The Company misinformation machine has gone into overdrive. How do you match up these facts?
1) The Company says the differences between the negotiators aren't that wide
2) The Company says the action and publicity is very damaging
3) The Company refuses to negotiate
4) The Company says hardly anyone supports the action
5) We get email notices today from both Roger Leek (company HR boss), and Peter Hutchinson (boss of Core Services, which employs most of us)
The notices are full of misinformation and untruths. We had a quick skim through one of these notices and produced this cull of corrections.
* One of the major contracts missed its SLAs on the week beginning 15th September.
* Amicus have NOT claimed that the majority of employees went on strike on the 15th. We said that the majority stayed away from MAN05, and that far more than the Amicus membership took strike action. Indeed, our "Avoiding Further Strikes" leaflet acknowledged that some people worked elsewhere. Unlike the company, we believe in telling it how it is.
* A number of units had a clear majority of people taking part in the strike.
* The Company is refusing to talk, not trying to resolve the issues.
* Amicus is NOT claiming that everyone is entitled to SEA severance terms. Look at our redundancy calculator for goodness sake - how many sets of terms are there?
* The Company ARE trying to redefine who the SEA applies to, to reduce redundancy rights dramatically.
* The "rules" on individual representation WERE clear, and had worked perfectly well for many years. The only reason there's any discussion on this issue is because the company didn't like them, and just started ignoring them. They wanted to hold crucial meetings with individuals and deny them representation.
* The Company aren't TRYING to welch on the existing agreement. They ARE welching on it. Look back at our correspondence with the company such as this. The Company refused even to discuss these issues until members voted for strike action.
* It's NOT about affordability. If the company wasn't being so unreasonable on other issues, perhaps their pleas of poverty would be more credible. We'd proposed options for addressing our pay claim that used already budgeted money. The company rejected these options out of hand. Even now, management have shown no willingness to really look for solutions on pay.
* Union subs are NOT £12 a month.
* The majority are NOT silent - they signed the petitions in support of the pay claim, individual representation, and collective bargaining. It's the company that doesn't want to listen.
Make the company negotiate - strike on Monday.
Join in the picketing and motorcade.