21/09/23 Mount Pleasant Bulletin

[jimallen]

Hi! Here's the Mount Pleasant bulletin of 21 September... Comments welcome!

AND THEY WANT TO AXE MORE JOBS?
The union reps told us that RM bosses want to cut
another 1,300 jobs in Processing! After they already
cut 10,000?! And then we're told that this is because
of the "super-hubs", the fact that every Mail Centre has
a Parcel Sorting Machine and because, apparently,
there is "less work to go around". If anything, there is
more work around, not less. And on top of that, aren't
they merging Camden's ParcelForce into MP?

THEIR LIES
We know what the real objective is: fewer workers
doing more work, on worse conditions (of course!).
But they'll have to get rid of us first. And we're not
leaving!
PS: They claim poverty, but look at the multiple
billions they just spent on these fully-automated
super-giant super-hubs, with their own dedicated train
linking to the West Coast Mainline, not to mention all
the billions they've given to their big shareholders...

WE WON'T GO!
Yes, so we're certainly not leaving on these
outrageously pathetic VR packages, which are still less
than half of the already small amount we were entitled
to... i.e., 9-months instead of 2 years worth of wages!

TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE
Yet the only thing we hear from the union HQ, is that
the CWU started a "dispute resolution process" on 8
Sept, against the cuts and (some of) the
"supernumerary" nonsense... But only after many of
us have already had our hours cut - and been put onto
new duties!

ALL FOR ONE
We have been told to submit individual grievances to
RM about our lost hours etc., and that's what we've
done. But then what? Wouldn't it be far more
effective if we all put in a collective grievance? Or
better still, took collective action..!
Indeed, what's the point of waiting for the union to
(re-)negotiate with these same bosses only in order to
come back with a slightly-less-bad proposal?

A COLLECTIVE BINNING
We've never seen any changes come from any
"Employee Survey", even when we did make the effort
of giving our "honest" opinions... So using it to
register our opposition to the hours cuts (as
suggested) is obviously a non-starter.

WHAT LIFE?
The new part time duties we're supposed to work
leave us no space for living our lives! The pay is just
not enough, with just 20hrs/week, so we're obliged to
do a second job. And anyway, if you work one night a
week and then all weekend, what time is left to have a
social life?

TOO MUCH
Parcels are getting heavier! No matter where we
work, one part or another of our bodies starts to
complain, whether it's our backs, our shoulders, or our
arms! Many of us are not exactly young anymore, but
even if we were, this would be too much!

WE WON'T STRAIN OUR BACKS
You'd think DUMs would plan for us to have the
equipment to deliver these heavy ParcelForce items...
but nope! We're sometimes short of trolleys and since
there are not always two of us in a van, heavy parcels
just can't be delivered.
PS: We can only guess that the DUM who told us "if
you are alone and the parcel is too heavy, ask the
customer to help", was just momentarily losing his
capacity to think straight... or more likely, never had it!

THEIR PROBLEM, NOT OURS
On deliveries, vans are full to the brim and then we
still get our PDA's pinging to collect parcels from
customers! And how are we supposed to fit in
postbox collections as well..? So of course, we are
now coming back with more and more undelivered
items... This is not on us. What is management going
to do about it?

WHERE'S THE BIN?
No one likes these new plastic folding sleeves. They
are bulky and it's a pain to fold/unfold them all the
time. But of course, managers say they're great...
because they fit more parcels? Well, we don't like
them and they should be chucked into the bin,
together with all the brilliant ideas the managers come
up with!

LITTLE UN-HELPERS
And sorry, but the shovels they give us to scoop
parcels from the bottom of the sleeves are a joke.
They're so small they're suited for little elves, not
grown up humans. Or is this an early Xmas joke?

WORRYING RUMOURS
We still hear plenty of rumours of radical shift changes
in Distribution... Apparently managers would like to
get rid of mornings, extend night work and have us
doing weekends... maybe on overtime, as an incentive.
We are dead against this. Driving under today's
conditions is bad enough as it is... adding hours to a
shift or a working week is simply unsafe.

[SpacePhoenix]

Hi! Here's the Mount Pleasant bulletin of 21 September... Comments welcome!

