RE: MR GARRY BARKER – BRANCH ASSISTANT SECRETARY NORTH ANGLIA BRANCH

 

It is with great sadness that I write to inform you that Garry Barker, Assistant Secretary of the North Anglia Branch of the CWU, passed away peacefully in the early hours of Saturday morning at West Suffolk Hospital. Garry had been battling cancer since the start of this year.

 

Garry served the union for many years having been active in the Union since 1976. He became a Branch Officer in 1985 and held many other positions at branch and regional level. Over the years he also played an instrumental role in bringing the branches together in the area through mergers.

 

He was a very well respected branch officer within the branch and also at CWU Headquarters. He will be sadly missed by all his friends and colleagues in the union.

 

At this sad time our thoughts are of course with Garry’s wife and his children – and close family and friends. I have on behalf of the CWU conveyed our deepest sympathy and condolences to them.

 

When further information becomes available regarding funeral arrangements, branches will be informed.

 

If you have any enquiries on this LTB, these should be addressed to the General Secretary’s Office at gsoffice@cwu.org quoting the reference GS1.3/LTB 489/15.

 

 

Yours sincerely

​​​ ​​

 

Dave Ward​​​​​​

CWU Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Conference – Saturday 3rd October 2015 

The CWU Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Conference will be held on Saturday 3rd October 2015 at the Grand Central Hotel, Victoria Suite, 99 Gordon Street, Glasgow G1 3SL

Delegates/Observers

Branches are entitled to send two delegates to the Conference but branches have no restriction on the number of observers that can attend.

 

Branches are asked to register delegates and observers using the online registration process. Most branches should be familiar with the system now but anyone that has any difficulties please contact conferences@cwu.org.  

 

The link to access this is http://conference.cwu.org

Motions

Each Branch is entitled to submit one motion for consideration to be included on the agenda of the Conference. Motions should be submitted electronically to conferences@cwu.org using the template attached. Branches who do not have this facility may request paper motion forms by contacting Angela Niven on 020 8971 7256.

 

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Advisory Committee are entitled to submit up to three motions to the conference standing in their name.

 

Motion forms must be returned by midnight on Tuesday 2nd September 2015. All sections of the form must be completed.

 

Branches and the Advisory Committee are reminded that the Standing Orders Committee will not alter or amend any of the motions submitted therefore it is important that motions are checked before they are submitted.

As with previous Equality Conferences, the agenda will be structured in such a way as to maximise debate and participation by delegates. There will be two sections to the agenda, one for motions which are eligible for consideration for submission to General Conference, and one for motions that in the view of the Standing Orders Committee would not be admissible to the General Conference agenda.

 

Branches will be aware that with the carriage of Composite Rule Amendment 126 at General Conference 2013, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Conference has the entitlement under the rules of the union to submit two motions to stand in the name of the conference to General Conference and one motion to the Postal Group and Telecoms Industry Conferences. It is therefore important that if branches wish their motions to be considered for General Conference they must contain policy that is capable of being discharged by the NEC, as opposed to either of the Industrial Executives.

 

As with previous Equality Conferences, the motions for submission to the General Conference, Postal Group and Telecoms Industry agenda will be decided from amongst those motions adopted at the Conference. A ballot to select the motions will be held at the Conference and further information will be contained within the conference standing orders.

 

Please note that all correspondence must be sent to conferences@cwu.org and no other personal email address.

 

Any enquiries regarding this LTB should be addressed to Angela Niven either by post to head office or by email to conferences@cwu.org

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

 

A P Kearns

Senior Deputy General Secretary

 

 

OFCOM ANNOUNCEMENT – FUNDAMENTAL REVIEW OF THE REGULATION OF ROYAL MAIL 

As you may be aware, last Friday Ofcom published a discussion document setting out a fundamental review of the regulation of Royal Mail.

 

While Ofcom has presented this to the press as part of its work to secure the universal service, it is conducting the review in the wake of Whistl’s withdrawal from the letter delivery market and in the light of its concerns that Royal Mail is exploiting its position to prevent competition and new entrants like Whistl getting a foothold. It is therefore clear to us that Ofcom’s agenda in conducting the review is restricting Royal Mail’s commercial freedom, and putting greater pressure on it over efficiency.

