CWU The Peoples Post Campaign National Briefing and RallyThursday 9th July 2015 Westminster

 

 

The branch sent a delegation seven representatives to the briefing and rally to mark the start of the Peoples Post Campaign, the delegation was Sim Arif, Dave Westbrook, Dave Barsby, Frank Ginty, Ben Fearon, Zaff Hussain and Andy Beeby

 

CWU general secretary Dave Ward opened proceedings with a stirring call for full solidarity and support to all Tube and train workers on strike for the day and stressed that the whole trade union movement shared a “common cause to shift the balance of power back towards working people.”

Dave spelled out the key aims of the People’s Post campaign – defending daily deliveries and protecting all postal workers’ job security, pay, terms and conditions against attacks by the regulator Ofcom, while fighting to keeping a public stake in Royal Mail – and then he explained how this agenda needs to feed into, and help to inspire, a far broader fight.

“This is not just a self-interest campaign, it’s much more,” he said. “The labour movement must come together to tackle the problem of insecure employment models, low pay, the housing crisis and other issues. We’re going to be a part of a democratic movement to change the UK for the better.”

Former MP Katy Clark focused on the need to protect services to every part of the UK, particularly rural and remote communities such as her own.

“It’s the profitable parts of Royal Mail that subsidise areas like the islands and rural communities and you are fighting for the whole community,” she explained and, pointing towards the nearby Houses of Parliament, she said: “We’ve got to make sure politicians over there hear our voice loud and clear.”

London Mayoral hopeful Sadiq Khan reminded the audience that both he and Dave Ward were “Tooting boys,” and he then recalled another of this south London borough’s famous sons, the 1980s television character Wolfie Smith, making the point that “Citizen” Smith’s “Power to the People” theme summed up what this campaign is all about.

“It’s really important that we have this solidarity now and we’ve got to fight for daily deliveries and to stop the race to the bottom,” urged the Tooting MP.

Activist and author Owen Jones won enthusiastic cheers with a rousing speech, which he began with a call for all Labour Party people to “be proud” to be funded and supported by trade unions and insisted that “everyone should go out and organise collectively to improve their pay, terms and conditions.”

Owen attacked the Government’s “cruel” targeting of poor and vulnerable people for benefit cuts and cited, as an example, a disabled former serviceman whose benefits had been stopped by the government because of his volunteer work for the British Legion.

He reminded the meeting of the bailing out of the big banks by the Government a few years and described them as “the most lavish benefits claimants in the country.”

Struggling against this Government was the responsibility of everyone, he pointed out, saying: “All of us have to fill the role of Official Opposition.”

Taking the stage with the cheers for Owen Jones still echoing around the hall, newly elected MP Jess Phillips told the audience that she felt nervous at having to follow him, but she soon won even louder plaudits of her own with a witty and entertaining, but tough-talking and determined speech, in which she pledged to “completely put my back into supporting your campaign.”

The Birmingham Yardley Member said that she was “proud to be supported by the CWU” and recalled the Crown Post Office dispute of 2013 when she had stood shoulder-to-shoulder on picket lines with striking members of our union in their fight for a fair pay rise and in defence of the Crown network.

Jess roundly criticised the Government’s attack on child benefit and sparked laughter when she questioned Chancellor George Osborne’s motives in introducing the two-child cap, asking: “Does he own shares in Durex?”

“Now we’re going to build on this up and down the country” Dave Ward, CWU general secretary

Looking ahead to the forthcoming campaign, Jess said: “The greatest asset is the people we have on our side and we need to find a strategy for how we get rural communities on our side.”

Fire Brigades Union leader Matt Wrack – who said: “Your campaign is the best example of how workers are the best defenders of service to the public” – and Paul Nowack, the TUC assistant general secretary – who slammed the Government’s knock-down sale of Royal Mail as “selling tenners for a fiver” – both brought solidarity greetings from our fellow trade unionists, while CWU president Jane Loftus read out messages of support from a range of other individuals and organisations, all pledging their backing for our People’s Post struggle.

Other speakers from the CWU included senior deputy general secretary Tony Kearns and the union’s deputy general secretary for telecoms Andy Kerr.

