 3 per cent this year to between 2.5 and 3.5 per cent next year.

7% over 3 years is 2.3%
So the answer to your question is pretty much everybody.

[yellowbelly]

its not by any means fantastic. but how is it 6 months short? we were due to get 2.5% backdated to April, but instead getting 5% backdated to October. same amount of back money or maybe just buttons difference. there is no 6 months short. the other 2% gives another £9.30 odd. giving a total payrise over 3 years of over £31.00. like I said it isn't fantastic, but who's getting more?

If you're using the approximately the same figures as Dingo was in another thread I don't get it to be £31 over 3 years it's £21.21 - see my
working out below, nobody has disputed or corrected my maths on the other thread yet.

The pay deal is fairly simple it is 5% from October the 2nd and for a person in receipt of the delivery supplement and full time your pay will increase by £21.80 and it is worth £1700 over the 18 month period to you.

Your back pay will be based on basic pay and delivery supplement and being paid the first week in April will be £566 before tax.

The 2% in April 2019 is worth with DS £9. 15.

So in total the 3 year pay deal is worth for delivery full timers with DS £30.95 increase per week.

According to Labour research the average pay increase for 2017/18 was 2.4%.

Part timers will get an an additional 2.665% in October , contrary to rumours this will happen.

The further hour off the working week will be subject to new functional agreement and the outcome of the trails and annual conference will put some markers down around that any final agreement will be subject to a policy forum and to a individual member ballot.

Don't think so, but correct me if I'm wrong!!

Using the figures you've quoted above, you get a rise of 21.80 for 18 months (1700 as you said).

Then in April 2019 you get a further rise of 9.15 plus the original 21.80 for 52 weeks (30.95 x 52) = 1610.

So approx 1700 + 1610 divided by (26+52+52 weeks) = 3310 divided by 130 which is an average of 25.46 over 2.5 years not 30.95.

If you want to quote it over 3 years it's even worse: 21.21

[daveyeff]

if you are a full time delivery postman/woman, your top line on your pay will be £31.00 MORE by April 2019 than what you had on your top line in April 2016. so over 3 years your pay will have increased by £31.00. you can present your figures ANY way you like but that is a total fact,,,end of.

[k979aaa]

if you are a full time delivery postman/woman, your top line on your pay will be £31.00 MORE by April 2019 than what you had on your top line in April 2016. so over 3 years your pay will have increased by £31.00. you can present your figures ANY way you like but that is a total fact,,,end of.

but what will you have to do for that £31.00 a week?

[daveyeff]

work 2 hours less

[daveyeff]

like I said it isn't fantastic, but who's getting more?

Pay growth in the UK is likely to accelerate next year, as companies increasingly face recruitment difficulties, Bank of England agents said in their latest report on Wednesday. The agents, who interviewed 700 companies across the UK between late August and mid-October, said that a scarcity of new employees means that pay settlements are likely to increase from a range of 2 to 3 per cent this year to between 2.5 and 3.5 per cent next year.

7% over 3 years is 2.3%
So the answer to your question is pretty much everybody.

not when the hour reduction is factored in.

[clashcityrocker]

not when the hour reduction is factored in.

The hour reduction won't pay any bills.

[k979aaa]

not when the hour reduction is factored in.

The hour reduction won't pay any bills.

Just means you can work extra hours if you so need so be it for RM or another firm or a bit on the side!

[daveyeff]

not when the hour reduction is factored in.

The hour reduction won't pay any bills.

the 31 quid will though

[clashcityrocker]

the 31 quid will though

I don't know if you know what inflation is but basically it means that although i will have an extra £31 to pay the bills, the bills themselves will have increased by more than £31 thus leaving me and you worse off.

[yellowbelly]

if you are a full time delivery postman/woman, your top line on your pay will be £31.00 MORE by April 2019 than what you had on your top line in April 2016. so over 3 years your pay will have increased by £31.00. you can present your figures ANY way you like but that is a total fact,,,end of.

Davey - I have not disputed that at the end of three years you will have £31 more in your pay - I was just trying to clarify for others that the statement that:

"So in total the 3 year pay deal is worth for delivery full timers with DS £30.95 increase per week."

is not 30.95 for every single week of the three years based on the figures quoted. Perhaps it's me being pedantic but if the statement had been 'at the end of three years you
will have 30.95 extra per week in your pocket than when you started' I would not have had any concerns.

My additional concern is that the whole proposed agreement has so many conditions and uncertainties attached to it that we don't need to create any more of our own.

I do apologise for any misunderstanding.

[aiden01]

the 31 quid will though

I don't know if you know what inflation is but basically it means that although i will have an extra £31 to pay the bills, the bills themselves will have increased by more than £31 thus leaving me and you worse off.

how do you know bills go up and down just like inflation