Here is latest Workers' Fight bulletin - sorry did not have the chance to continue discussion last time with Fishtank (I think?) on "unofficial action" - the point merely being that when people act straightaway against something which is wrong and unfair it usually gets results. The rules and procedures are mostly designed precisely to prevent effective action. At the moment at HMP people worried very much about cuts, what is to come and pay deal; pensions... EC - it's managers behaviour.
ARE “THE PARTNERS” PLAYING THE FOOL?
Ok, so April 1st Fool's Day, the pay and conditions agreement runs out. What about the new deal? There are big words floating around like “policy forums” where the union officials and reps are meeting for days on end, passing motions recommendations and amendments – but where is the feedback – in normal, spoken language? What's cooking? Surely we need to be told? And surely we need to say what we demand?
WE WANT TO BE ON TARGET
Yes, and because we're told zilch, lots of rumours abound. Like the union's going for a cut in working hours – to a 35-hour week. And that RM wants to increase delivery spans to 6 hours!! (Didn't we used to say 2.5hrs was our limit? Or is that too far back for anyone to remember?)
And what about pensions? Some mates' final salary pension schemes will end by 2018! And will all part-timers finally be made up? There are even rumours there'll be no pay rise at all. So let's have some facts please, so that we know where to aim our (growing) anger!
HONEST AND OPEN: RM'S MIDDLE NAMES
By the way – another rumour is that RM is going to cut sick pay – when full OSP is only 6 months as it is! No way – especially since this place makes us so sick! And what about the shifts here at HMP – another whisper going round is that they'll be cut to two only: 6-2 and 2-10..?
MOYA THE DESTROYER
In fact Moya Greede has “previous” - we can see what she did to the Canadian Post: their equivalent of the Universal Service Obligation is gone... And if this government can get rid of its legal obligation to provide a free NHS for all – which it has done – it can also dump RM's USO. That fight we didn't have in 2013? We'll have to have it soon.
MISSING HANDS
After the last series of EVRs at the beginning of the month, we sure miss our mates – and we don't know how many will go next. It seems that RM has kept the overall redundancies secret. So we don't know how many – or how few – hands will be doing the work in HMP tomorrow!
TRACKERS DRIVING US CRACKERS!
This is how we feel in PSA, where we've seen some mates leave, while the amount of work has gone up! These damn T24 and T48 items have increased every single week since Xmas, and there aren't enough of us to scan them... But there's not enough space either: we're having to do the work outside! Managers didn't anticipate that problem? Do they anticipate anything?
100 TO 1, THEY WON'T COPE
Why are we still in the dark over the new packet-sorting machine... (Sorry, we want a trip to Swindon, to see them, not Bristol!) And what about the new sequencers? When we see the number of redundancies, we wonder what RM will do if these machines don't work – and given RM bosses' lack of judgement, them not working is highly probable (bets are open!). What is certain though, is that we'll have to refuse to take on any extra work!
WE WANT TO CARRY OVER OUR LEAVE!
We're not satisfied at all with the leave arrangements in Romec. But what the Elephant always tells us, is that we can't have enough weeks at a time to see family abroad, that we can't carry over leave, and that this is an “old story” that we should forget about. So should we also forget about the “old story” that introduced lower rates for the job in 2002?
AN ELEPHANT WHO ALWAYS FORGETS
Talking about forgetting things, we really can't understand why Romec cleaners must fill in a time-sheet every week in order to get our night shift allowance! Surely the Elephant knows by now who is on nights and who is not? Aren't elephants meant to have excellent memories?
...AND DOWN THE WC
So the WC-M audit took place and HMP got one more point than last time. Was that for the directions painted on the floor which nobody follows? Managers now want to “go for “silver”. How very exciting.
“BOB THE B” CORNER
Yeah, Buzzy Bee was called onto day shift for a week to “help”(!!) with the WC-M audit, where he was a pillar of incompetence. At least we had a brief respite on nights.
NOT ACCEPTABLE!
Apparently there's another wave of DO closures – starting with some around Manchester. Mates are to be “relocated” - and we all know what that means! But how can RM “centralise” offices which, because of their function, have to be local and dispersed? Is RM planning to employ more drivers? Or drones, perhaps?
ON OUR BACKS?
We see there's a joint statement from the “partners” - CWU/RM – over the new 24hr tracking service and its impact – including on late collections. Already the Latest Acceptance Time is being extended by 3hrs (to 8pm) in places like SWDC & PRDC.. so that “we can compete more effectively with competitors who are already offering this facility”! What do union officials mean by “we”? “We” know there aren't enough workers (nor wheels) for RM to be “offering” anything like this! PS: here at MP, drivers' overall numbers have just been cut!
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