13/11/24 Mount Pleasant bulletin

[jimallen]

Hi, here's the Mount Pleasant bulletin of 13 November. Comments are welcome, as usual!

WE HOPE HE RECOVERS!
We hear our workmate who was injured a few weeks ago
on the Platform is fortunately recovering. He broke his ribs
and hurt his legs when falling through a gap between an
"artic" and the platform. And to make things worse, he had
to wait a very long time for an ambulance to arrive! He's
now been discharged from hospital... But we'd like to know
how such an accident can even happen?!

... AND IT'S NOT JUST THIS ONE ACCIDENT...
The bosses will probably blame this one manager who they
say took away the ramp... But of course, what they'll try to
sweep under the carpet, is the fact that it's their job cuts
which have massively increased the number of accidents.
In fact a manager shouldn't have been anywhere near this
platform in the first place. And we all know why he was...

COVERING THEIR BACKS
And then, the very first thing management did after the
accident was to go round and get us all to sign a form to
confirm that we knew the procedures to follow on the
Platform! But it wasn't our lack of knowledge of procedure
that caused this "accident".

BOX-TICKING EXERCISE
What's going to happen now we're approaching Xmas
pressure? It's all hands on deck in Processing, meaning
Xmas temps will probably be put on the Platform, as they
were last year, without being properly shown what to do.
Even if management did get them to sign the same form to
say they understand procedure...

WELCOME TO THE 19 CENTURY!
What is this "Foreseen Overtime" system management's
introducing for Xmas overtime? It looks like the same c**p
system they had last year with a new name. We have to
sign up, on a "Volunteers sheet", which will be on the board
from Monday morning till Wednesday midday, if we want to
apply for the following week's overtime... And then, there
will be daily "Unforeseen overtime ballots" to get overtime
on the same day! Sounds like the "tally tickets" used back
in Victorian times!!

SCHEDULED NON-ATTENDING?
So what happened to Scheduled Attendance? Yet another
thing that is gone without us having a say over it? But we
do have a say if only we decide to speak out!

BEYOND UNFAIR?
And then, we are told that overtime will be allocated
according to our individual overtime aggregates... So if
we've done lots of overtime during the year there is little
chance to get it... But then, many of us part-timers have no
other choice but to do as much OT as possible during the
year just to get a half-decent pay! And since there are so
few slots (only 38!) being made up to full-time during Xmas
pressure, we're being discriminated against!

NOT FACING IT...
Well, well, well, just for the nostalgia, the latest "Elephant
story" is that he might not have retired on his own accord...
Yup, apparently his crooked books meant that he could
have faced the sack and preferred to slump away with his
trunk between his legs, rather than be disciplined by higherups.
And he used to tell us to "face [our] responsibilities"!

PRICES NEED PRUNING!
The newly-refurbished canteen could have done with
serious "refurbishment" of its prices too. Now that we pay
per item (per portion of rice or meat or vegs), our purses
feel the pain... We're paying up to, or even sometimes
more than, £5 per meal. Cheaper than restaurants outside,
but still too high for the wages we get in here!

WE ARE ALL IN THE SAME BOAT!
eCourier workers employed by the RM subsidiary, are
going on strike Thursday and Friday this week, demanding
"worker status". They're on "bogus" self-employed
contracts; they have to pay their own petrol, their own
vehicle hire, and are exempt from the minimum wage.
About 70 drivers, out of around 300, voted 94% to strike, in
a ballot organised by the IWGB union. The CWU haven't
bothered to organise these workers alongside the rest of
us, even though they work for the same Royal Mail as we
do...

NO CHANGE MEANS NO CHANGE
Yes, we have all received the numerous WhatsApp
messages telling us to vote for x or y candidate for the
NEC/PEC union election. But the problem is that apart
from one or two new faces, we see the same people that
have been leading us down the garden path, including
those who betrayed us during the 2022/23 strikes! As a
workmate said, first sign of madness is to do the same
thing and expect a different result...

REINSTATING OUR DEMOCRACY
Having said that, these elections do bring up the question
of democracy in our union... which many of us would agree
does not exist. We don't even get to know who represents
us on the shop-floor, let alone far off in some warm office in
the union HQ! The question is, what can we do about it?
Because in the meantime, the bosses are attacking every
one of our hard-won rights!

SELLING OUT
The November issue of the CWU's "Your Voice" leaflet is
out. In it, the union leaders say they are currently talking to
Kretinsky to "reach an agreed position" on what the
changes to the USO should look like. Of course, as
always, they justify it by saying it's "better" to be "at the
table" rather than "not even in the room". In fact it would be
better if we were all outside the room, on strike, against all
cuts to the USO!

A BIT LATE...
One of the things union officials say they want to achieve, is
to bring new starters onto the same terms and conditions
as the rest of us. The new starters' hourly rate of £12.57
per hour (outside London), is not much higher than the new
minimum wage of £12.21, when it comes in next year.
That's apparently a bit embarrassing for these leaders, who
recommended the deal which brought this 2-tier workforce
in last year!

[SpacePhoenix]

PRICES NEED PRUNING!
The newly-refurbished canteen could have done with
serious "refurbishment" of its prices too. Now that we pay
per item (per portion of rice or meat or vegs), our purses
feel the pain... We're paying up to, or even sometimes
more than, £5 per meal. Cheaper than restaurants outside,
but still too high for the wages we get in here!

Just be glad that you've got the option of cooked meals from your canteen

[chickenwittle]

SELLING OUT
The November issue of the CWU's "Your Voice" leaflet is
out. In it, the union leaders say they are currently talking to
Kretinsky to "reach an agreed position" on what the
changes to the USO should look like. Of course, as
always, they justify it by saying it's "better" to be "at the
table" rather than "not even in the room". In fact it would be
better if we were all outside the room, on strike, against all
cuts to the USO!
What planet are you on to think that the uso doesn’t need changing and the CWU are correct to be discussing this with a potential new owner.

[yellowbelly]

PRICES NEED PRUNING!
The newly-refurbished canteen could have done with
serious "refurbishment" of its prices too. Now that we pay
per item (per portion of rice or meat or vegs), our purses
feel the pain... We're paying up to, or even sometimes
more than, £5 per meal. Cheaper than restaurants outside,
but still too high for the wages we get in here!

What's a canteen?!

If you don't like it take sandwiches in or a tin of soup to warm in the microwave then!