20/10/21 Mount Pleasant Bulletin

[jimallen]

Hi, find below the Mount Pleasant bulletin of 20 October. Comments welcome...

THE GRINCH IS HERE
It's already Xmas in HMP, without the Xmas tree
and gifts... Yup, with supply chains in a mess and
retailers asking customers to buy Xmas gifts early
(freeze your turkey, they say!), we've seen the
workload go through the roof - especially
Mondays and Tuesdays. And if it's like this in
October, we can only imagine the mayhem in
December...

MR. WITLESS AND CO.?
Oh dear, what can we say about PSA managers
on Lates? A couple of weeks ago, they just lost it!
We all know that the work is badly organised on
the shop floor, the whole system is clogged up!
Shall we call Pimlico Plumbers?

FORGET THE SCAN
Yes, of course, management told us they wouldn't
record our comings and goings with their
scanning booths... But as soon as some of us
forget to scan in and/or out (and it does happen!),
managers are immediately on our backs, telling
us we can't possibly not do it! Bad luck, we have
a collective loss of memory...

WORK DONE? GO HOME!
And then some shift managers insist that we sit
doing nothing just so we stay until the last second
of our finishing time... It's bloody-minded
nonsense. "Finish and go" is common sense - it's
about time we re-imposed it on these timewasters...

THEY CAN SORT THEIR OWN MESS
We have more and more packets in the morning
on Deliveries... And we are being asked to prep
them. So is this because managers cut the Night
duties? Plus the early Xmas? Whatever the
reason, it's not our job to do this.

NO MORE MARATHONS
Of course, we knew that since workmates retired
and no-one replaced them, managers would
dump more work on our shoulders. Now, some of
us have ended up with longer walks... Which can
only mean that we'll come back to the Mount with
more undelivered items... Will these DUMs get
the message?

COLLECTIVE PROTECTION
On RM-PFS we need real protection against the
Elephant - and we're not only talking about
masks! We haven't had a rep for ages! So since
CWU HQ has recently asked management to
allow there to be more representation amongst
cleaners, let's have an election ASAP!

TRIBUTE TO ALFREDO
We are mourning the loss of our friend and fellow
worker Alfredo who died from Covid. It is hard for
us to believe he is gone. We are so sorry and will
miss him. Rest in peace.

TOO MUCH, TOO SOON
Social distancing "officially" ended on 11 October
in RM… but we're not sure when it "officially"
started; it's never been fully implemented. And
why remove it now, when cases in this country
per head of population are the highest in the
world?! And when a new more infectious strain
has been found? The risk remains and we need
masks here more than ever...

WE STILL NEED MASKS
Us cleaners are doing the dirtiest, most
unpleasant job in the Mount, so we definitely need
to carry on wearing masks - and they must be
distributed to us daily!

CROOKED UMBRELLA COMPANY
Why was cleaners' pay messed up yet again?
Rent and bills don't wait for the payroll company
to sort it out! There has to be a system to give us
interim payments!

WE DON'T WANT MORE MATES GETTING SICK
We see in the CWU-RM letter that Work-time
Sleeping is meant to restart - given that the Covid
restrictions are being lifted... Well, we'd say they
had better think again. And before it's too late.

BEYOND IRRITATING...
How is the scan in/out going to work when we
have all the casuals here? Will they have cards,
or have to type in their payroll numbers each
time? There are already queues to get out...
Another good reason to scrap this stupid
procedure.

[SpacePhoenix]

FORGET THE SCAN
Yes, of course, management told us they wouldn't
record our comings and goings with their
scanning booths... But as soon as some of us
forget to scan in and/or out (and it does happen!),
managers are immediately on our backs, telling
us we can't possibly not do it! Bad luck, we have
a collective loss of memory...

If you don't scan in/out then there's no proof that you turned up for your shift. Also if a role call is done during an evacuation, how do you expect the managers to know who was meant to have been in the building

WORK DONE? GO HOME!
And then some shift managers insist that we sit
doing nothing just so we stay until the last second
of our finishing time... It's bloody-minded
nonsense. "Finish and go" is common sense - it's
about time we re-imposed it on these timewasters...

Nothing to do, I'm going to call bullshit on that one. Sorting RTS, setting up the work area for the next shift, sorting 2C, sorting Tracked 48. There's probably other stuff that can be done. I've got news for you, job and finish went years ago (with the pay and mod agreement iirc)

TOO MUCH, TOO SOON
Social distancing "officially" ended on 11 October
in RM… but we're not sure when it "officially"
started; it's never been fully implemented. And
why remove it now, when cases in this country
per head of population are the highest in the
world?! And when a new more infectious strain
has been found? The risk remains and we need
masks here more than ever...

Social distancing was never going to fully work in most offices, especially in MCs during the last half hour of a shift when you've got all the final dispatches going out

WE DON'T WANT MORE MATES GETTING SICK
We see in the CWU-RM letter that Work-time
Sleeping is meant to restart - given that the Covid
restrictions are being lifted... Well, we'd say they
had better think again. And before it's too late.

Work time snooze is a waste of time anyway, especially in MCs when probably well over 80 maybe 85% of the stuff in the videos doesn't relate to MCs, RDCs (anyone who doesn't work in a DO). They can give the same info in the daily huddles and just take everyone to where the screens are for the "ass covering" videos (manual handling, fire safety, etc)

BEYOND IRRITATING...
How is the scan in/out going to work when we
have all the casuals here? Will they have cards,
or have to type in their payroll numbers each
time? There are already queues to get out...
Another good reason to scrap this stupid
procedure.

Simple have some of the scanners that are just for agency/casuals and some just for RM staff or get scannable id cards for the agency/casuals (or at least for the regulars)

[Tman]

Yes, of course, management told us they wouldn't
record our comings and goings with their
scanning booths... But as soon as some of us
forget to scan in and/or out (and it does happen!),
managers are immediately on our backs, telling
us we can't possibly not do it! Bad luck, we have
a collective loss of memory...

WORK DONE? GO HOME!
And then some shift managers insist that we sit
doing nothing just so we stay until the last second
of our finishing time... It's bloody-minded
nonsense. "Finish and go" is common sense - it's
about time we re-imposed it on these timewasters...

Seems like someone still hasn't got their head around the basics of clocking in and out.
Best of luck with using the "I forgot to clock out" excuse and also hoping for job and finish to continue.

[yellowbelly]

WORK DONE? GO HOME!
And then some shift managers insist that we sit
doing nothing just so we stay until the last second
of our finishing time... It's bloody-minded
nonsense. "Finish and go" is common sense - it's
about time we re-imposed it on these timewasters...

THEY CAN SORT THEIR OWN MESS
We have more and more packets in the morning
on Deliveries... And we are being asked to prep
them. So is this because managers cut the Night
duties? Plus the early Xmas? Whatever the
reason, it's not our job to do this.

Don't these two paragraphs contradict themselves 'Finish and go' but there are packets to be prepped?
Perhaps because you've been F+G previously, it's been seen you've got time to do this prep?
RM pay for RM work?