latest 19/11/14 Mount Pleasant Bulletin from workers fight

[anna]

THERE WILL BE BLOOD
The platforms became a bloody mess last week… Every inch being used to stock mail coming from Heathrow and who knows where else! Even the union came to take a few pictures of the stockpiles… And then what? Well, we should not touch the mail until they bring more hands in here! Why? Obviously, it’s an H&S hazard...

THEIR USUAL TRICKS
Same mess in sorting, where we've got a huge amount of extra work on top of our normal work. We were told volumes had gone down (really?), so they cut duties and staff. And now, understaffed as we are, we’re asked to do the extra duties... Clever managers. Yes and in the run-up to Xmas, when volumes expand even more!

WATCHFUL EYES AND WORKING HANDS...
Why are some managers pushing trolleys and sorting and doing the work we normally do? Is this a fit of helpfulness from people who are usually wallflowers? Or just a recognition that they cut far too many jobs?

HELLO!
Welcome to the Xmas casuals! We need you to help, for sure, but managers need you even more, given they are being forced to lift a reluctant finger or two at the moment...

THE WORST WINS
In packets, we've received a pat on our backs and a plaque of commendation for being the best packet sorting centre. Maybe we are, but frankly, we couldn’t care less! What we know for sure, is who gets the bonuses. So we've an idea: we can all contribute towards a plaque for being the slowest packet -sorting centre in the country! We'll still get the plaque and they'll lose their bonuses… A win-win situation!

BETTER BE WRONG
We heard rumours that RM may get rid of temporary workmates who’ve been working all year round, when they terminate this year’s Xmas casuals - by January 2015. They'd better be spreading wrong rumours or bad jokes, because we surely can't do without them! In fact, not only should they be here to stay, but they should be on same permanent T&Cs as us!

RM DOMS TAKING ADVANTAGE
When did that agreement get chucked in the bin, the one that said no casuals except at Xmas? Well, we know it went some time ago - because DOMs have been using zero-hours casuals for a long, long time... Just calling them up on a day-to-day and hour-to-hour basis. That’s another practice that should be stopped. It should never have started.

AND MORE OF THEIR TRICKS
Well, we didn't have to hold our breaths too long. The changes on how holiday pay is calculated (including OT and unsocial hours) might have meant RM owed us big time… but now we hear that our claims for back-dated holiday will only be valid for the previous 3 months! And if the bosses challenge the EAT ruling, maybe we won’t get anything at all... Anyone surprised?

‘B’ACK TO ‘B’LACK
Those were a few weeks of “holiday” for us on night-shift, when all went smoothly and quietly. But as the saying goes, all good things come to an end! (…long sigh…) Yeah, yeah, he’s back...

WE HAVE A SOLUTION
They really don't make things easy for us in HMP, but the creche is one good thing. However, only now are we being told that Romec workers can apply - and what about the others working on this site that aren’t “RM”, but should be... like Quadrant, Angard??

DISCOVERING THE OBVIOUS
Btw, we've read a scientific report saying that 10 years of night-shift makes our brains an extra 6.5 years older! And that’s without bees buzzing on your ears! So shouldn’t night shifts be banned..?

THEY ACT, WE REACT!
Romec action man and woman are back again armed with magnifying glass and camera - so they can throw around some more action plans and raise even more dust. Quick, put on your mask and keep out of range!

ALL IN THE CASINO TOGETHER?
We see Moya Greede was voted Ashridge Business School Leader of the Year, for privatising RM. Main speaker, David Cameron, said, "You are the people who keep the wheels turning. You are the people who don't just create wealth and work, but hope and opportunity. For that, I want to say thank you." He's going to make us cry... And precisely which wheels do they turn? Roulette wheels?