AND THEY WANT TO AXE MORE JOBS?
The union reps told us that RM bosses want to cut
another 1,300 jobs in Processing! After they already
cut 10,000?! And then we're told that this is because
of the "super-hubs", the fact that every Mail Centre has
a Parcel Sorting Machine and because, apparently,
there is "less work to go around". If anything, there is
more work around, not less. And on top of that, aren't
they merging Camden's ParcelForce into MP?

They're bullshitting there, a good few MCs don't have a PSM yet

[mwalker88]

Plenty jobs going in Delivery.

[qwerty2]

Plenty jobs going in Delivery.

Even more after next week when we get the lump sum
And more after next March
deserting a sinking ship

[scoobydo79]

Apply at a delivery office. Leaving in droves wher I am

[DirtyHarry]

Think it's bad in mail centres, wait until you are forced to transfer to a delivery office.
You 'aint seen nothing yet, baby!

[Nickvilla20]

The class 325 Royal Mail trains are 25 years old now.

[wally11]

The parcels certainly are getting heavier and Ive been noticing a lot of parcels coming through with the wrong weight stated on them for months now. I had 7 large heavy parcels the other day for one address and the sender had stated that they weighed 1000g!!!! I keep telling my manager but they just say the machines don't scan every parcel and im just to deliver it.

[SpacePhoenix]

The class 325 Royal Mail trains are 25 years old now.

The HSTs are nearly 50 years old and they're only just starting to finally be retired. The electric trains on the Island Line (not the steam railway) before the current ones where about 80 years old when they were retired. If properly maintained railway locos and rolling stock can go on for many, many years

[2chorizon]

The parcels certainly are getting heavier and Ive been noticing a lot of parcels coming through with the wrong weight stated on them for months now. I had 7 large heavy parcels the other day for one address and the sender had stated that they weighed 1000g!!!! I keep telling my manager but they just say the machines don't scan every parcel and im just to deliver it.

The weights stated on the parcels can be bogus, usually the sender has a business account and that lets them send a tonne of heavy stuff,
if you try and quarantine it to Revenue, they will tell you to send it “cos we do spot checks on business clients” ie they reckon they will suss them further along the line at sometime maybe.

[Binsey]

The old TPO rolling stock that was in service in 2004 was originally built in 1958.

All the Class 325s have recently been refurbished.

[SpacePhoenix]

The old TPO rolling stock that was in service in 2004 was originally built in 1958.

All the Class 325s have recently been refurbished.

I wonder in the long term is the replacements for the 325s will "quad voltage" with:

* Diesel engines for long distance where there's no electrification
* 3rd rail for in 3rd rail territory
* Overhead for where there's OLE
* Battery for local shunting moves and for going in and out of RM sites (no diesel fumes or electrocution hazards to worry about

[Nickvilla20]

The old TPO rolling stock that was in service in 2004 was originally built in 1958.

All the Class 325s have recently been refurbished.

I wonder in the long term is the replacements for the 325s will "quad voltage" with:

* Diesel engines for long distance where there's no electrification
* 3rd rail for in 3rd rail territory
* Overhead for where there's OLE
* Battery for local shunting moves and for going in and out of RM sites (no diesel fumes or electrocution hazards to worry about

Amazon have converted a few 319s into freight stock which are basically the same as the 325s.

I think the main bulk of Mail traffic runs up the west coast mail line so other forms of power won’t be needed. I doubt they will replace those 325s anytime soon.

[britwrit]

The parcels certainly are getting heavier and Ive been noticing a lot of parcels coming through with the wrong weight stated on them for months now. I had 7 large heavy parcels the other day for one address and the sender had stated that they weighed 1000g!!!! I keep telling my manager but they just say the machines don't scan every parcel and im just to deliver it.

The weights stated on the parcels can be bogus, usually the sender has a business account and that lets them send a tonne of heavy stuff,
if you try and quarantine it to Revenue, they will tell you to send it “cos we do spot checks on business clients” ie they reckon they will suss them further along the line at sometime maybe.

One might think the business is giving a backdoor price cut to big customers. This is against the USO, of course, so not true, but....