 

As you may have seen in the media, Ofcom’s announcement led to a 4% drop in Royal Mail’s share price. The CWU has already expressed serious concerns in respect of Ofcom’s attitude towards Royal Mail and our member’s terms and conditions and we believe that the impact on Royal Mail’s share price is a further example of the lack of care and consideration on Ofcom’s part for protecting the universal service and a delivery to every address in the UK six days a week. This goes against the very purpose of Ofcom’s existence.

 

The CWU is passionate in ensuring that the ‘People’s Post’ is protected and does not become the victim of a deteriorating relationship between Royal Mail and Ofcom, with Ofcom seemingly indifferent to the effects that its actions can have on the company’s performance.

 

Against that backdrop the CWU will be considering the review that has been announced in further detail and submitting our views and comments for consideration.

 

Any queries about the contents of this LTB should be addressed to the DGS (P) Department quoting reference LTB 485/15.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

 

 

 

Terry Pullinger​​Dave Ward

Deputy General Secretary (Postal)​​General Secretary

 

 
COMMUNICATION WORKERS UNION

URGENT INFORMATION FOR MEMBERS

 Facebook: Dave Ward CWU @DaveWardGS

 

 

Amazon Doorstep Scanning – Final Deployment

Further to LTBs 483/14 and 661/14 which covered both the initial trial and the subsequent extension to further Delivery Offices scanning all Amazon RM 24/48 (1c/2c untracked) items at the delivery point, we have continued discussions with Royal Mail regarding the final extension of this service to all remaining units/postcode areas who will remain subject to the original TOR. The key sections of the TOR are reproduced in italic below for ease of reference.

The deployment to the remaining Postcode areas is as detailed in the matrix below, in line with their relevant deployment date. Those postcodes highlighted in green have already deployed. In addition we have agreed a full communications and training plan which will commence from w/c 27th July, which is also attached and included in the ZIP file below.

Region Delivery Director Delivery Director Area Postcodes Date

North Adrian Fielding North West England BL, BB, LA, FY, PR, M, OL, SK 27th July

 Gerry J McAuley West Scotland G, ML, PA, KA, DG, CA

 Simon Scott West / South Yorkshire BD, HD, HX, WF, LN, DN, S, HU

 Mark Wilkinson North East England NE, TS, SR, DL, DH, LS, HG, YO, TD

 Tony Bicknell East Scotland and NI EH, KY, TD, BT

 Deborah Rodger North Scotland AB, IV, HS, KW, ZE, DD, FK, PH

West Estelle Baillie South Coast BH, DT, PO, SO, SP

 Steve Crossley South West EX, PL, TA, TQ, TR 10-Aug

  Eddie Phipps South Wales & Gloucester CF,GL, LD, NP, SA

  Shiona Rolfe Great Western BA, OX, RG, SN

  Kevin Doyle Bristol BS

 Tony Baxter Cheshire & Merseyside CW,L,WA, WN + CH LL SY

  Karen English West Midlands B,DY, WS, WV + HR ST TF WR

East Steve Molloy East Midlands DE, NG, CV, LE, NN, MK, 24-Aug

 Doug Neal Anglia CB, CO, IP, NR, PE

 Steve Selby London EC, NW, SE, SW, W, WC

 John Maher Home Counties North AL, EN, HA, HP, LU, SG, SL, WD, UB

 Andy Downes South East BN, BR, CR, CT, DA,ME, RH, SM, TN

 Mike Devanny Essex CM, E, IG, N, RM, SS

 Kam McKinley Guildford GU, KT, TW

All of the items posted will be sent via RDCs (as per the current flow for the Amazon traffic) The RDCs affected are PRDC, NDC, NWDC, SWDC, NHC, SDC and NWDC. There is no scanning required at this stage.

Operational Impact

The operational impact is relatively straightforward, Amazon will apply a label at the time of posting within Royal Mails agreed barcode range and these items will travel through the normal standard Royal Mail 24/48 (1C/2C) pipeline.

The items will arrive into the Delivery Offices with the rest of the un-tracked parcels and large letters and will not be segregated into the tracked pipeline.

 

There is therefore no scanning required in RDCs or Mail Centre’s.

