22/04/2020 Mount Pleasant Bulletin

[jimallen]

Hi all, find below the Mount Pleasant bulletin of the 22nd of April. You can also find attached the full bulletin, with this week's editorial... Please check it out!
Comments are welcome, as usual.

COLLECTIVE ACTION!
If RM have introduced distancing and protective measures at
work more seriously, it’s only because mates have been taking
action. The last few weeks saw yet more walkouts - at Bury St.
Edmunds, Edinburgh, Didcot, Stoke-on-Trent, Warrington, and
previously at Alloa, Fife, Chatham and Southampton, all over
the lack of protection. But it’s still up to us to make sure that RM
takes this virus seriously!

MINIMISING RISK
So for instance, how is it that managers here haven't brought in
emergency rosters so we don't all have to turn up to work every
day with all the risks involved? A reduction of the workforce in
this way is needed in most workplaces to allow social
distancing. Sure, they've moved apart work stations. But the
main reason we've been able to keep 2m apart is mainly
because so many of us are away - either sick, self-isolating,
shielding or on Annual Leave. What happens when mates
return to work? Will they try and cram us in like sardines again?

THEIR INTOLERABLE BEHAVIOUR
Managers are still refusing to implement a sick leave
contingency plan! They're even refusing to take our NHS 111
self-isolation forms into consideration, so that the 2 weeks selfisolation
(or 3 weeks if we've symptoms) are expected to be
covered on normal sick leave. When we're back to work, we're
welcomed with a “stage 1” letter. It also means that for any
more days of sickness for the rest of the year, we can expect a
“stage 1” to be sent out? No way can this be tolerated: they're
not even respecting agreed procedures, let alone showing that
they grasp the exceptional nature of this covid-crisis!

PUNISHING US FOR ILLNESS!
That’s not the end of management's bloody-mindedness when it
comes to our sick leave. Those of us with existing long-term
illnesses will not get an extension of the 6 months paid leave
we’re entitled to, if we had to shield (it was an initial 12 weeks!).
So if we’ve had a recent serious, long-term condition (and so
are more at risk of Covid-19!) we're expected to come into work,
or starve at home on SSP! The bosses are apparently
reviewing their policy this week. Let's hope they screw their
heads back on.

RM CAN PAY IN FULL
And by the way, RM seems to be thinking of taking money from
the government's furlough scheme to cover wages of sick
workers - meaning that instead of getting their full wage as we're
demanding, they'd only get 80%. This company has
accumulated profits for years on our backs, so they can find
more than enough money to keep all of us on full pay.

PPE ON ITS WAY?
We got a letter last week, saying that Royal Mail is “investing”
£15m in Personal Protective Equipment. We wish these people
would stop brandishing figures around like that. What we need
is proper PPE, as required, of good quality and a reliable supply
whatever the cost! Maybe Mr Rich-Back can use his special
position in Switzerland to procure a deal in this respect, given
the dire shortages over here and the relatively better situation
over there?

WE'VE ALS0 GOT A PLAN
And by the way, Boss Back has the cheek to tell us, from the
comfort of his luxury £2.3m mansion, how we're "doing a great
job"! Yes, lining his and the big shareholders' pockets! And if
that wasn't enough, at the end of the letter he “reminds” us
about the financial state of the business and its future - implying
that the latest attacks against jobs and conditions will go ahead
as planned. OK. And our strike against him and his lot will go
ahead, as planned...

OUT WITH THE NON-ESSENTIAL!
You'd imagine that RM would stop this nonsense of sorting and
delivering non-essential goods once and for all? Because the
workload has gone through the roof everywhere, with people
ordering packets, packets, and more packets!! And deliveries
has cartloads of the stuff. It's like Black Friday every day, and
with a partly decimated workforce! Enough!!

OVERTIME IN TIMES OF COVID
Of course, managers are now offering overtime to deal with the
lack of hands and the piling up of work. Same thing for us
cleaners. Some mates have ended up working 12hr shifts,
when it’s obvious that the longer we stay at work, the more
exposed we are to Covid-19. Especially on the cleaning side. If
mates are shedding virus asymptomatically, this little bugger
stays alive on door handles, plastic-coated or laminated
worktops and other hard surfaces for 2-3 days! And remember -
it’s alive for 24 hours on cardboard... RM is really doing
everything to put us at risk!

APRIL FOOL?
First of April came and went, and when will we see any rise in
our pay? The union is still discussing parts of last year’s April
pay deal… and asking for an above-inflation rise for one year
this time (they don’t say by how much...), “as a genuine thank
you” for the work we’ve done. Maybe. But "genuine" and
"thank you" are not words which one would normally associate
with RM bosses...

NOT BONUSES, NOR DIVIDENDS!
And by the way, we're told that those of us who still have RM
shares won't get dividends this year. Well, we never believed
RM's fairy tale that shares would turn us into city gents and
ladies... But we don't want to hear about “exceptional” bonuses
either. What we want is a decent pay rise, period.

WE AREN'T THE NHS!
We're relieved that after all, the home-testing roll-out which
involved us delivering and collecting Covid-19 test kits from
NHS workers who were self-isolating has fallen through... Just
like most of Hancock's pledges regarding testing! But how
come it was agreed in the first place, that we should take the
risk of collecting these potentially virus-infected items from post
boxes?

LAUGHABLE!
Yes, armed with plastic bag, said the SSOW (safe system of
working haha!) procedure, you "pull the bag over your hand
inside out (like you see servers do at the fish counter)"? And if
there is a leakage, call your line manager, who would use the
“StayCalm Online process”... You couldn't make this up! Of
course, we don't mind delivering tests. But collecting potentially
virus-infected items?! The NHS needs a dedicated network of
trained staff to home test. Not us.

SECOND CHANCE?
That said, RM was so upset to lose this possible money spinner
that it quickly grabbed the next best thing - we are now meant to
collect boxes of samples (ready packed, so we won't touch the
test kits) from the drive-through testing stations. One question
to add though, is: when will it be our turn for testing? As "key
workers" - or as some would have it the 4th (5th, 6th) emergency
service, are we last in the queue?