For instant updates: http//:www.cwu.org     email: info@cwu.org 150 The Broadway, Wimbledon, London, SW19 1RX Tel: 020 8971 7200 Fax: 020 8971 7300 General Secretary: Billy Hayes (www.billyhayes.co.uk)

Letter to Branches

 

 

 

 

No: 598/14

Ref: 21003

26th September 2014

 

 

To: All Branches with Postal Members

 

 

Dear Colleague

 

UPDATE ON NATIONAL TALKS – GROWTH, EFFICIENCY AND NEW INCENTIVE ARRANGEMENTS

 

Following the letter sent to the company on the 21^st July, the Union has continued talks with Royal Mail on a Joint National Statement that would bring together in a balanced way the issues of growth, efficiency and incentive arrangements.

 

The current position is that whilst progress has been made on a structured growth plan, it is still proving difficult to finalise an agreed approach to efficiency and incentive arrangements, given the continuing impact of direct delivery competition in both letters and parcels.

 

As stated in LTB 594/14, next week we will be announcing a date for a National Briefing in October and we will be impressing upon the company the urgent need to conclude the aforementioned Joint Statement prior to the National Briefing. In the event that the issue of incentive arrangements remains unresolved by the time the Postal Executive meet on the 7^th October, then we will be considering other ways to achieve our objectives and fulfil the commitments made in the Agenda for Growth, Stability and Long Term Success Agreement.

 

We are meeting Royal Mails senior management team next week and further information will follow in due course. Any enquiries on the above LTB should be directed to the DGS (P) Department.

 

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

 

 

Dave Ward                                                             

Deputy General Secretary (P)

For instant updates: http//:www.cwu.org     email: info@cwu.org 150 The Broadway, Wimbledon, London, SW19 1RX Tel: 020 8971 7200 Fax: 020 8971 7300 General Secretary: Billy Hayes (www.billyhayes.co.uk)

Letter to Branches

 

 

 

 

 

No: 587/14

Ref: 60000

23rd September 2014

 

 

To: All Branches with Postal Members

 

 

 

 

Dear Colleague

 

WORKING TIME DIRECTIVE – HOLIDAY PAY

 

In recent months the Union has been monitoring the developing legal situation on how holiday pay should be calculated in line with the Working Time Directive.

 

This involves three very significant Employment Tribunal cases in non CWU companies which have cast doubt over how an employer is required to calculate holiday pay under the European Working Time Directive. A previous decision that has stood since 2004, held that adhoc overtime did not need to be included in the calculation. However, this has now been contradicted both directly and indirectly in recent cases and the ET decisions in the three aforementioned cases have ruled that ad hoc overtime should now be included.

 

Although these ET decisions are not yet binding, the legal advice received from our lawyers suggests that ultimately, this is likely, though not certain, to be confirmed as the correct interpretation of this particular Working Time Directive.

 

These decisions could have very significant implications and may mean that for any holiday taken since 1998, current Royal Mail employees may have a legitimate legal claim against the company to up to four weeks worth of overtime payments (the directive only covers a four week holiday period) each year. A further issue that needs to be resolved legally is what reference period should be used for how any entitlement should be calculated.

 

As you can imagine employers across the UK have been strongly lobbying against this interpretation of the directive and the CBI are claiming that this would have a major detrimental effect on the ability of British companies to remain competitive.

 

 

 

 

The current position is that two of these recent ET decisions are being appealed against by employers and these appeals are pending. Additionally, a third case brought by a transport employee has been settled outside of the tribunal and we are trying to establish the basis of this settlement.

 

The whole subject matter is a very live issue and we can confirm that CWU has now lodged a formal claim for both future entitlements and back pay with the Royal Mail Group on behalf of all CWU members working for the company.

 

Following initial discussions with Royal Mail under the auspices of Bobby Weatherall PEC Member, who has been diligently following developments for the Union, we have now arranged a meeting with the company’s senior management team to discuss the basis of our claim and try to reach a settlement. Additionally, we are continuing to discuss with our lawyers the best way to protect the legal position of CWU Members, if necessary through the Employment Tribunal.

