01/12/21 Mount Pleasant Bulletin

[jimallen]

Hi, find below the Mount Pleasant bulletin of 1 December. Comments welcome!

EARLY XMAS FOR SHAREHOLDERS
We knew this company made a lot of money over the
pandemic – now we know exactly how much! It paid
out £400m to shareholders in November, with
another dividend to come in January! On top of that,
estimated profits for the year will total £500m. That's
almost £1bn that the bosses have to spare, for
starters. So how much should we demand..?

RACKETEERING TO MAKE A PACKET
It's not just people sending more parcels, but also all
those lucrative Covid test kit contracts. There are the
obligatory PCR tests for travel now, and maybe tests
will be needed whenever you go into a crowded
venue. So we're going to see even more test kits
come through here! And RM will see yet more profits
on its balance sheet!

WHAT WE WANT AND WHAT WE DON'T
On Deliveries we're having meetings to re-assess
Covid-security measures... Yes, it is a good thing
that masks should be worn indoors, provided we
have enough breaks for a breather. And managers
better forget the idea of telling us to take public
transport to reach our delivery walks. It's less risky
for us if we share vans, wear masks and test
regularly..!

WE DON'T MIND
Well, we can say that we've rarely seen such a quiet
Black Friday/Cyber Monday week... It seemed more
like "business as usual"! But seeing the prices of
stuff out there and the not-so-great deals and the fact
that the money in our pockets is shrinking, no
wonder!

PROPER SCHOOLING NEEDED
New casuals are getting their induction at the
moment… if you can call it that! It doesn't involve
much except asking them to watch us and that's it!
So are we meant to give them the hands-on teaching
they need, ourselves? We'd be happy to, of course…
but provided we're given the time and - the extra pay
for doing their training!

ENERGY BETTER USED FOR DANCING!
We feel our energy drain out of us the minute we
walk into this place... Already, before Xmas
pressure, there's so much overtime and SA being
worked that this place has become an energy sink! A
very good antidote to this would be for us to organise
our own Christmas party - kids, grannies and all our
retired mates, invited! So who's got some Xmas
decorations?

NOT SPYING ON US?
It has happened: some managers had the cheek to
come down from their ivory tower and pick on
individuals because their scan guns were not used as
fast as they wanted... Only to realise that their
computer program wasn't recording our scans
properly. Of course we knew they'd use scan data to
pick on us, but fortunately RM's technology lets them
down... shame.

CLOSE TO THE MESSROOM?
So on letters we're on the move again? We're told
the POCL will be taking our place, in that sad little
corner of ours. So frankly, we're glad that we're
moving out of there, but provided we move to
somewhere better!

SWITCH OFF THE WIND
A place that isn't that Pleasant in the Mount, is on the
platform, close to the shutter... Particularly on those
cold nights last week, when each time it was opened
we could feel the cold breeze biting! Any way we can
get the platform area warmer? Mobile heaters?

ELEPHANT NOT IN THE ROOM
What a good break we're having from RM-PFS's
Elephant... It's like a heavy weight lifted from our
backs. And of course, HMP hasn't gone up in smoke
while he was away, which all goes to show how little
we need Elephants in here!

THEY'RE GUILTY OF WILFUL DELAY
We hear from N1 Delivery Office workmates that
because they were so short of hands, managers had
the bright idea of organising a re-sign before Xmas...
Which turned havoc into chaos into mayhem...
Clever managers! So they never thought of signing
up new workers?

WHO IS IT "SUSTAINING"?
CEO Simon Thompson was in the media questioning
the future of the USO (again). He highlighted the
33% increase in parcel volumes compared to before
the pandemic and says he wants to "start defining
what a sustainable Universal Service is for the
future". It's the old story: a profit-making business for
shareholders versus a postal service for the public. If
the USO is to stay, privatisation will have to be
reversed.

WHAT ABOUT THE FINAL MILE?
Did anyone see that Citizen's Advice survey, asking
the public about delivery companies? Surprise,
surprise, not ONE was worth even a full 3 stars out of
5! Amazon came out on top but only got 2.75 out of
5. RM came second, with 2.5... So how does that
work? Since we are the ones who process and
deliver a lot of Amazon parcels..!?