“This is a campaign for the whole of our union and the telecoms and financial services constituency is proud to support it,” pledged Andy, who added: “Ofcom have overstepped their remit and they shouldn’t be measuring workers’ efficiency.”

The main issue was one of competition and how the union deals with this, Andy continued, saying that this was more important than the issue of privatisation and he urged postal members to “Learn the lessons from our experiences over many years with the added benefit of hindsight.” 

Tony said that the problems facing CWU members were part of a “declaration of class war” by the newly elected Conservative government.

“The fight is coming and this union needs to be there. And when I look around at the people in this hall, I know that this union is equipped for this fight,” he insisted.

Politically, the CWU needs to “decide for ourselves what our politics is and those politicians who want to stand with us will stand with us.”

After the speeches had finished, the audience left the hall and staged a spontaneous short march to a sun-baked Parliament Green, where they proudly held up their branch and regional banners and union flags and called out: “What do we want? People’s Post” as busy central London traffic passed by around them and visitors to the capital stopped to ask what was going on.

While the Parliamentary protest was under way, Islington North MP Jeremy Corbyn arrived and was cheered by CWU demonstrators as he took the megaphone offered to him by Dave Ward and spoke of his support for our union.

Jeremy condemned the “whole agenda to promote competition” being put forward by the industry regulator Ofcom, and he praised the CWU for “standing up for decency, against austerity and for justice.”

After the Parliament Square rally, protesters marched onto the nearby national headquarters of the Government’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).

Lively chanting demonstrators quickly filled the entrance area of the BIS building and our general secretary once again led the chants of: “What do we want? People’s Post” and then made a short speech, in which he vowed: “We’re going to stop the race to the bottom and we’re going to lead the race to the top for all workers in this country.”

Summing up a momentous day, Dave Ward said: “It’s been a fantastic start to our campaign. From the early-morning banner hanging, to the mid-day rally and the afternoon demonstrations, what’s struck me has been the sheer energy and enthusiasm from everyone who’s come along, from all parts of our own union and from so many other individuals and organisations.

“Now we’re going to build on this up and down the country and get our show on the road nationwide.”

Social media

Yesterday’s proceedings resulted in what was almost certainly the busiest social media day in the history of the CWU, with the union trending no less than three times on Twitter during the course of the day.

A myriad of tweets from those present generated a huge number of responses, including messages of support from MPs, MEPs, celebrities, pop stars, other unions, political commentators, the TUC, branches, members of the public with absolutely no connection with the CWU and, of course, from CWU members across the country.

Check out the People’s Post album on Facebook for more photos from the day.

Andy Beeby

Branch Political Officer

CWU Eastern Number Five Branch

 

 

Election of National Representative Positions – 2015 

• CWU Youth Committee (Vacant Positions)

​

• Midland Region

• Scotland Region

• Wales & the Marches Region

 

Further to LTB 420/15 dated 26th June 2015 at the close of nominations on 10th July 2015 the following had been received.

 

 

Midland Region

 

Alpesh Patel, Birmingham Black Country & Worcester​*Elected

 

Scotland Region

 

No Nominations Received

 

Wales & Marches Region

 

Jake Fear, South Wales​​*Elected

 

 

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

 

 

RE: New Conduct Agreement Training – Update 
We have met with Royal Mail and discussed the concerns we received from branches around the new conduct agreement training – mainly branches want to have a CWU and Royal Mail trainer on the courses.

 
As reported in LTB 396/15 our preference would be joint delivery of training, however we do not have enough CWU representatives trained to be trainers.

 
In order to alleviate this situation, during the discussions we asked Royal Mail to urgently free up their “train the trainer” manager(s) so we could get more CWU representatives trained. Royal Mail agreed and I wrote out to senior field officials requesting names of representatives to be forwarded to the department who want to go on a ‘train the trainer’ course, to be trained to deliver the training, so we can actually deliver more of the training jointly with Royal Mail.

 
Whilst we initially received a good response, once we notified the date of the training session, many of the representatives, for a variety of reasons, gave their apologies as they could not make the train the trainer session. Others simply failed to turn up on the day.  

 
Despite this, a train the trainer session took place on Wednesday 8th July, at which 11 CWU representatives were trained and they are able to do joint training from week commencing 13th July 2015.