 

Further information will be sent out in the near future following our next meeting with the company. In the meantime, it is important that all CWU branches and representatives circulate the content of this LTB and convey the Union’s position to our members in all work places.

 

Any enquiries on the content of this LTB should be addressed to the DGS(P) Department, quoting reference 60000.

 

Yours sincerely                                                 

 

 

Dave Ward                                                

Deputy General Secretary (P)                  

UNIONLINE POSTER – JUNE 2014

Letter to Branches

No. 561/2014 Ref: 216.01 Date: 4th September 2014

For The Immediate Attention Of All:

Postal Branches
Divisional Representatives
Regional Organisers
Area Distribution Representatives

Dear Colleague
Royal Mail Logistics –Professional Driver Opportunities (Class C+E Licence)

Please find attached a self-explanatory Joint Statement that has been agreed with Royal Mail Logistics in relation to recruitment opportunities for Class C+E licence holders.

Branches are requested to ensure that this LTB is given immediate circulation to representatives and that our members are made aware of this opportunity by way of the attached Joint Statement being given the widest publicity.

As always the department thanks you for your assistance in this matter.

Any enquiries in relation to this LTB should be addressed to Terry Pullinger, Assistant Secretary, email: dwyatt@cwu.org or shayman@cwu.org quoting reference number.

Yours sincerely

Terry Pullinger
Assistant Secretary

Joint Statement Between Royal Mail Logistics And The CWU Regarding The Resourcing Approach For The Immediate Professional Drivers Recruitment And The Next Steps Regarding Driver Career Path and Diversity

INTRODUCTION

Royal Mail Logistics and the Communications Workers Union are working together to create a more sustainable workforce in the National Logistics Professional Driving Function. Both parties recognise that there is an immediate need to fill circa 200 Professional Driver jobs across the UK. The purpose of this joint statement is to set out the high level resourcing principles and timescales for this campaign, and to begin to lay the foundations for future aspirations for a driver career path and diversity process.

Against this backdrop our Joint Working Group has researched the issue of manpower in this area and have identified that there is an immediate business need to increase our Professional Driver resource. In addition to the immediate business need there is also a joint aspiration to create a sustainable driver career path balanced against business resourcing needs.

SCOPE

In order to achieve the immediate business need of circa 200 Professional Drivers a recruitment campaign commenced on 2nd September 2014. Access to this campaign is via the Royal Mail Internal recruitment website http://www.royalmailgroup.com/myjob quoting Role reference number RML058438. The closing date for applications is 23rd September 2014 and all applications must be made via the Internal recruitment website.

Initially we will be resourcing from suitably qualified Royal Mail Group applicants and criteria are in line with the Professional Drivers Agreement (PDA).

Internal Criteria

 Initially the selection will be from a list of suitable Royal Mail Employees who have applied via the Royal Mail Recruitment Website (IRIS) and who hold the relevant C+E licence.
 No current record on an individual’s licence of dangerous driving or drink driving (includes accident/speeding/tacho offence history).
 Less than 6 points on driving licence.
 Good conduct and attendance record, in accordance with Royal Mail Group policy. (Conduct at Category 2 level or 2nd Stage Attendance Warning.) Where the exclusion of an internal candidate on the grounds of Conduct or attendance would otherwise trigger external recruitment, the case will be referred to the National parties for review.
 Tie Break. Where two or more individuals are considered suitable for a lesser number of vacancies we will revert to Local Resourcing Area (see below) and Length of Service in line with the Way forward Agreement.
 Where there is no suitable internal candidate we will move to external resourcing criteria in line with the PDA.

Local Resourcing Area:

1. Applicants from the local resourcing unit.
2. A reasonable travel distance; reasonable is normally considered to be within one hour.
3. Outside the resourcing area other national people from anywhere in RMG.
4. Requests for Transfer by individuals with Special Circumstances will be considered jointly and prioritised on a case by case basis.

Monthly Pay

Professional Drivers are monthly paid. Therefore, in accordance with the Professional Drivers Agreement all successful applicants will be moved to monthly pay. There is a process in place to help people with the transition from Weekly to Monthly pay and further information about this is available through your HR team.

