04/12/2019 Mount Pleasant Bulletin

[jimallen]

Hi all, find below the Mount Pleasant bulletin of the 4th of December... Comments welcome as usual!

NOW IT'S UP TO US
So the flimsy evidence RM came up with in the original
case has stood up on appeal. Maybe we shouldn't be
surprised... All it tells us, is that the law is on RM
bosses' side - and of course it is! But the CWU officials
obviously anticipated this outcome, as we can hear and
see from what they say should happen next. And
forget about #WeRiseAgain, they're not even organising
to re-ballot...

BEGGING SHARKS TO BE VEGAN
Yes, those of us on early shift Friday, a week ago, at
first couldn't believe our ears when the London
Divisional rep told us that the CWU was now going to
approach big corporate shareholders in a so-called
“Leverage Campaign”. But then we also heard that the
CWU will organise a shareholders' meeting “in support
of the dispute”! You couldn't make this up! We
wonder, are they on the same planet as the rest of us?

BACK TO BACK
It gets worse: they write in the latest LTB that “we
are ready to re-ballot for industrial action if the company
decide to press on regardless or we fail to reach an
acceptable agreement.” In other words, despite this
double attack on our strike, they're back round the
table with Back. So if we want to fight this, it should be
clear to everybody that we're going to have to rely on
ourselves and walk out together, ballot or no ballot.

ALL OR NOTHING
And by the way, it's all very well withdrawing goodwill,
and we bloody well should, but work-to-rule or OT ban,
etc., is unlikely to have the effect we desire. Rico Back
has actually boasted that he has recruited an extra
26,000 workers as his insurance against our strike, so
that the extra revenue for the shareholders from the
election and Xmas would reach their pockets. In fact,
we're so hard pressed we'd need them anyway!

FISH-HEADED CHICKENS
Yup, we've got 3 weeks of Xmas pressure, when it's
obvious this isn't enough to cope with Black Friday,
Cyber Monday, election Door-to-Dustbin material and
Xmas... It was the same story last year (minus
elections)... but these headless chickens in
management seem to have the memory of a goldfish.
So in a panic, on Wednesday last week they decided to
extend Xmas pressure by a few days – too little to late!

WHERE'S THE JOKE?
Managers who think we'll help them sort out their
problems must be having a laugh! In the week leading
up to Black Friday, in PSA the work was failing to clear
every day! What did they expect us to do about it
exactly? We're not going to go any faster, so they
better get more hands down here!

WON'T PASS THE PARCEL
Same goes for the Bullring, like everywhere else! Of
course, Xmas is the season of packets and the work
can't be done without more mates. Managers ignore
the problem right under their noses... until we make
sure that they can't ignore it any longer!

PEP OFF
Oh dear, the Late shift manager has been going around
giving us little pep talks and blaming the current chaos
in HMP on the resign earlier this year... Yup, he had
the cheek to tell us that we weren't properly
“distributed” on the shop-floor and that this is why the
work is failing day after day! And of course, job cuts
have nothing to do with it?

DIDN'T CUT IT
Actually we think this little tour by the manager around
the shop-floor is part of some charm-offensive on his
part, because in fact the rep was with him, apparently
to smooth his way. But the manager couldn't be
charming, not in a month of Sundays, so in future
neither of them should bother.

BACK TO THE FUTURE
In case we needed proof that we're short of drivers in
Distribution, if a workmate goes off sick, managers can
dump new routes on us, even in the middle of a shift.
This goes back to a change in an agreement made some
years ago, which allowed managers to change our
routes on the fly. But at that time there were a lot
more of us, enough reserves and enough time... so
that route changes were almost never heard of. Time
to win back the ground lost?

PROPER PAY NEEDED
How are our casual workmates meant to manage with
just 3 weeks (minimum wage) pay to take home? Yes,
especially since Angard always cocks everything up,
and their pay, if they get it, is likely to be late. We
guess they'd be very pleased to join us when we walk
out. As to pay and permanent contracts, that's
something we all need to fight for together!