 
However, despite the efforts of the department and the co-operation of Royal Mail, explained above, we are still short of the number of CWU trainers to be able to match the number of courses set up to meet the agreement launch date in early August.

 
We are asking branches not to ‘boycott’ training sessions where there is just one trainer, whether this be a Royal Mail or CWU trainer. We are still committed to the launch date of 3rd August 2015 and hope to give all representatives the training required before this date. This will obviously depend on branch co-operation.

 
CWU representatives and their respective managers should still be attending the training together, although as there are more managers, the managerial numbers will be higher. We are working on a new roll out plan with Royal Mail and this will be forwarded to branches when completed.

 
 
 
 
Parcelforce Training

 
Training sessions have been arranged for Parcelforce specific training. We did originally have some difficulty with the Parcelforce manager / representative training as the managers were booking themselves to do the training believing the representatives had access to the booking data, however our representatives did not. This has now been corrected and Managers and Representatives in Parcelforce should be attending the training together.

 
Any enquiries about this LTB should be addressed to PTCS department, quoting reference PTC/dj/CM/414. Email address: djeffery@cwu.org  

 
Yours sincerely

 
 

Carl Maden

A/Assistant Secretary

          

 

ROYAL MAIL: WEEKLY PAID STAFF 

Yesterday, Royal Mail made the Union aware of a problem that could have led to some staff not being paid on time. We were assured the company was doing all it could to resolve the problem and we were kept advised of progress during the course of the day. Since it was not clear that anyone would be adversely affected, both Royal Mail and CWU decided not to issue communications until the outcome was definite.

 

In the late afternoon the company were, I quote “confident” that people would be paid on time and the attached note to managers was issued around 10.30 yesterday evening.

 

Some of our Representatives became aware of contingency plans which had been put in place in the event some staff did not receive their wages paid into their building society or bank account; fortunately these have not been needed or used.

 

It is clear that Royal Mail has worked hard to avert a potentially serious failure. However, if there are any individual problems with this week’s pay, these should be reported to their line manager in first instance. If branches are aware of problems, I would be grateful if these could be advised to my office as soon as possible

 

Any queries about the contents of this LTB should be addressed to the DGS (P) Department quoting reference LTB 459/15.

 

Yours sincerely,
 

Ray Ellis ​

A/Deputy General Secretary (P)​

​

 

 

Managers’ Update

 

Message from Jon Millidge – Group HR Director

 

 

 

9 July 2015

 

 

 

Please brief your team about this message as soon as possible. 
I want to let you know that, owing to technical issues, some weekly paid colleagues have been paid a little earlier this week (i.e. Thursday). Others will be paid a little later than normal on Friday. But, all should receive their pay during Friday. 
I hope this will not cause anyone unexpected problems and apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
Jon Millidge
Group HR Director 
 

 

 

 

CWU Labour Party Affiliated Supporters Campaign – You decide who will be the next leaders of the Labour Party, Scottish Labour Party and London’s Mayoral candidate

Following the resignation of the Labour Party Leader the Party’s NEC confirmed the timetable for the election of a new Leader and Deputy Leader of the Party.  In addition, they agreed changes to the timetable for the London Mayoral selection to run concurrently with the Leadership contest. Following the resignation of Jim Murphy, Leader of the Scottish Labour Party, the Scottish Executive also set-out a shortened timetable to select a new Scottish Leader and Deputy Leader. The key dates are attached for your information.

In standing to be General Secretary I have made it clear that the Labour Party will not continue to get something for nothing from the CWU and that our relationship with the party needs to change. We have to originate policies that advance our members’ interests and start to change the balance of forces in society and the world of work.

The prospect of a Tory government attacking trade union rights, selling off Royal Mail and standing by as agency workers are exploited in a race to the bottom underlines the need for an opposition that is on our side. The Labour leadership elections are a first step towards securing this.

All these elections will be conducted on a one member one vote basis as agreed under the Collins Review. CWU Members paying the political levy will only be able to vote if they register as an affiliated supporter.

This aspect of the Party Reforms allowed for a five year implementation plan. However, the unexpected requirement to select a mayoral candidate and elect new leaders of the party following the general election has meant there is a need for all unions to advance plans to sign-up their Political fund paying members as affiliated supporters.