NEXT STEPS

Both parties recognise the need for on-going discussions to scope and create a sustainable driver career path to support the businesses resourcing needs. In addition we recognise there is a need to consider the diversity of our Professional Driving workforce and opportunities to add balance to the Professional Driver demographic profile. Therefore, we are jointly seeking to research and design a process that will enable us to sustain a Professional Driver workforce that is ready to meet our future resourcing needs.

 To support this initiative the Terms of Reference for this Joint Working Group are being drawn up.

 Royal Mail Logistics wishes to create a sustainable Professional Driving workforce and we will therefore run a separate campaign to identify individuals who are eligible and who wish to be trained to the required C+E Licence standard. This Campaign will be implemented once the direct recruitment campaign is underway and will be offered initially to those interested individuals who require the minimum amount of training to meet the full C+E standard. Further details of this approach will be shared when they become available.

Euan McMurdo Terry Pullinger
Director Assistant Secretary
Royal Mail Logistics CWU

Date: 4th September 2014

Letter to Branches

No. 572/2014 Ref: 600 Date:12th September 2014

To: Branches with POSTAL Members

Dear Colleague

Water Bottles for Liquid Refreshment and Hydration on Delivery

Branches will be aware of the work being undertaken by the various Strands within the Integrated Delivery Programme (IDP). As such the Safety, Customer Service and Quality Strand have had discussions regarding liquid refreshment for OPG’s whilst out on Delivery, particularly during spells of hot weather, this has also been subject to discussions by the Health and Safety department on the severe weather standards and sun safety review.

Those discussions have identified that there is a process in place for Water Bottles to be supplied by Royal Mail which was disclosed as part of a recent Q&A session around procedures for Hot Weather:

Q – Can I order a Water Bottle to take out with me on Delivery?

A – Water Bottles are not a uniform order item; however they are available to order as a cycle spare so can still be ordered. They are available direct from Pashley cycles via their SAP catalogue. Your requisitioner should be able to go in to the SRM system and put in Water Bottles and they will come up.

As a consequence of identifying this process we would encourage all CWU Representatives to raise and discuss with their DOM’s the ordering and issuing of water bottles to make sure that this item is offered to all frontline delivery OPG’s and the appropriate orders are put in place.

Any problems with the ordering of these items should be raised with the Outdoor department so that the matter can be raised with Royal Mail in future IDP Strand discussions.

Furthermore detailed advice for Outdoor Workers on Sun Safety and precautions to adopt when working in hot weather to avoid sun burn, sun stroke, dehydration and heat stroke has been issued by the Health and Safety department in LTB 281/14.
Any enquiries to Bob Gibson’s Office, quoting reference 600 Email address: hnutley@cwu.org or mstewart@cwu.org
Yours sincerely

Bob Gibson Dave Joyce
CWU Assistant Secretary – Outdoor National health,safety and environment Officer

Letter to Branches

No. 578/2014 Ref: 300 Date:16th September 2014

To: Branches with POSTAL Members

Dear Colleague,

Motor Vehicle Taxation – Royal Mail Group Vehicles

Following a number of enquiries from Branches regarding the cessation of the requirement to display Motor Taxation Discs in vehicles, we have made representation to Royal Mail on the subject and received the following response, which is reproduced below for your information.

On 1st October 2014, there will no longer be the requirement to display a tax disc in any vehicle registered in the UK. This is the same for both businesses and private users and Automated Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) will be used to detect non-compliance. Checking of tax disc expiry will no longer be needed as part of the routine vehicle checks carried out by our drivers. As is the case now, any late licensing penalties received will be paid centrally by Royal Mail and there is no liability for our employees.

In order to manage the new requirement, we have developed a robust system that will ensure our vehicles are taxed. The process will continue to be refined over the coming weeks as automation will be enabled by the introduction of the M5 reporting system. For peace of mind, a useful link for individuals to check the status of their vehicle is: http://www.vehicleenquiry.service.gov.uk
Any enquiries to Bob Gibson’s Office, quoting reference 300, email address: hnutley@cwu.org or mstewart@cwu.org
Yours sincerely

Bob Gibson
CWU Assistant Secretary – Outdoor