08/02/23 Mount Pleasant Bulletin

[jimallen]

Hi, here is the Mount Pleasant bulletin of 8 February. Comments are welcomed!

WHY?
We were surprised that no sooner had a new 24-hour
strike been called for 16th-17th Feb, than we heard it
was off, due to a “challenge” by Royal Mail. The
reason wasn’t clear and we await the explanation...
But searching the internet, we found this in
“Personnel Today”: firstly, that RM said the strike
“relate(s) to issues not covered by the original ballot”
and secondly, it “would affect workers’ duties on 18
February, a date not covered by the current strike
mandate”! Of course it’s RM’s (usual) bollocks. But
what now?

PS: We just heard there are round-the-clock union
meetings this Thursday. So hopefully we can get
some answers - and discuss what to do next.

WE ARE READY
One way or another, though, it seems we’re
supposed to wait for the re-ballot result to hear when
we will re-strike, officially, that is... Well, whatever
Thompson and Co are trying on, they can be sure
that we’re ready to fight them, and for however long
it takes.

THIS IS INCREDIBLE!
Cleaners have had a note from the union to say that
RM has made us a (separate!) pay offer which the
officials are “considering”… But they don’t say what
the offer is! How can they even “consider” an offer
that they haven’t told us about?

LITERALLY THE SAME OLD
We heard from this “new” MP boss – who’s really an
old boss – that we’re meant to attend 1-2-1 (one-to-one)
meetings to see how fit we are for
“realignment”. He sarcastically began his letter
saying he hoped it “found us all in good health”.
Apparently there’ll be a "re-pick" process, where
some of us are meant to be weeded out on so-called
medical grounds… If we allow it.

HOW TO MAKE LIGHT WORK...
This is an old story: management wants to get rid of
light duties. But whether we’re young or old, worn
out or not, we all feel the burn of the workload - on
our backs, arms, necks, as fewer and fewer of us are
meant to “carry” more and more! Yes, when in fact
we should all be on lighter duties! Wasn’t that the
original objective of “automation”?

NO “SURPLUS” HERE
But no, the only thing the plant boss has to say is that
"those not successfully appointed" to light duties
"will be declared surplus". Surplus? What a way to
talk about workers! What’s surplus to requirements
are bosses like this and language like this. We know
the union has a long-standing agreement on
“managing” this so-called “surplus”. But we do not
agree.

WE NEED THEM
The fit-up currently underway in distribution means
that the duties on Nights, which were up to now
covered by agency workers, aren’t available to them
any more. Obviously if agency workers were needed,
it meant there was a shortage of drivers, so moving
people from days to nights is hardly going to fix this.
Any fit-up should include giving proper contracts to
the agency workers!

IT JUST GETS WORSE
DUMs are dumping more collection work on
Deliveries! Yes, if they get away with it, it’ll be the
end of collections-only duties... Not to mention next day
deliveries… and where does this end? Does
anyone still remember the long-lost era of “same day”
deliveries?

DUM AND DUMBER
DUMs are also going ahead with the EVRs, while at
the same time they expect us to work overtime...
How on earth do they justify that?

DECLARED "SURPLUS"
It's obvious that DUMs want everyone to drive a van,
hoping that we'll drive through London like madmen
and women to finish our deliveries (and collections)
on time. Those of us who don’t have licenses are still
under pressure to get them. But with that prospect in
sight, why would we?

STILL A FIGHT TO HAVE!
We're glad to see one of our suspended reps back
among us. But there are still many faces missing
here and in other offices. Where is our deliveries
workmate? This has gone on far too long.

NO ILLUSIONS IN PARLIAMENT!
CEO Simon Thompson is back in Parliament on 22
February. But MPs are not going to fight our battles
for us. We have to use our industrial muscle to do
that! And we need to use it properly. Our next step
can only be an all-out indefinite strike!

[Tman]

Always an entertaining read for the hard Left's understanding of World events, although allegedly Capitalism being the main reason for so many deaths in the Turkish/Syrian earthquake and the Russian/Ukrainian War is particularly enlightening.

[scoobydo79]

Sounds like they need to be consulting a decent employment solicitor not waiting for the Union to save their arses.