19/03/25 Mount Pleasant bulletin

[jimallen]

Hi, here's the Mount Pleasant bulletin of 19 March. Comments welcome, as usual.

THEY'RE THE FOOLS
Who do managers think they're fooling when they say
that the USO trials won't affect Processing? We
already hear rumours of a Processing resign related to
USO changes - which includes DSA work going back
to... Romford? And of course, managers will try to cut
more jobs; we will have to stop them!

SOMEONE ELSE'S PROBLEM?
As for the USO changes managers are meant to
implement, they still don't know what they're going to
do with all that DSA and 2nd class mail which piles up
on the days it's not delivered. Managers here seem to
think it will go to Delivery Offices, while DUMs
apparently think it's going to stay in Mail Centres...
They'd all rather it just disappears...
PS: As it is right now, management already "loses"
letters, so yes, they're disappearing fast even before
the USO changes come in!

ALREADY HEAVY ENOUGH
All these new blocks of flats currently under
construction in N1/WC must mean that residential and
business deliveries will in fact increase, despite what
managers claim. So can we expect plenty of new
starters on deliveries? Because we're not walking
further, nor carrying any more mail in our bags and
trolleys...

GET OUT OF THE WAY!
On Processing, "Miahem" was at it again, threatening
us with... what exactly? The sack? Disciplinaries? For
doing our work despite him creating havoc? He
probably doesn't know himself...

SPREAD THE BUG?
The union and management's "attendance agreement"
which they signed behind our backs, allows the bosses
to get away with cutting our wages. They can put us
on a stage 1 or 2 just for being unlucky enough to get
ill! So they expect us to come to work when unwell, to
get worse? Or to share our bugs with everybody else?
Because this is what this agreement amounts to!

CAN'T WAIT, WON'T WAIT!
Apparently our pay rise, due next month, is being held
up even longer than expected - maybe until June! We
already knew it was delayed, after Kretinsky's takeover
was postponed. Union leaders claimed they couldn't
negotiate our pay, because the ownership was about
to transfer. But we need a pay rise urgently - that 2%
last year was a de facto pay cut!

PS: And for cleaners, it is even more a matter of
urgency for us, since we're the lowest paid workers in
RM! We were told we could expect a pay rise in April.
Our bills are ever-rising, and our wages need to catch
up pronto!

AND THE COOKIE GOES TO...
We wonder, why are managers so insistent that we fill
in their survey this year? On Lates, it was our turn to
have them on our backs, telling us to login to the
"Peoples' app" and get it done by 22 March - when
they know, and we know, it's just a paper exercise
with no consequences! Do they get brownie points
from top management for each form completed..?

CHEAPER TO D.I.Y?
The stamp price is going up yet again - to £1.70 for a
single 1st class letter! The rise this time might "only"
be 3% (from £1.65), but this is on top of a 22% rise last
October, and an 8% rise in April 2024! Add it all up,
it's 33% in one year... and almost tripled in price since
privatisation! And then RM bosses complain of letter
volumes falling…

HARDLY AN ENDORSEMENT...
Dave Ward was "re-elected" for a third time as the
union's General Sec - although it isn't much of a feat,
since he was standing unopposed... Yes, he must
have been relieved, he got another term in bed with
the bosses. Is it time to pull off the bed clothes?

DANGEROUS IGNORANCE
The MP walls and doors are covered with posters
reminding everybody that if they have a mental health
problem, they should talk to occupational health or
managers! But the reality is, that none of these
supposed "therapists", let alone managers has a clue.
In fact, when workmates are clearly suffering from
mental illness, they're threatened with the sack, and
indeed, thrown out of their jobs! It's not just
ignorance, it's the total absence of compassion.

WHAT HYPOCRITES!
So when we heard a Night shift manager having a
laugh about mental illness during Work Time
Learning, we may not have been too surprised, but
nevertheless we found it despicable. Yes,
shamelessness has no boundaries. He confirmed to
all of us that their "we are here for you" is a cynical lie.

[SpacePhoenix]

SOMEONE ELSE'S PROBLEM?
As for the USO changes managers are meant to
implement, they still don't know what they're going to
do with all that DSA and 2nd class mail which piles up
on the days it's not delivered. Managers here seem to
think it will go to Delivery Offices, while DUMs
apparently think it's going to stay in Mail Centres...
They'd all rather it just disappears...
PS: As it is right now, management already "loses"
letters, so yes, they're disappearing fast even before
the USO changes come in!

It'll be processed along with the 1C as normal by the inward MC and then sent out to the DOs. For the mech if there's no 2C or DSA we won't even bother turning the machines on, we'll just send it as manual, as it won't be worth running just 1C on it's own.

[Tman]

Vacancies 120,000 in the NHS?
Not quite-

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-informa ... statistics

Statistics (accurate ones, anyway) and the Left never were closely acquainted.

On the other hand, I don't want to be treated by redundant NHS England workers who used to file accounts or serve tea, thanks all the same.