29/10/25 Mount Pleasant Bulletin

[jimallen]

Hi, find below the Mount Pleasant bulletin of 29 October. We welcome (and carefully read) your comments!

THE GRINCH IS ALREADY AT IT
The Xmas overtime on Processing has come out. But
the only shifts that are certain are those offered to part timers...
and yes, they're all on Saturday
afternoons/evenings or Saturday to Sunday nights!
Totally antisocial shifts, at a time when we'd prefer to
spend weekends with family! So cheers to RM's Xmas
spirit!

THEY DON'T EVEN FORSEE IT
Processing managers have asked the rest of us to apply
for Xmas overtime through their "foreseen overtime
(S/A??) system"... So there will be "volunteer sheets"
displayed every Monday at 9am (and then "withdrawn"
every Wednesday at midday) for the following week's
OT. But will it end up like last year, when managers
cancelled the (not-so) "foreseen" overtime after they had
given it??

THE TICKET SYSTEM IS BACK
Same goes for the "unforeseen overtime ballots", which
will be offered at random during the 5-week Xmas
period... In short, it means there'll be much less Xmas
S/A available, and we'll have to enter a "prize draw" to be
offered what used to be considered normal (much needed)
extra income at Xmas...

YES, THERE IS ANOTHER WAY
Well, we'll have to think of another way to get that extra
income! A demand for a much better pay rise
accompanied by the necessary strike? Yes, and at the
time when they need us the most!

THE CHEERLEADERS ARE MUTE
We've read the message from union leaders on
WhatsApp, confirming that the roll-out of USO changes
is to be stopped until at least 2026. So yeah, DUMs
aren't chanting "U.S.O., U.S.O." with mouthfuls of
pastries under golden balloons any more... But what we
now want is for the cheerleaders' cuts to be reversed!

WE'RE SUPER-STAYING!
During one of management's "huddles" (yuck!) we were
told there are no EVRs going now, except maybe for the
few of us so-called "supernumeraries". Yes, they insist
that some of us are still "surplus to requirements", at a
time when casuals are brought in every week. But then
of course, they couldn't swallow the fact that some of us
stood up against their slashing of hours. And we're not
going anywhere!

WE ALL STOP 'TIL MANAGEMENT STOPS!
Supposedly management had finally seen the light and
realised that they needed more duties on the Platform.
But it appears that they think they can fill these with
agency temps!? Well not if we have anything to do with
it!

EVER-INCREASING CHAOS
Despite management's mantra "letter volumes are
falling" - they can't run the ILSMs without jams and
failures! And how could they, when they got rid of one
of the machines and cut the number of duties on the 3
which remain? Fewer machines and fewer of us means
more letter jams and more delays - but apparently that's
how they want things (not) to run round here...

UNWELCOME BACK
A night manager who played victim, after his attempt to
victimise others didn't work out the way he wanted, has
returned from taking sick leave. We hope he's now
completely cured of trying to make mountains out of
molehills and get mates sacked. Otherwise he can take a
few more months off - that's totally OK with us!

GIVE HIM TEA, SO HE CAN PEE-OFF!
There's a new manager in the Processing floor, who likes
to follow us to the toilet, when he's not actually refusing
to let us go! Apparently he's unaware that bodily
functions are not banned in RM! We all think he should
go back to selling underwear, if indeed, as he claims, his
former job was a manager at M&S. Since he's so
incompetent, it seems that this is somewhat doubtful...

SABOTAGING HIS FELLOW?
We have to wonder why King Etcetera decided he
wouldn't help this new M&S guy understand how things
worked. Was it so that his fellow manager would look
bad? Does he hope to protect his own little patch? By
the way, M&S looks bad enough, without an even worse
"rival" trying to throw him under a bus.

IT'S SCIENCE FICTION
In Work Time Sleeping last week, managers showed us a
video of their wished-for future: robots pushing yorks in
an orderly and organised (and very slow...) manner,
replacing us... But Processing areas are so disorderly
and disorganised, thanks to their job cuts, that this is
hardly feasible. A robot replacement for managers, on
the other hand, would "work" fine.

IT'S A HAT-TRICK!
Ofcom has fined RM for the third year in a row for failing
to meet delivery targets - £21m this time. It didn't even
meet the reduced delivery targets that Ofcom gave it as
part of the USO changes! Only 77% of 1st class mail and
92.5% of 2nd class mail arrived "on time" in the year to
March 2025. RM "admitted wrongdoing" said Ofcom,
but will either of them do some right-doing? Not on
your nelly!

KILL THIS ROBIN?
RM bosses say that their Robin app is the first "hyper converged
solution" in industry... But it looks like just
another social media app, requiring that we enter all kinds
of personal information, so that the bosses have even more
of our details at hand! So, hyper-no-thank-you!

[Tman]

Interesting that finally(!) the tragedies in Sudan get a small mention from the Far Left. Maybe all those who march weekly in London in support of Gaza will now switch to chanting for peace in the Sudan?
Highly unlikely, as the victims are Christian and the perpetrators not Jewish.
The highly-selective Left on show again.

[Mesque1899]

Interesting that finally(!) the tragedies in Sudan get a small mention from the Far Left. Maybe all those who march weekly in London in support of Gaza will now switch to chanting for peace in the Sudan?
Highly unlikely, as the victims are Christian and the perpetrators not Jewish.
The highly-selective Left on show again.