05/12/2018 Mount Pleasant Bulletin

[jimallen]

Hi, find below the Mount Pleasant bulletin of the 5th of December (and the entire back and front page attached). Comments are welcome, as usual!

A SCANDAL IN OUR MIDST
How can it be that the workers in the postal museum/mailtrain
which RM so proudly boasts about, are on precarious
temporary contracts and are even prevented by their bosses
(an un-charitable trust!) from receiving union literature?
Shouldn’t they be in the CWU? This is crazy! And why aren’t
they offered permanent contracts? Seems like the museum
trust executives are stuck in the time of the Victorian Penny
Post!
PS: and how come there’s no subsidy from RM/the state?

BACK TO MAYHEM
No-one had to tell us it was Black Friday last week - or rather
cyber-black Monday, black Tuesday, black Wednesday…
black the whole bl**dy week. We felt it and still feel it in our
backs, and all our joints. It wasn't just the numbers of parcels
up, they’re getting much heavier!

A LONG AND WINDING TRACK
As for Tracked - well it’s a bit of a joke as every punter wants
things tracked these days. Never mind. It’s easy to remedy,
as the parcels pile in. Simply change T 48 to T 84...

AND TALKING ABOUT BREAKING OUR BODIES...
So with all this overwork, that colour leaflet featuring lovely
pics of some of us here at MP and smartly entitled “stamp out
(ho-ho) aches and pains”... couldn’t have been better timed,
could it? Just what we need. A reminder to eat well, use the
RM “First Class” (ho-ho) Gym and please take your breaks,
stretch, and don’t stay in one position too long! After all, if
you get “MSD” it’s going to be (mostly) your own fault for not
heeding this excellent advice. Sure.

A PENALTY FOR HYPOCRITES
Actually this leaflet could be the basis for a special
disciplinary procedure for managers and JV6.5s. Yup, those
ones who refuse our requests to be moved to another job,
change our posture (i.e., sit down) or take an unscheduled
break due to muscle or joint pain; and those who don’t ensure
the provision of good balanced meals, rest, access to gym,
breaks for stretching, etc., all through the day and night.

WHERE HAVE THEY GONE?
And by the way, we happened to see a (very) long letter to
branches (sent in November) re “materials handling
containerisation - Christmas arrangements 2018 - health and
safety aspects”. It kind of boasts about how many yorks in
the “system” (565,000) yet materials just don’t materialise: all
the mini-yorks seem to have found a black hole to disappear
down...

TAKE A REST AND TWO NUROFEN
As for H&S aspects - well-hidden among the copious details
of the LTB, we see this which is the only reference to us
workers (and this kind of stuff never gets passed down to the
floor!!): “No manual handling task will exceed risk level
2",i.e., we’re not meant to lift sacks heavier than 11kg but
they should be 7kg on average. “Lifting frequency up to 7
bags/min over a 30 min period (then rest)”! Then rest? Yes,
after lifting 2,300kg! After that you get a long wooden box
with a lid on it...

HEAVIER AND HEAVIER
It also says that priority service bags could exceed 11kg but
should be clearly labelled “so special consideration can be
given to lifting” and proceeds to remind us of the regulations.
But how are we supposed to check? Portable weight scales?
Or trust RM's weight labels?

MANAGERS SHOULD GO BACK TO MARS
Welcome to the casuals! We hope you manage to stay,
despite the mayhem, because we really need you! But of
course, according to cuts-happy managers, HMP is “overstaffed”
and even Xmas casuals aren’t needed! Yes, these
bosses live on another planet - but back here on earth,
whether it’s driving, EC, WC, or sorting, we don’t just need
Xmas temps, we need permanent recruits - and urgently!
PS: and where are the recruits for PFS cleaning?

PLEASE DELIVER SOME VANS, QUICK!
These bosses who say they’re ever-ready for Xmas should
explain why WC is so short of vans... We suggest they get a
Black Friday deal on them asap, maybe from Amazon,
delivered by Uber...?

TRUNK-QUILIZERS FOR THE ELEPHANT
Oh yes, now that big PFS-RM bosses, have moved into their
offices in 185, the Elephant’s trying to make a good
impression, so his trunk has gone all flaccid. But how long it
will stay down, we can’t be sure...

DO WE NEED TO SCARE THEM INTO IT?
We're pleased to see that Xmas dinner in the restaurant is on
- for the 13th and 18th of December! Could be a chance to
get together and even make some “constructive resolutions”
for next year... But is RM paying? Course not! Well, we
remind management that even Scrooge eventually gave a
turkey to his worker, Bob Crachit - tho’ it took several very
threatening ghosts to make him see the error of his ways...

