09/10/2019 Mount Pleasant Bulletin

[jimallen]

Hi, find below the Mount Pleasant bulletin of the 9th of October. Comments welcome as usual!

ALL OF US IN IT TOGETHER
So while we're waiting for the result of the strike ballot,
70 postal workers in Glaisdale DO (Nottingham) didn't
wait. They walked out on the 1st of October against the
sacking of a workmate, who had complained about the
poor conditions of the parcel sorting area there... These
guys have got the right idea.

IN THE ERA OF SOCIAL MEDIA
We need to get back into the habit of knowing what is
going on everywhere else in the Mail network – and
indeed set up our own network. Not only to black any
job that might come from a workplace on strike, but also
to spread the action.

MORE MEETINGS NEEDED!
It was good to see so many of us at the union meetings
a couple of weeks ago – managers even allowed the
night shift to have their two meetings indoors (and so
they should have!). But we had many questions to ask
and not so much time to get through all of them... So
we still need to discuss them, at least among ourselves.

THE GROUND LOST
So for instance, we didn't hear of the whereabouts of
our pension scheme – and this is not okay. We might
sound like a broken record, but this is too important an
issue to leave hanging in the air! Why should a decent,
Defined Benefit scheme for all, not be one of our
demands in this fight?!

50 AND OUT ON FULL PENSION!
Even more so, since the state pension age goalposts
keep being pushed back – it's already 67 if you're born
between April 1970 and April 1978. And now they
propose to increase it to 68 for those born afterwards!
The point being that we should be able to work less
after 50 and retire on a full wage (which the bosses call
a pension) when we want – and what's more, we could
make way for young workers.

LET'S MAKE THEM CRY
Sniff, Sniff... RM top bosses almost brought tears to our
eyes during Work Time Sleeping. Their TV propaganda
was so moving! They explained how they didn't really
want to change our working conditions, but that this was
a pretty “challenging business environment” and they
had no other choice... and that surely we don't want to
damage “the business” by going on strike? Hmmm,
they mean damage the big shareholders profits and
their own golden pay packages and bonuses? Of
course we do!

0-HR CONTRACTS BY ANOTHER NAME
As for the big promise (hand on the heart) that RM will
not introduce 0-hr contracts – what hypocrites! Why are
they bringing temps in at all, on any kind of contract? In
fact, we've never seen so many casuals here (mainly
Lates), at this time of the year, and in every single area!
It's proof that there is an ongoing drastic shortage of
workers. And that there is no excuse not to give these
workers the permanent jobs they need right now!

WITH A PADDLE!
What a wet mess. Water is leaking everywhere, from
the platform to the ground floor. And the basement is
just getting wetter. It's not just when it rains... this
construction work seems to increase all the leaks. So,
we're walking around in what amounts to a shallow lake,
pushing yorks up wet ramps... soon we'll need a raft.

H&S DOWN THE DRAIN
How on earth can we be working beneath construction
workers who may be doing work which can endanger
those of us below? Time and again we've said that we
should not be working on a building site, but
nevertheless the bosses here decided not to move the
work. They were wrong then and they're still wrong.

GET RID OF IT
By the way, this Sara door which fell on somebody
should go. We don't need such dangerous doors in this
place. Life-saving comes before energy-saving, and if
there's any chance that the sensors are going to go to
sleep then it's not fit for purpose.

HOW LIGHT IS LIGHT?
Can anyone seriously call light duties in processing
“light”? Since when does clearing boxes (at the
beginning and end of the shift!) fall into the “light work”
category? Yet another misnomer from “light-headed”
managers!

HAH!
And by the way, what a nice break we had in
Processing... it lasted as long as King Etcetera wasn't
around breathing down our necks. We should convince
him to extend his holidays a bit longer?

UP THE STRIKERS!
Good on our mates at eCourier, who are striking this
week (10th and 11th)! The RM subsidiary is keeping
them on those bogus 'self-employed' contracts, where
they aren't entitled to even the basic benefits which
regular employees receive. Let's hope we are all on
strike soon, across the whole RM Group, demanding
proper contracts for all!

THEY'RE ALL A WASTE OF SPACE!
So is 'poor' “Richo” Back feeling overworked?
Apparently, he's looking for a new UK manager of RM.
Didn't he himself get a £6m 'golden hello' to do that job?
Guess he can't be bothered. Well, not surprising, we
know that none of these bosses do anything, and now
there's going to be ANOTHER CEO who's going to get a
huge salary for nada.

[RobertT]

THE GROUND LOST
So for instance, we didn't hear of the whereabouts of
our pension scheme – and this is not okay. We might
sound like a broken record, but this is too important an
issue to leave hanging in the air! Why should a decent,
Defined Benefit scheme for all, not be one of our
demands in this fight?!

The CWU tried that in the 4 Pillars talks with their WinRS proposals, but the two parties negotiated the CDC scheme, obviously pending all the parliamentary stuff going through.
Ultimately RM don't want to provide a pension which involves the possibility of future deficits, they want to know the costs upfront. Which from a business point of view makes perfect sense to me.

50 AND OUT ON FULL PENSION!
Even more so, since the state pension age goalposts
keep being pushed back – it's already 67 if you're born
between April 1970 and April 1978. And now they
propose to increase it to 68 for those born afterwards!
The point being that we should be able to work less
after 50 and retire on a full wage (which the bosses call
a pension) when we want – and what's more, we could
make way for young workers.

An increase in state pension age to 68 has already been in place for some time, for anyone born after 6th April 1977, the earliest they'll get it is 6th May 2044.

However there are plans, which haven't been finalised as far as I'm aware, to bring that date forward to 2037.

The tables in this article will tell you more: https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pen ... etire.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Unfortunately if you want to semi retire or retire completely earlier than your RM pension or the state pension allows, it's largely up to the individual to facilitate it and fund it.