We have discussed this as an NEC and have agreed a short campaign which will run throughout July 2015. All affiliates have been working closely with TULO and have agreed strategies that will aim to provide easy access for members to sign-up and have their vote in these elections. It is important that we maximise our influence and make sure that in future the new leadership cannot ignore our collective trade union voice.

The CWU has been co-ordinating with our Regional Secretaries and has put in place a number of targeted initiatives as part of our short campaign. We are looking for your assistance to publicise to members the CWU online sign-up form so that Political Fund Paying members have the opportunity to take part in these elections. Online sign-up is completely free but needs to be completed by Wednesday 12^th August 2015 or 13^th July to vote in the Scottish LP Leadership election.

 

CWU Sign-up Campaign in Brief:

• A dedicated campaign page can be accessed through the CWU website where members can click on the [Chance to Choose] box. http://www.cwu.org/your-chance-to-choose-the-next-labour-leader.html
• All hard-copy campaign materials and posters available on the campaign page (Resources).

• The sign-up campaign links will be posted on social media.
• Sign-up links will be included in CWU Connects and separate email newsletters.
• CWU Political Fund paying members who have already indicated a positive response to becoming an affiliated supporter will be contacted by phone.
• Email communications will be sent to all Political Fund Paying members for whom we have an email address.

• Separate email communication with members in London and Scotland.
• Regions to target at least one large workplace per area. CWU sign-up forms to be used in our face-to-face contact with members.
• FAQ document available to branch officers and workplace reps (see PDF below).

• Work with the London Region to maximise the sign-up for the London Mayoral selection.

 We need your assistance.

 

Whilst the short timescales involved in this campaign means that we have concentrated our efforts and resource on targeted areas, it is important that all members have the opportunity to access the affiliated supporter’s online sign-up form – so they can register to vote.  We will be contacting members using our email database but we need you to forward the sign-up link to your members locally. We would also ask that you place this on your branch website (http://www.cwu.org/your-chance-to-choose-the-next-labour-leader.html).

Thank you for your assistance in this matter.  Let’s make sure the new leadership cannot ignore our voice.

If you have any enquiries about the content of this LTB, they should be addressed to the General Secretary’s office (gsoffice@cwu.org) quoting the reference LTB452/15.

Yours sincerely,

Dave Ward

General Secretary

Click on the links below to view

452-15 – CWU LP Affiliated Supporters Campaign       Frequently Asked Questions

National Agreement Between Parcelforce Worldwide and the CWU for the Implementation of Depot Revisions
 

Branches and representatives will be aware that the issue of the Parcelforce revision process has been an issue which has been subject of discussions between the business and the department for some time. In the 2012 pay agreement a commitment was made to redesign the process and in 2013 the following motion was carried at Annual Conference:

 

“Motion 16 (Category A): ​        

 

This conference recognises and applauds Parcelforce Worldwide’s success and on-going expansion programme resulting in an increase in parcel traffic and revenue. Therefore it is imperative that a revised Depot Route Revision Procedure is negotiated to ensure that Parcelforce Worldwide quality of service is maintained”.

 

In September of 2013 the department issued LTB 640/2013 which publicised a Joint Statement that had been agreed which detailed the process of developing the potential for a new approach to depot route revision procedures. Unfortunately progress was interrupted with the event of the Agenda for Growth, Stability & Long Term Success discussions. However, the commitment to conclude a position in relation to the revision process was reinforced in those discussions and is included in the Parcelforce Programme of Works section of the agreement.

 

We are all aware that the difficult and exceptional period of growth and traffic fluctuation we have been experiencing in Parcelforce has left many unbalanced routes, bad resourcing practices and genuine threats to our trade mark excellent QofS.

 

Against that backdrop the department believes that the attached agreement that has been concluded with the business represents a continuing pragmatic ‘Proof of Concept’ response, which builds upon the three trials conducted at London Central, Nottingham and Plymouth Depots.

 

 

 

The process involves Nationally agreed data that informs the ‘Route Builder’ programme to produce a balanced route plan for each depot. However, as the agreement makes clear the data produced is the start point for local negotiations which should also factor in local knowledge, circumstances and human factors to ensure a robust route design. These talks will be conducted in line with the IR Framework and it’s reaching agreement principles.