LET'S GIVE THEM A GRILLING
Let’s hope the ovens, grills, steamers, etc., in the kitchen will
be up to the job of cooking Xmas dinner! Because they’re
constantly breaking down and it takes months for them to be
fixed or replaced... So what are Quadrant managers going to
do about it? We’re waiting (in the long queue for a grilled
sausage) to hear...

THEY SHOULD PAY OUR TICKET TO RIDE
While many of us are struggling to pay for our travel to work
as it is, now rail fares are going up again and this time by
3.1% - RPI inflation! But RM stopped its Season Ticket Loan
scheme last year, without even announcing it... So now we’ll
need an urgent increase in pay to cover the additional
expense. But shouldn’t travel to work be subsided - why
should we have to borrow money for that in the first place?

WHAT ABOUT THE WORKFORCE?
Yes, there's lots of money flying around RM, thanks to the
sell-off of MP land for this horrible “development” so
patronisingly called “Postmark”. Taylor Wimpey’s just
awarded a £100m contract for the first phase (“WC1", 681
unaffordable “homes”) to Bouygues UK… But while
construction and real estate billionaires fill their pockets, we
want to know what's our future in this slowly shrinking place?!

[SpacePhoenix]

BACK TO MAYHEM
No-one had to tell us it was Black Friday last week - or rather
cyber-black Monday, black Tuesday, black Wednesday…
black the whole bl**dy week. We felt it and still feel it in our
backs, and all our joints. It wasn't just the numbers of parcels
up, they’re getting much heavier!

Didn't make any difference, we've made time near enough every day for the last couple of weeks

A LONG AND WINDING TRACK
As for Tracked - well it’s a bit of a joke as every punter wants
things tracked these days. Never mind. It’s easy to remedy,
as the parcels pile in. Simply change T 48 to T 84...

It'll be a nice bollocking for the relevant manager(s). Get used to it, within the next five years there's probably a good chance of EVERY parcel being trackable. Many of RM's rivals on their tracking to can see what number of the total number of deliveries your item is, a map showing where the driver is and a time slot. RM's got a lot of catching up to do

WHERE HAVE THEY GONE?
And by the way, we happened to see a (very) long letter to
branches (sent in November) re “materials handling
containerisation - Christmas arrangements 2018 - health and
safety aspects”. It kind of boasts about how many yorks in
the “system” (565,000) yet materials just don’t materialise: all
the mini-yorks seem to have found a black hole to disappear
down...

They must be hidden up somewhere at MP unless someone has been sending them out to other offices

TAKE A REST AND TWO NUROFEN
As for H&S aspects - well-hidden among the copious details
of the LTB, we see this which is the only reference to us
workers (and this kind of stuff never gets passed down to the
floor!!): “No manual handling task will exceed risk level
2",i.e., we’re not meant to lift sacks heavier than 11kg but
they should be 7kg on average. “Lifting frequency up to 7
bags/min over a 30 min period (then rest)”! Then rest? Yes,
after lifting 2,300kg! After that you get a long wooden box
with a lid on it...

You get Tracked parcels that are around 20kg, the actual maximum limit for Tracked items is 30kg

HEAVIER AND HEAVIER
It also says that priority service bags could exceed 11kg but
should be clearly labelled “so special consideration can be
given to lifting” and proceeds to remind us of the regulations.
But how are we supposed to check? Portable weight scales?
Or trust RM's weight labels?

Portable weight scales? They were got rid of years ago

[yellowbelly]

THEY SHOULD PAY OUR TICKET TO RIDE
While many of us are struggling to pay for our travel to work
as it is, now rail fares are going up again and this time by
3.1% - RPI inflation! But RM stopped its Season Ticket Loan
scheme last year, without even announcing it... So now we’ll
need an urgent increase in pay to cover the additional
expense. But shouldn’t travel to work be subsided - why
should we have to borrow money for that in the first place?

Not sure how many outside the big smoke would concur with subsidising travel you but Commuter Club might be an option
for Season Ticket loans (I have a friend that used it). Other sources of loan finance for such things are no doubt available (0% credit
card if you can get one for example) but Commuter Club seem to be a specialist in Season Ticket loans. As for anything you buy, if you can
buy it outright in the first place it's always preferable but obviously many people can't do this. Commuter Club will obviously apply their own charges. DYOR.