24/03/21 Mount Pleasant Bulletin

[jimallen]

Hi! Find below the Mount Pleasant bulletin of 24 March. You'll also find it in pdf version to download, with front page editorial. Comments are welcome!

MANAGERS TRY SABOTAGE
Guess what – as soon as managers here at MP
heard that 100 mates in Greenford had been
made to self-isolate by the NHS Track and Trace
app, the QR codes mysteriously disappeared from
the walls... It seems managers didn't want us
"checking in"... Yup, they fear a "domino effect":
one zap by the app could cause a total shutdown!

YOU COULDN'T SWING A CORONAVIRUS
The corner where primary letters and flats have
ended up, is becoming even "cosier". Yes, it
might be on a temporary basis while the roof lights
are being taken care of, but we do mind being
crammed into a corner! Isn’t the slogan hands,
face, SPACE..?

ONCE MORE...
We're seeing more and more casuals on
Mondays, Tuesdays and Saturdays... 35 came in
on Lates and 20 on Nights last Monday! We
thought managers brought them in to help with
Mother's Day, but it seems they're here for
Father’s Day as well... Of course, we welcome
the helping hands, but they need contracts, with
equal Ts&Cs!

MODERN DAY CALL SYSTEM
And the worst of it is, we see them waiting in the
lobby, treated as if they are "second-class"
workers! It reminds one of the "call system" that
sparked the 1889 dock strike against casual
labour! At the time, workers were collected in a
cage like cattle, and bosses came and selected
them for a few hours’ work and sent the others
home. Our casual workmates today may be a
little better off, but not much…

WE DIDN'T AGREE TO THIS!
According to that LTB sent to all of us on
Distribution, in order to compensate for the shorter
working week, there’ll be a "review of service
numbers and capacity based on utilisation data"!
Yeah, what they mean is job cuts! As usual, they
give a little and try to take a lot more. As far as
we’re concerned, even one cut is unacceptable!

THE "SPYDERS"
And how are they going to acquire that "utilisation
data" from Distribution workers? Well, by
following our every move! We heard managers
want to copy what’s been done at Greenford,
where scanners that look like spiders have been
placed on the ceiling. They can read our cards
wherever we may be, in order to trap us in their
web.

DANGEROUS DILUTION
Well, if anyone thinks that us cleaners are using
effective cleaning products in these times... think
again! Yep, the Elephant's had the great idea of
diluting the cleaning products to save some
pennies! So much so, that we end up with stuff
that's almost entirely water... but will it kill the
virus?

GOOD, BUT CAN BE BETTER
Finally, we cleaners have some good news: we've
understood that our wages will be raised to the
"Living Wage Foundation" rate - that is, £10.85/hr
in London. But we've not heard when the
increase is meant to be in our pay packets, and
we need it from yesterday.

QUARANTINE ON FULL PAY
Ok, so we got this letter from the union and top
management telling us that when we come back
from foreign countries, we have to self-isolate.
But what's still completely unclear, is whether RM
will pay us our normal wages, in full, for the time
we're forced into isolation. When of course, there
should be no question about it!

GHOSTBUSTERS WEREN'T NEEDED!
We hear Casper is leaving this week. We did
manage to at least tame him, after so many years,
and he lived up to his name and became
"friendly". But, like with all managers, not
everyone will be sad to see him go...

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS
A national strike ballot affecting over 100,000
workers at BT, Openreach and EE is due in the
next few weeks, over the same things we’re facing
here: BT are looking to "save" £2bn a year, which
the CWU are calling a "massive transformation
cost-cutting plan". Here in RM, we know all about
that!
So, when is our joint strike? Over 200,000 of
us communication workers out together could
really stop the bosses in their tracks!

[Bahia Feliz]

You think you should get paid to self isolate if you came back from abroad? Can’t see RM agreeing to that

[Jefferson Starfish]

You think you should get paid to self isolate if you came back from abroad? Can’t see RM agreeing to that

Maybe he thinks RM will pay his £5k fine aswell?

[Tman]

Whoever wrote that drivel obviously doesn't realise that A-Z is supplying vaccines at cost. So much for those nasty Capitalists and Big Pharma "fighting for their share of the market".
Incidentally Pzifer are supplying their vaccines at retail prices (ie making profits on each one) so so much for any moral high ground the writer attributes to the EU and it's vaccine supply chain.

[Woody Guthrie]

It's not exactly cost it's manufacturing cost+20% to cover other unspecified costs and it's only applicable until the UN lifts the pandemic status but having said that AstraZeneca are one of the more open and ethical of the vaccine producers, as a member of Covax they have also.said they will provide vaccines at cost “in perpetuity” to low- and middle-income countries in the developing world.

It's not surprising because the people at Oxford University were given advice on who to choose as a partner by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation who despite the bollocks on the internet are committed to providing cheap and accessible vaccination for everyone. They turned down GlaxoSmithKline and Merck because they were looking to profit from the pandemic.

[britwrit]

MODERN DAY CALL SYSTEM
And the worst of it is, we see them waiting in the
lobby, treated as if they are "second-class"
workers!

Actual photo:

[Tman]

Looks more like a still from the film "On the Waterfront" to me.

[gt94sss2]

Whoever wrote that drivel obviously doesn't realise that A-Z is supplying vaccines at cost.

They also don't seem to recognise the difference between the UK having ordered 400m vaccines vs hoardinh 400m vaccines.

You can't hoard what hasn't been delivered.

The UK makes maybe 2m doses a week at most - European plants have a much bigger capacity - partly as pharmaceutical firms based their international production there - as the EU previously made a big deal promising they would not block vaccine exports...