 

It is important to note that this is a quick response approach which enables each individual depot to call for adjustments to the National data should they gain or lose sufficient amounts of traffic to destabilise their balanced route structure. Additional locally specific data would then be factored in and a new balanced route start point would be produced so that local negotiations could be concluded at pace and adjustments made to facilitate changing circumstances.

 

The department consider this ‘Proof of Concept’ type of approach as the best response to the current circumstances given the success of the trials and the fact that it maintains the spirit and intent of our current agreements.

 

Discussions will of course continue with the business in relation to this issue and you will be kept updated as to progress.

 

Any enquiries in relation to this LTB should be addressed to Terry Pullinger, Assistant Secretary, e-mail: dwyatt@cwu.org or shayman@cwu.org quoting reference number 132.05.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Terry Pullinger

Assistant Secretary

          NATIONAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN PARCELFORCE WORLDWIDE AND THE CWU FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF DEPOT REVISIONS

 

 

INTRODUCTION

 

This agreement has been reached following a Joint Statement and commitment made in the 2012 pay agreement to review our depot revision processes. It ensures that depot revisions are fit for purpose in providing a transparent and fair revision process which organises balanced routes/duties with a fair and manageable workload. This agreement is considered a pragmatic response to the need for a ‘quick response process’ whilst maintaining our mutual interest values as detailed in our ‘Depot Blue Print’ and other recovery and growth agreements. Therefore this document should be considered as an annex to those agreements and not a replacement to them.

 

 

BACKDROP

 

Using the well-established “Table of Success” approach, lengthy discussions have identified the need for a new revisions process, which ensures that a depot’s duty design is always fit for purpose in regard to the commitments made to customers and employees. Both parties accept that there are sufficient grounds to update our existing revisions arrangements whilst maintaining their spirit and intent, made as part of the 2004 Blueprint Agreement.

 

 

KEY PRINCIPLES

 

The aim of this agreement is to produce a jointly designed, clearly understood and easily applied revisions process which will enable an audit adjustment approach on a regular basis. This process will replace the existing approach but not the philosophy contained within the Blueprint Agreement.

 

To ensure that the new revisions process is universally supported, easily understood, and responsive enough to cope with the pace of change the market is demanding, the following key principles will be applied:

 

➢ The source data for any Depot revision process is the ‘Paragon’ information data base. This information is owned by PFW and a joint review of this National information will take place annually and updated accordingly.

➢ The new revisions process replaces the current methodology for revisions as detailed in the Blueprint Agreement, to one based upon the peak week (excluding Christmas pressure, exams, other agreed anomalies and weekend deliveries) divided by 5, to give an average day and with an annually determined percentage for planned adjustments e.g. growth.

➢ The Paragon software will populate the agreed “Route-Builder” programme annually. This will be used locally by managers and unit representatives, who will be fully trained in the process and best positioned to apply local knowledge to ensure that the depot duty design meets our mutual interest objectives. It is important to note that the outputs from the ‘Route Builder’ programme are sterile and are a start point for negotiations and that local knowledge, circumstances and human factors should be taken into account to ensure a robust route design. These talks will be conducted in line with the IR Framework and its reaching agreement principles.

➢ The new process will ensure revisions will be implemented to at least maintain existing productivity levels and route clearance in a manner consistent with our mutual interest objectives

➢ The post-summer and pre-winter Peak periods will be used for analysis to determine the volume of deliveries for the following year. This will return the maximum benefit in operational & budget planning. To ensure that performance is measured in a mutual interest and genuine way it is understood that budgets will be set with tolerances that recognise matters such as differing utilisation, resourcing implications and traffic growth.

➢ Extra flexibility will be achieved through working collectively in line with the ‘Depot Blue Print’ principles of core duty structures doing what is necessary together to get the job done.  

 

➢ An annual update, including appropriate deployment will provide a long term sustainable approach that ensures a seamless, progressive and corrective revision process, which anticipates change and maintains all mutual interest priorities. This will replace the existing principle and avoid unnecessary large scale disruption.         