A doorstep scan will be undertaken on delivery routes at the point of delivery, no signature is required. The scan will be the standard delivered or undelivered scan in the PDA.

First Time Delivery – Delivery to Neighbour is also an extremely important factor in this trial, it is a key measure for all customers, and delivery to a neighbour should therefore be attempted in line with the national agreement. If the item is delivered to a neighbour the scan should be undertaken at the point of delivery and a P739 card left at the original address in line with normal practice.

 

If items are undelivered they will be scanned back into the Delivery Office and scanned again using the existing PDA facility if collected from the Enquiry Office.

Communications & Training

Staff at the final deployment sites will receive a WTLL w/c 27th July and information on Delivered Scanned items displayed. A follow up WTLL will be given a week later where handouts will be given to support the training. This will be repeated for the remaining sites from the 10 August and 24 August.

Staff in all affected delivery offices will receive training from local management on the process and how to distinguish the labels with support from the Central Deployment team.

Each unit will have a point of contact with a member of the central deployment team on the go live day to reinforce the training and answer any questions. The absolute emphasis of the training in Delivery Offices is that the items must be scanned on delivery.

Workplace coaches will be utilised the week before deployment and on go live dates to ensure staff are confident with the requirements and the processes.

Posters will be displayed in units to help staff understand the change.

Labels

Key learning from the pilot sites has resulted in the change of name from ‘Delivered Tracked’ to ‘Delivered Scanned’ (see label examples below) The term ‘Scanned’ resonates with our customers as it is a commonly used word in day to day life including ‘scanning’ in supermarkets and use of smart phones.

This support Royal Mails strategy moving towards all items being bar-coded in the near future.

 New Delivered Scanned label (24/48) Existing Tracked label (24/48)

Finally Branches will be aware that most competitors now offer Track & Trace on most of, if not all of their products and Royal Mail will be continuing to look to improve their offering to customers as they look to introduce more products into the market with barcoding to retain market share, and stave off any potential loss of contracts to the competition.

Any enquiries to Bob Gibson’s Office, quoting reference 530

Email address: hnutley@cwu.org or mstewart@cwu.org

Yours Sincerely

         

Bob Gibson

CWU Assistant Secretary – Outdoor

 CWU MILEAGE RATE INCREASE

 

Branches will be aware that Motion 78 (reproduced for information purposes below) was carried at the 2015 CWU Annual Conference.

 

 

78 CATEGORY A: To up rate the national Mileage Allowance Payments (MAPs) in line with the HMRC Expenses and benefits, Business Travel Mileage for the use of individuals own vehicle.

 

Mileage allowance payments within the Communication Workers Union have been paid at the old HMRC rate 0.40 pence per mile that the HMRC set pre 2011 up to 2012, as carried by Conference 2011 through Motions 47 from Merseyside Amal, and in accordance with CWU policy. The Union still continues to pay the lower rate despite the HMRC up rate of the mileage allowance to 0.45 pence per mile.

 

The union is allowed to pay those using their own vehicle a certain amount of MAPS each year without having to report them to the HMRC. This amount is called the ‘Approved Amount’ and is set by the HMRC below for cars and vans:

 

Type of Vehicle

First 10,000 miles

Above 10,000 miles

Cars and vans

45p (was 40p before 2011 to 2012)

25p

 

Therefore this conference instructs the NEC to come into line with the HMRC mileage rate and pay 0.45 pence mile to those claiming Mileage Allowance Payments. This new mileage payment is to be implemented at the earliest possible opportunity.

 

 

Accordingly the NEC has agreed that the revised rate of 45p per mile be applied to all mileage claims submitted from 2nd August 2015 (week 32) and that the 45p payments will apply until claimants reach 10,000 miles in the current tax year (2015-2016) following which the 25p per mile will be applied.  

 

For clarification purposes and to avoid any potential confusion we have provided an explanatory example of how the above policy operates in practice.

 

Example  

 

During the current Tax year (6th April 2015 – 5th April 2016) a rep can claim no more than 10,000 miles at the “higher rate” (currently 40p per mile). Once a rep exceeds 10,000 miles at the higher rate in any tax year all subsequent claims will be paid at 25p per mile.

