20/11/2019 Mount Pleasant Bulletin

[jimallen]

Hi all, find below the Mount Pleasant bulletin of the 20th of November... Comments welcome as usual!

SWIFT JUSTICE, ONLY FOR THE BOSSES
So Mr. Justice Swift gave RM their injunction to stop our
strike over Christmas. No real surprise there – this was all
about the General Election. The courts had to dig for
another reason though. So they came up with this lame
excuse about subverting the vote by using social
media/filling our forms in at work, etc. But we know our
strike vote was valid.

NOT OUR LAW
As for tampering with the ballot process, we've always had
the possibility (in some offices) of filling in our ballot at work.
And if RM had really thought we'd tampered with the ballot,
why only contest it now, after 4 weeks of mediation? It's
interesting, however, that the bosses and their courts still
think voting in the privacy of our own home is important,
rather than doing so collectively at work... One reason,
then, to carry on subverting this law!

THEIR WORTHLESS DEMOCRACY
What's also hilarious, is that the courts like to portray
themselves as “guardians of democracy”. When all they
were doing here, was imposing the will of the government
and RM bosses. So while the election pantomime
continues, we still have a fight on our hands.

LEGAL OR NOT, HERE WE COME
Postal workers have never been intimidated by the petty
laws of the establishment against our strikes. We have a
proud tradition of wildcats! If they think that they can control
us now, and that we'll only strike when they “let us”, isn't it
time they had a bit of a shock?

WHERE IS OUR PLAN B?
Our chance comes to discuss our plan B at the gate
meetings this Friday (22nd) outside the ex-fire station at
8.30am... “divisional reps” in attendance. Let's hope their
idea isn't just a moral-boosting exercise, because we have
serious stuff to discuss.

MUDDLE-HEADED LEADERS
We're pleased to see the CWU's letter to branches, which in
their own words is “a call to arms” to “workers everywhere”.
So does that mean we will all be going on strike anyway
asap? Surely that is the only way to “shift the balance of
forces in this country back to working people”? Rather than,
what they say elsewhere in the letter, for us to have a
“leverage campaign with major shareholders against the
company actions”... What exactly do our fights have in
common with the shareholders...?! These guys are clearly
muddle-headed.

WE NEED OUR OWN PLAN!
So yes, we need our own meetings and our own plan of
action. We've seen DOs across the country walking out,
protesting with canteen sit-ins and taking unofficial strike
action. These workmates are showing the way, so why not
start by having our own meetings and discussing what we
can do next?

WE CAN START WITH...
So now we're facing the run up to Black Friday, and many of
us are talking about working to rule and not doing overtime.
Even without the cancellation of our ballot, this is what we
should've been talking about, because we have no reason
to show the bosses any good-will. We have been undermanned/
womanned for too long. If they haven't enough
hands to do the job, it is not our problem, but theirs. And
let's stick to our guns!

SPINELESS LEADERSHIP
And what about our workmates in ParcelForce? Their ballot
has not been “outlawed” and RM is going ahead with
ParcelForce's spin-off and “TUPEing” our workmates... So
why are they not on strike already?? We saw that the union
officials have sent a letter to branches this Monday to
announce they've proposed a “list of steps required to
create a positive environment for meaningful talks”... So the
union leaders' anger against RM bosses doesn't prevent
them from begging for talks?
P.S Why should they even be discussing TUPE when
they don't even agree there should be another company to
TUPE to!

NOT OK COMPUTER
We don’t want managers anywhere near our lives, ever!
But now they’ve been given these laptops with all our
holiday, sickness, leave information etc. That is not ok! If
they’ve anything they want to say to us about our personal
lives, they can arrange a meeting with us and our reps. No
point bringing a laptop to us where we’re working. Or
maybe these are simply new gadgets for them to hide
behind when they’re in our faces, in case we react…

LORRIES CAN UNLOAD THEMSELVES
How can managers justify cutting the number of our mates
on the Platform in this way? There should be at least 4 of
us here, but they cut us down to two. If a third lorry comes,
then what? Well we've even seen the managers come and
try to help. Yes, the same people who want to cut our
numbers...

WE FEEL A BIT BETTER
Phew, our ears do feel a bit better on Lates, now that the
noisy Buzzy Bee has gone to Medway Mail Centre... But we
hope he stays there this time and that our mates there have
a good insecticide – because frankly, that buzzing can drive
one mad!

THEY'RE EATING OUR CAKE
We saw that RM copped a £50m fine last week. Not for the
first time, they were found to be in breach of competition
law, for ‘abusing their dominant position’ at the expense of
Whistl. But wasn’t it exactly this 'dominant position' which
made RM a tasty target for privatisation? These bosses
want to have their cake and eat it: private profits, and none
of the competition. But it’s not even their cake, it’s ours!

[daveyeff]

this '50mil' fine they've just been issued with. I think I posted something on here earlier this year. we had a top senior RM gaffer at our office to tell us of their 5 year plan etc. now I distinctly remember him saying in front of the whole office, that it was HIS idea that was recommended to the board to scupper Whistl as a going concern. in his own words he said '' they were expecting the Ofcom fine, but it would be accepted anyway, because if Whistl had of been allowed to continue as they were, it would have cost us upwards of 200M''. So it will be viewed by the board of a saving of 150M. talk about playing dirty. we all know how good they are at that.!!

[yellowbelly]

SWIFT JUSTICE, ONLY FOR THE BOSSES
So Mr. Justice Swift gave RM their injunction to stop our
strike over Christmas. No real surprise there – this was all
about the General Election. The courts had to dig for
another reason though. So they came up with this lame
excuse about subverting the vote by using social
media/filling our forms in at work, etc. But we know our
strike vote was valid.

NOT OUR LAW
As for tampering with the ballot process, we've always had
the possibility (in some offices) of filling in our ballot at work.
And if RM had really thought we'd tampered with the ballot,
why only contest it now, after 4 weeks of mediation? It's
interesting, however, that the bosses and their courts still
think voting in the privacy of our own home is important,
rather than doing so collectively at work... One reason,
then, to carry on subverting this law!

THEIR WORTHLESS DEMOCRACY
What's also hilarious, is that the courts like to portray
themselves as “guardians of democracy”. When all they
were doing here, was imposing the will of the government
and RM bosses. So while the election pantomime
continues, we still have a fight on our hands.

The RMT managed it easily enough - followed the law, it's in black and white. I can't believe that nobody in CWU Towers Legal Team said
'Look - don't do it, play by the rules, don't give them any excuse like last time' and we went and pretty much gave them an open goal to shoot at.
Just think what we could have (not) been doing right now. It's done now, move on - another properly conducted ballot.

[britwrit]

this '50mil' fine they've just been issued with. I think I posted something on here earlier this year. we had a top senior RM gaffer at our office to tell us of their 5 year plan etc. now I distinctly remember him saying in front of the whole office, that it was HIS idea that was recommended to the board to scupper Whistl as a going concern. in his own words he said '' they were expecting the Ofcom fine, but it would be accepted anyway, because if Whistl had of been allowed to continue as they were, it would have cost us upwards of 200M''. So it will be viewed by the board of a saving of 150M. talk about playing dirty. we all know how good they are at that.!!

Seriously, we should have put out press release after press release after this:

"Let us be clear, Royal Mail does not have a near-monopoly. Just because we deliver more than half the packages in this country."

"To repeat, ROYAL MAIL IS not GOING TO TAKE OVER THE PACKETS MARKET AND will not CRUSH EVERYONE ELSE."