05/03/25 Mount Pleasant bulletin

[jimallen]

Hi, here's the Mount Pleasant bulletin of 5 March. Comments welcome, as usual!

WE HAVE OUR LIST
A pay rise is well overdue! We've asked our union reps,
but they're as much in the dark as we are. There is that
letter from top union officials circulating on WhatsApp,
telling us they're ready to sit down with the new boss to
negotiate pay and working conditions... Should we march
up to union HQ to tell them what we want? They seem to
have forgotten to ask us!

PRICES UP? WAGES UP!
We're also told that since Kretinsky's EP Group take-over is
being delayed, a pay offer might be delayed as well! But
prices are going up everywhere (transport, council tax,
energy, food, etc., etc., etc.) - we cannot afford to wait!

JUST WHO DO THEY THINK THEY ARE?
There's a poster circulating which lists what the union
leadership will be "negotiating" with management, and
there are things there which sound like the bosses talking...
like a "reduction in agency costs"... but not: "no more
agency workers, permanent jobs for all!" And what about
this "performance incentive scheme"? When we've always
been dead against performance related pay! And then
there's the last point, "pilots of new ways of working".
They've already agreed the diabolical USO pilot against
our wishes. So does this mean they've got more of these
"pilots" up their sleeves?

WE'RE ALL SUPER-NEEDED
Last week managers asked night shift workers on the
Parcel Sorting Monster to show casuals how to feed it.
Just proving that there are just not enough of us on the
job. And yet they still label many of us "supernumerary"!
It goes without saying that we should all be in proper,
permanent jobs, "supernumeraries" and casuals.

WHO ARE OUR HOLIDAYS FOR?
What's going on with Processing annual leave at the
moment? Some of us got the paper application form for
next year given back, but when we reapply, RM tells us
there are whole periods of the year which are
"unavailable". What this amounts to, is managers
choosing when we can take our holidays and when we
can't - totally regardless of our own choices and needs.
Can we choose when they take theirs?

CAN'T TOUCH THIS!
Apparently all new starters on Deliveries are now meant to
hold a driving licence and DUMs are putting pressure on
anyone already working here who doesn't have one. No
doubt this is because of RM's plans to cut USO
commitments and instead focus on parcels - which would
mean more vans in use. Of course we don't agree with the
USO trial. But on the other hand, they're welcome to pay
for our driving lessons!

BLISSFULLY IGNORANT
DUMs might have lots of questions about this trial, but
they can't answer any. For instance, what would happen if
we have to cut off our round and can't deliver all the 2nd
class letters on the two or three days which will be
allocated for this?

EQUAL WORK, EQUAL Ts&Cs
Some of us on Deliveries just discovered that we're
"officially" "part time", having worked full time for years!
Turns out we were on these "contract variations" which the
CWU officials were talking about, but neither we, nor
management, knew about it! Yep, apparently a 35-hour
contract can count either as "part time", or as "full time"!
But why are there so many different contracts? Union
officials talk of bringing new starters on to the "same
terms" as older contracts, but what about bringing older
contracts onto the "same (best) terms"?

NEW NAME, SAME OLD...
During our Work Time Sleeping this week, managers
pestered us with their annual survey... They insisted we fill
it in on their new app called "The People's app"... Why?
Do they get a bonus according to the number of us who
participate? We ended up answering the questions with "I
don't know" and "Not Applicable" as usual, to get it over
with... and get them off our backs.

BRING BACK PAPER PAYSLIPS
Talking about apps, many of us find management's online
payroll system impossible to navigate. We end up having
to ask tech-savvy workmates to help us out, just to find our
last payslip! But we know how much the payroll company
can mess with our pay, so we need to have an easier way
to verify. Yes, an old-fashioned paper print out from the
bookroom is required...

FROM PATAGONIA TO TIMBUKTU
The Jamaican beef stew with rice and peas was delicious
this week, we only wish dinners were always like this! But
the canteen company's cost-cutting drive (while putting
prices up) means that more often than not, the dishes,
supposedly from different countries, all taste the same...

STRIKES ACROSS THE WATER?
PostNL, the Dutch equivalent to RM, was in the media last
week. Kretinsky owns 30% of its shares and said that letter
deliveries to all addresses in the Netherlands (which also
has a Universal Service Obligation) were "no longer
sustainable". He made the same arguments as he did over
here. And he's now asking for a bailout from the Dutch
government! It's been refused so far, but their regulators
are looking at USO reform too. Shareholders know no
borders: whether PostNL or RM, they want ever higher
dividends at the cost of jobs and service!

[baldrick]

CAN'T TOUCH THIS!
Apparently all new starters on Deliveries are now meant to
hold a driving licence and DUMs are putting pressure on
anyone already working here who doesn't have one. No
doubt this is because of RM's plans to cut USO
commitments and instead focus on parcels - which would
mean more vans in use. Of course we don't agree with the
USO trial. But on the other hand, they're welcome to pay
for our driving lessons!

RM did use to pay for driving lessons. A mate learnt to drive with RM, failed test first time, and passed second time after more lessons.

[qwerty2]

CAN'T TOUCH THIS!
Apparently all new starters on Deliveries are now meant to
hold a driving licence and DUMs are putting pressure on
anyone already working here who doesn't have one. No
doubt this is because of RM's plans to cut USO
commitments and instead focus on parcels - which would
mean more vans in use. Of course we don't agree with the
USO trial. But on the other hand, they're welcome to pay
for our driving lessons!

RM did use to pay for driving lessons. A mate learnt to drive with RM, failed test first time, and passed second time after more lessons.

If they want everyone driving on delivery RM have had 15 years to teach thousands of non drivers to learn but done nothing!

[Tman]

"Shatter any remaining illusions that this labour government represents labourers" (sic)
Something truthful at long last from the Far Left rag..

[Perseus]

CAN'T TOUCH THIS!
Apparently all new starters on Deliveries are now meant to
hold a driving licence and DUMs are putting pressure on
anyone already working here who doesn't have one. No
doubt this is because of RM's plans to cut USO
commitments and instead focus on parcels - which would
mean more vans in use. Of course we don't agree with the
USO trial. But on the other hand, they're welcome to pay
for our driving lessons!

RM did use to pay for driving lessons. A mate learnt to drive with RM, failed test first time, and passed second time after more lessons.

If they want everyone driving on delivery RM have had 15 years to teach thousands of non drivers to learn but done nothing!

CWU too.

[baldrick]

CWU has never taught people to drive. I doubt if any other union has either. That's not the purpose of a union.

[baldrick]

CAN'T TOUCH THIS!
Apparently all new starters on Deliveries are now meant to
hold a driving licence and DUMs are putting pressure on
anyone already working here who doesn't have one. No
doubt this is because of RM's plans to cut USO
commitments and instead focus on parcels - which would
mean more vans in use. Of course we don't agree with the
USO trial. But on the other hand, they're welcome to pay
for our driving lessons!

RM did use to pay for driving lessons. A mate learnt to drive with RM, failed test first time, and passed second time after more lessons.

If they want everyone driving on delivery RM have had 15 years to teach thousands of non drivers to learn but done nothing!

RM doesn't even teach the basics of delivery and sorting.