Hello - here is the latest HMP bulletin: most are up for a fight over pensions! (regret from PO guys next door that they have been left out in the cold)
THE CONTENTS OF THIS CONSULTATION ARE ALREADY KNOWN!
Finally we get a letter from the union announcing that the closure of the RMPP DB (final salary-based pension) is "imminent". They've known it since last June. But they say they're going along with RM's "60-day consultation" up until the deadline of March 2017 (just 2 months from now) - by which date the decision has to be "taken". Why?
UNITED WE WIN, DIVIDED WE FALL
Yes, we already know where we stand - and that we absolutely refuse the closure of the scheme, full stop! In fact we all want a better scheme - and one which works for EVERYONE, including those who have been shoved onto a lesser scheme! So surely there's no time to lose? Surely we need to organise to strike all together, now?
WE HAVE TO RELY ON OURSELVES
Yes, "back in the day" the idea was that you strengthen your hand (by showing your fighting backbone!) before you talk. All our successful actions were started on the ground with unofficial walkouts, big and small, because we knew we couldn't trust the union officials to get things going in time. And we knew they weren't going to win anything for us with hot air, either. Our problem is no different now - except that the full-time union officials are even worse bureaucrats today (the bosses' "partners"!) than they were then.
THEY WERE BORN YESTERDAY
Yeah we’re fed up hearing how CWU leaders are looking after the bosses' profits and business interests, as if these were "ours'". The "dividend" we get is pathetic - it's a "tip" for our sweat and tears. What we need is a decent wage every week and good pension to retire on! "Mutual interest commitments"? What nonsense! This is a private profit-maker with interests diametrically opposed to ours. The A-B-C of capitalist economics is: wages and workforce down, profits up. How can grown-up trade unionists fall for this blurring of interests?
MAKE RM BOSSES PAY!
RM managers are putting pressure on some of us who have health problems to leave HMP. Well, quite frankly, who wouldn't like to leave this place? All the more so, when we have to take care of our own health, thanks to the dire state of the NHS? But no, we can't afford to leave. RM has to pay us on full rates until we reach our retirement age!
MANAGERS TO BLAME
Of course RM want to get rid of "light duties" because they want to strip the workforce to even barer bones. But this category of work is needed in every workplace. The root of any problem here is that some managers gave light duties (indefinitely!) to favoured friends and family, thus depriving others. So if this situation needs looking at now, look no further than management.
VERY SUPERSTITIOUS
Oh dear, when on nights we heard that B the Bee was going to buzz off to Jubilee or Kingston, we did everything we could: crossed fingers, hung up garlic, sprayed holy water… to no avail! The manageress who was going to replace him refused to come here, so we're stuck with Bee. It seems that Stevie Wonder's right: superstition ain't the way!
EXCUSE OUR FRENCH!
Actually it's not just Bee. There's a management merry-go-round at present and many management chickens who flew the coop (or were exiled!) are now returning home to roost. What a shame. We can only hope the merry-go-round spins fast enough to throw off some of the "merde", as they say in French...
WHO'S CANCELLING HIM?
In flats, cancelling is giving us a headache… the work is a full duty in itself! However, this isn't the opinion of King Etcetera, and whoever disagrees, he threatens to send to packets! Which would be a great help, quite obviously! Cutting off his nose to spite his face?
LESS WORK, LESS SWEAT
We could feel the cold blast from outside on Primary this last week, with these bloody platform doors that keep opening and closing all the time - the chill wind and sweaty face isn't a good combination… We could get frozen stiff. So we better avoid sweating..!
NOT SO SECRET LOCATION
Where is the Elephant? Is he sulking or skulking? In fact he's just gone to a new office - which is even more discreet than the one with the covered window. And, hoping to hide from us, he didn't tell any of us about moving, either... Does he think we don't already know his secrets?
ROMEC'S PAPER EXERCISE
By the way we forgot to mention the 2016 Romec employee survey result. They don't tell us how many (or few) participated in it. But two things stand out - more than one in ten of us experience bullying and harassment here! And fewer than 62% would recommend this job to a friend. Romec (Royal Mail!) says they will listen. And change? Sure.
PS: to show how kind they are, Romec says that the overpayments they made to employees won't have to be paid back. But since they pay us so little anyway, any "over" payment was such a pittance, it would have cost them more to get it repaid...
ANNOUNCEMENT : ALL OF ROYAL MAIL'S EMPLOYMENT POLICIES (AGREEMENTS) AT A GLANCE (Updated 2021)... HERE
ANNOUNCEMENT : PLEASE BE AWARE WE ARE NOT ON FACEBOOK AT ALL!