 

So, by way of example, if from 6th April 2015 until 1st August 2015 a CWU Rep has so far submitted claims for, say 3,200 miles then these will be paid at the previously agreed rate of 40p per mile.

 

From 2nd August onwards any additional claims over and above the 3,200 already claimed, but subject to a maximum of 10,000 will claimed at the new, higher 45p per mile rate. So using the example above the next 6,800 miles will be paid at the revised rate of 45p.

 

Once the rep has claimed a total of 10,000 miles (3,200 @ 40p + 6,800 @ 45p) then any subsequent mileage claims up until and including 5th April 2016 must be paid at the 25p per mile rate.

 

Any enquiries regarding this LTB should be addressed to the Senior Deputy General Secretary’s Department on telephone number 020 8971 7237 or email address sdgs@cwu.org.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Tony Kearns

Senior Deputy General Secretary

Deputy General Secretary (Postal) & Postal Industrial Executive Elections – 2015 

Please find attached a copy of the Independent Scrutineer’s report for the above elections.

 

Please can you ensure that the results are brought to the attention of the members of your Branch.

 

The detailed branch analysis will follow as soon as it is available.

 

Any enquiries regarding this matter should be directed to the Senior Deputy General Secretary’s department for the attention of Peter Metcalfe.

 

Telephone: 0208 971 7368

Email: pmetcalfe@cwu.org

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

Tony Kearns

Senior Deputy General Secretary

Click on link to view full results 

http://www.cwu.org/news/archive/new-dgs-postal-elected.html

ROYAL MAIL SHAREHOLDER AGM – 23rd JULY 2015 

CWU members who are shareholders in Royal Mail will have recently received a letter from Equiniti which is the trustee of the employee share scheme about the AGM taking place in Cardiff on 23rd July.

 

As set out in the letter, as a shareholder you have a right to vote on the resolutions being put to the AGM and you can do this by instructing Equiniti to vote on your behalf or by attending the AGM in person.

 

There are a number of technical resolutions about powers the board can exercise and more information is provided on these at http://www.royalmailgroup.com/sites/default/files/RM_Notice_AGM.PDF.

 

We will not be making recommendations on all of these, but there are two resolutions we believe will be of particular interest to members:

 

– Resolution 2. The board is seeking approval of directors’ remuneration for last year, details of which are in its annual report. In total, the three executive directors in the company earned a combined £3.6m last year. We do not believe the disparity between this level of pay and that of frontline employees is acceptable and would therefore recommend that members vote against this resolution.

 

– Resolution 15. The board is asking for authority to make political donations. While we would be opposed to Royal Mail funding political parties, the online guidance states that it has no intention of doing so and that the authority is necessary to cover broader political expenditure, including things like paid leave for employees fulfilling public duties. On this basis we are not opposed to this resolution.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We will be asking a number of local representatives to attend the AGM to put questions to the board and a report on the meeting will be provided subsequently.

 

As branches are also aware, the union is seeking to create a CWU Trust which would enable members to have a collective voice in the way that the company is run. Discussions on this issue are ongoing with Royal Mail and the government and the establishment of a union led trust is one of the central issues we are now campaigning on as part of the People’s Post campaign.

 

Any queries about the contents of this LTB should be addressed to the DGS (P) Department quoting reference LTB 476/15.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ray Ellis​Dave Ward ​​

A/Deputy General Secretary​General Secretary

 

 
COMMUNICATION WORKERS UNION

URGENT INFORMATION FOR MEMBERS

 Facebook: Dave Ward CWU @DaveWardGS

 

 

 Re : General Conference 2015 Motion 62 : Review of Employment Law Provision

 

The above motion was carried at this year’s Annual Conference (please refer to the conference agenda pad for details). 

 

In order to complete this task I am inviting Branches to submit their views and make appropriate comments for consideration. 

 

As well as the four main points listed within the motion,‎ I believe the time is right to review the following issues which have been the subject of discussion at previous conferences and/ or raised with my Department. 

 

• The criteria for support – current conference policy states claims require a greater chance of success than failure, i.e. greater than 50%.

 

• ‎Should we support claims that commenced prior to the individual becoming a member of the CWU? Current national rule 3.2.4 states “The acceptance of an application for membership by the NEC shall confer upon each member all the rights and privileges of the Union. However, no member shall be entitled to retrospective benefits or services”.