The above process clearly establishes “Route-builder” as the primary tool for C&D modelling. Non C&D staff modelling will continue to be revised in line with that detailed in the ‘Depot Blue Print’ Agreement for Admin and Warehouse models respectively and will be maintained by Parcelforce Worldwide and the CWU Industrial Engineer.

 

Parcelforce Worldwide are committed to train CWU HQ nominated Representatives on the “Route-builder” software package and the spirit and intent of its application. These individuals along with managerial expertise will then be available to jointly train and support Depot Managers and Representatives in deploying the revision process.

 

Because this approach represents a pragmatic proof of concept response to an exceptional era of growth and traffic fluctuation, it will be kept under review. Both parties accept that technology in this area is developing rapidly as a response to changing customer demands. Therefore it is incumbent upon us to continually seek improvement opportunities. The purpose of this agreement is to ensure that we have the ability to continue to improve and deploy revision requirements, whilst we work towards achieving a final revised approach that will utilise the best technology which potentially combines into an updated blue print type document in line with our Table of Success approach.

Any questions of interpretation, implementation or application of this agreement shall be referred to the signatories of this agreement as a matter of urgency and will be dealt with inside the provisions of the appropriate industrial relations framework.

​
 

Terry Pullinger​ ​Peter Fuller

Assistant Secretary ​Operations Director

CWU​PFW

 

 

Date:​8 July 2015​

Parcelforce Worldwide Summit Talks Update

Please find attached for your information a Joint Statement in relation to the above subject which will provide you with an update in respect of discussions that have been taking place between the business and the CWU at National level.

It has been a very testing time for the business and our members as Parcelforce tries to find the right levels of adjustment to deal with both increasing growth and competition.

It is envisaged that this statement along with other published activity will demonstrate to the members/employees that both the CWU and Parcelforce are determined to resolve these challenges and strengthen both Parcelforce as a business and our member’s employment experience and security.

Branches and representatives are requested to ensure that the attached Joint Statement is brought to the attention of our Parcelforce members.

Any enquiries in relation to this LTB should be addressed to Terry Pullinger, Assistant Secretary, e-mail: dwyatt@cwu.org or shayman@cwu.org quoting reference number: 111.01

Yours sincerely

Terry Pullinger

Assistant Secretary

JOINT STATEMENT

Summit Talks Update

Both Parcelforce and the CWU are acutely aware of the strain that can be experienced by everybody involved when dealing with capacity issues and fluctuating workloads. Many of the issues involved are complex and management and the CWU are trying exceedingly hard to restore balance whilst also ensuring the business remains strong and your jobs secure. This Joint Statement has therefore been produced to provide you with an update in regard to discussions that have been taking place.

Over the past few months PFW and the CWU have been meeting at the highest level to discuss the changing marketplace, business performance and future challenges. The meetings have been far reaching and challenging for all parties.

The courier and express parcel market, in which PFW operate, is very competitive and although there is significant volume growth (especially in B2C), and City Link have exited the market, competitors continue to invest and add capacity to their networks and prices remain very tight. The experience of City Link and the emergence of Amazon as a parcel delivery company has demonstrated how highly volatile this market is and it is essential and in all of our interests that we remain calm and keep working together, especially during the high pressure times, to develop our mutual interest solutions.

The international and retail sectors in particular are very competitive with many new entrants introducing low cost service options in our traditionally most profitable traffic streams.

All this means that PFW has to continually focus, innovate and respond to customer demands, the convenience agenda, quality of service and efficiency in order to compete effectively and maintain and/or grow its market stare.

Topics at our talks have included the requirement to address volume growth, depot resourcing arrangements and the positive impact on depot employed numbers, PFW commercial response to the market challenges and technology enhancements to help us compete effectively.

The employee opinion survey results for 2014/15 have been released and it is pleasing to note that engagement in PFW has remained high when compared to internal and external benchmarks. This result is very welcome given the significant challenges posed by the market and volume growth and demonstrates how well the business and unions are working together to deliver a successful business.

