12/01/22 Mount Pleasant Bulletin

[jimallen]

Hi, find below the Mount Pleasant bulletin of 12 January. Comments are welcome!

THAT'S A GOOD ONE!
Well, we knew there was no chance the New Year would look much different from the Old... The workload is piling up as usual, but managers tell us that this time, it's not their fault, it's because they're short of staff... Which makes us wonder, who's been offering EVRs without any replacements over the past many years..?

RM'S A REAL HAZARD
And of course, it is true that there have been more of us off sick and shielding than usual, with the Omicron variant spreading like wildfire... But there again, who's thrown social distancing and most measures, which offered a bit of protection, out the window? In fact, it's going to have to be down to us to bring in our own Covid measures, before we all catch this bloody virus!

WHAT OUR MEASURES WOULD LOOK LIKE
So for instance, we need to have access to decent FFP2 masks - they've been shown to offer good protection against the virus. And of course, we need to double or triple the number of breaks we take, because no one can work hours on end with these masks on!

WE KNOW THAT DISEASE WELL
So what's happening with the Xmas casuals? We've heard that most of those on full-time hours are gone now... When we all know we have ample work to share with them! If our memory serves us right, the last time management recruited casuals on permanent jobs was 17 years ago?! No wonder RM suffers of chronic "mayhem-itis" at this stage!

RISING DELAYS
Christmas might be over, but if anything, the backlog of deliveries in other offices is going up. On Tuesday, 77 DOs had delays, along with 6 mail centres. And those are just the ones that "officially" reported delays! Xmas casuals should be given permanent jobs, and that's especially true now!

CHAOS DOWN UNDER
This is becoming ridiculous, managers running all over the place in a purple panic, asking us to hop from duty to duty to cover the odd 15 minutes break of our workmates... We aren't hopping kangaroos! But we know where managers can go and jump!

SHARE THE WORK!
Well, a piece of good news is that another engineer apprentice will start soon with us at RM-PFS. Yup, there is lots of work around here and new workmates are welcome. But we can do with many more!

WE'LL BRING THEM PARACETAMOL
But of course, management are training new engineers because of the new Parcel Sorting Machine, surely? We all know that where PSMs have been in use for years, they've given everyone a headache. And since the one coming here is "customised", the headache might come with an additional pain... in the a**e. So let the management pains in the a**es deal with it, because we won't.

SHUFFLE BOARD? NO TA!
As for us RM-PFS cleaners, we're 6 to 7 workers down and the Elephant has only brought in 2 recruit plus one casual. So when the re-sign comes in a month's time, we don't want to play the "reshuffling" game without more recruits! We want more hands, simple!

WON'T BOTHER
New resolutions for this year: whatever our scanning ins and outs say, we'll be coming in and going home at the same times we've always done in the past. And we don't want to hear any talk about this during our next re-sign!

DAMN!
Well, on letters we were hoping we'd be moved from the tiny corner where management has crammed us, since the POCL was supposed to come here. But apparently now, the POCL isn't moving anywhere, after all. So we're told one thing one day and then the opposite the day after... Do managers have a clue?

WE'VE ALL HAD ENOUGH
Workers in Amesbury (SP) walked out on Monday due to the mess in their DO. Backlogged mail and pushy managers sparked the wildcat walk out. This is the only action we've heard of, but we are sure it's been happening in lots of other places...

[SpacePhoenix]

WE KNOW THAT DISEASE WELL
So what's happening with the Xmas casuals? We've heard that most of those on full-time hours are gone now... When we all know we have ample work to share with them! If our memory serves us right, the last time management recruited casuals on permanent jobs was 17 years ago?! No wonder RM suffers of chronic "mayhem-itis" at this stage!

RISING DELAYS
Christmas might be over, but if anything, the backlog of deliveries in other offices is going up. On Tuesday, 77 DOs had delays, along with 6 mail centres. And those are just the ones that "officially" reported delays! Xmas casuals should be given permanent jobs, and that's especially true now!

I reckon around 85-90% of our Xmas casuals were axed after Boxing Day, my guess is that the remaining ones will be zed at the end of the weekend

CHAOS DOWN UNDER
This is becoming ridiculous, managers running all over the place in a purple panic, asking us to hop from duty to duty to cover the odd 15 minutes break of our workmates... We aren't hopping kangaroos! But we know where managers can go and jump!

It's in everyones 318s a line that reads something like "or as directed" so get over it. The managers are quite within their rights to move people around to cover tea breaks and lunch breaks

SHUFFLE BOARD? NO TA!
As for us RM-PFS cleaners, we're 6 to 7 workers down and the Elephant has only brought in 2 recruit plus one casual. So when the re-sign comes in a month's time, we don't want to play the "reshuffling" game without more recruits! We want more hands, simple!

We've only ever had 1 cleaner per shift, but we're one of the smaller MCs

WON'T BOTHER
New resolutions for this year: whatever our scanning ins and outs say, we'll be coming in and going home at the same times we've always done in the past. And we don't want to hear any talk about this during our next re-sign!

If the duty times get changed during your next re-sign then I'm afraid it's tough luck

[smartin1982]

What is this bullsh it!??
You probably then wonder why you’re not taken seriously.

Honestly,, we’re our own worst enemy.

[crimson king]

Well, I like these monthly bulletins. I find them a good way to hear about other parts of the business and what's going on.

Keep up the good work

[britwrit]

Well, I like these monthly bulletins. I find them a good way to hear about other parts of the business and what's going on.

Keep up the good work

Yes, I really appreciate them too.

[yellowbelly]

I read them, but I would have thought that Mount Pleasant being in London would be a highly unionised
workplace and would be able to use their union muscle to challenge and rectify many of the issues that keep being
repeated by the author all the time.

[Tman]

Well, I like these monthly bulletins. I find them a good way to hear about other parts of the business and what's going on.

Keep up the good work

Yes, I really appreciate them too.

What, even the cut-n-paste SWP nonsense and the laughable bits about working to their own times? Fantasy...

[Jack1960]

Bring me sunshine