 

• If a claim fails to be supported by CWU HQ having been assessed via the Legal Services Department and the member decides to pursue their claim privately and subsequently is successful, should CWU HQ offer financial‎ assistance toward legal costs? The current position does not provide this facility. 

 

The above list is not exhaustive.

 

Please supply responses to the Legal Services Department no later than Friday 4th September 2015‎.

 

If you have any queries regarding the above, please contact Tony Rupa, Head of Legal Services, Communication Workers Union, 150 The Broadway, Wimbledon, London, SW19 1RX. Telephone 0208 971 7444 or via email trupa@cwu.org

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

Tony Rupa

Head of Legal Services
COMMUNICATION WORKERS UNION

URGENT INFORMATION FOR MEMBERS

 Facebook: Dave Ward CWU @DaveWardGS

 

 

 

 

Light Commercial Vehicle Driver Behaviour Proof of Concept

Branches will wish to note that over the last two years, an agreed trial has been conducted in the North West that was being overseen by Bill Steel to identify if the fitting of vehicle in-cab technology can assist in significant fuel savings by influencing/changing driver behaviours /driving style. At that time the West Region had secured central funding to fit this hardware into an agreed mix of different size and types of vehicles dependant on the type of operation (collection, delivery, rural etc).

Due to in-cab technology the only vehicles used were Transit TDCI and Vauxhall Combo. There was zero impact on the operation. The results from that trial were significant and far exceeded the 5% success factor that was anticipated. Eleven Delivery Offices were included in the original trial, and Ashwood’s who provided the “Lightfoot Technology” extended the equipment to a further 120 Royal Mail vehicles out of operational hours in order to minimise vehicle downtime.

Subsequently the provision of the technology was put out to competitive tender and a company called Trimble became the successful supplier, therefore a proposed proof of concept now needs to be carried out to understand if similar levels of success can be achieved with the new supplier’s hardware. We have agreed to conduct this in six Delivery Offices across the East, North and West regions under similar conditions to that of the previous Ashwood Lightfoot trial in the North West. The Delivery Offices agreed are Derby, Chesterfield, Leeds, Worksop, Kidderminster and Knutsford.

Branches will note that the timelines indicate that Installation will commence as from Monday the 6th July 2015. This is to allow the installation of the technology in advance of the proof of concept trial commencing. In recognition of this Royal Mail have provided us with written confirmation that whilst hardware installations at the six proposed sites will go ahead as planned, they will not commence with the trial or turn on any of the functionality until the Postal Executive has endorsed the trial which they did on the 7th July 2015.

The trial will run until the 21st August 2015 with a review of the success criteria taking place later the following week.

There is no requirement to associate the driver with the vehicle and data gathered during the trial will be not be used to initiate or support conduct charges or allegations. Additionally there will be no changes to drivers’ duties, earnings or attendance times with the anticipation that driver safety could potentially be increased by a change in driver style.

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

CHANGES TO ROYAL MAIL OPERATIONS SENIOR MANAGEMENT TEAM 

The Union has been advised of changes to the Senior Management Team in Royal Mail Operations which have been announced today. A document issued by Royal Mail Chief Operation’s officer Sue Whalley detailing the changes in full is attached.

 

In brief, Stuart Simpson has become Director of Group Finance and the Regional Operations Directors and the Logistics Director will now report direct to Sue Whalley.  

 

Steve Cameron will assume the role of Deputy Chief Operations officer in addition to his job as Operations Strategy Director.

 

Processing and collections will move out of the Operation Strategy Directorate and report directly to Sue Whalley. Simon Barker will become the new Processing, Collections and Engineering Director.

 

All of operations design activity is being moved into the Operations Strategy Directorate. Anton Harding will become the lead on Delivery Design, reporting to Steve Cameron. As part of this role he will assume responsibility for the Optimised Mail Preparation (OMP) Trial. Gary Burgess (Delivery Excellence Director) will assume responsibility for Top 100.

 

There is not expected to be any direct impact on any CWU Grades.

 

Any queries about the contents of this LTB should be addressed to the DGS (P) Department quoting reference LTB 468/15.

 

Yours sincerely,
 

Ray Ellis ​​

A/Deputy General Secretary