Another challenging aspect of PFW results over the last year has been the safety performance. The level of accidents in PFW have reduced despite the increase in traffic volumes, however those accidents resulting in absence have increased.   Lost

time accident rates in PFW are considerably higher than our competitors and RM Group Operations. Customers are interested in our people performance. PFW have not always been able to provide alternatives for our people who cannot perform their normal duty, we need to change that and put in more support to enable them to attend work. We are also working with our safety colleagues to ensure we are doing all we can on prevention and identifying when accidents could have been avoided. We will be reinvigorating our current processes and agreements and using them consistently and effectively.

Employee Health and Wellbeing has always been an area of joint focus which is why we developed the employee reward package to include free eye tests and prescription glasses, free dental care up to the cost of National Health rates and the benefit of Benenden Health. However general attendance at work has also worsened by over 0.5% in the year, which represents a significant additional cost to the business and also concerns us as to why such a trend should develop in a culture where enabling good health is a joint aspiration. Both parties recognise that it is important to understand and deal with the underlying issues that are causing levels of sick absence to rise and are jointly sponsoring activity via the Table of Success Evaluation Group.

Progress has been slow on the national refresh of our revisions agreement, mainly due to the rapid volume growth that has been experienced over the last six months. However, we now have three depot trials agreed and implementation will commence soon. Work on other depot revisions will take place concurrently with a view to completing all necessary revision activity prior to this year’s peak period and a new agreement will be finalised. Both parties are totally committed to this activity and look forward to the increased efficiency that this will bring to our operation.

Against that backdrop a national Table of Success forum is being arranged to discuss and understand all the issues above and agree joint priorities with our Area Management, Hubs and Regional Organiser teams.

Both parties recognise that the efforts of Parcelforce employees has been outstanding through this difficult period and that we are totally committed to building mutual interest solutions that continue Parcelforce’s success and your employment security.

As this key activity continues we will continue to keep you updated.

Terry Pullinger                                                            Peter Fuller

Assistant Secretary                                                     Operations Director

CWU                                                                           Parcelforce Worldwide

Date: 8 July 2015

 
RE: AGREEMENT for a trial TO PROVIDE ROUTINE SERVICE, MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR FOR EXTERNAL COMPANIES IN FLEET AND MAINTENANCE SERVICES (F&MS)

 
We have been working with Royal Mail Maintenance Network (RMMN) to look at opportunities for growth in line with the progressive agenda for Fleet and Maintenance services (F&MS) in the Agenda for Growth Agreement. We have been pressing Royal Mail to look at new opportunities to use the skills of our members externally as well as looking for further opportunities within Royal Mail.

 
Royal Mail and the CWU share a joint vision to create a market leading network of fleet workshops which will deliver significant opportunities to improve profits, create a more efficient fleet operation and provide secure jobs now and in the future

 
I am pleased to report we have agreed a trial with Royal Mail Fleet Services to provide routine service, maintenance and repair for external fleet(s), to be carried out in six trial sites. The trial will run for six months with a review in March 2016.  

 
The six sites are Birmingham, Derby, Leeds, Leicester, North London and Nottingham. These units have been selected on the basis they offer the appropriate environment including; car parking, co-location with security, available capacity, accessibility, safety and a large reception area.

 
The potential new workload, for which at least 10 partners have been identified, will be planned servicing, maintenance and repair for commercial fleet(s) similar to our own vehicles. The external workload will be maintained in line with a Service Level Agreement (SLA) that will sit alongside our own internal commitment, however, should not impact upon vehicle availability to our main customer Royal Mail.

 
The trial will operate under all existing pay, terms and conditions in line with the continued recognition for the existing CWU Industrial Relations Partnership and Consultation Agreement 2003.  

 
If the trial is successful, we will be looking to roll out to further sites. Alan Tate, Postal Executive member will be overseeing the trial on behalf of the department.

 
A copy of the terms of reference for the trial is attached.

 
Any enquiries should be addressed to PTCS department, quoting reference PTC/CM/dj/202. 

Email address: djeffery@cwu.org  

Yours sincerely

Carl Maden, 

A/Assistant Secretary

Re: Changes to Royal Mail Leadership Teams – East & West Territories

The union has been advised of a reduction in the number of delivery directorates in the East and West Territories with effect from Monday 13th July.

In the East, the number of delivery directorates from nine to seven.

East and South Midlands will be combined to form an enlarged East Midlands directorate.

The Home Counties West directorate will be realigned as follows:

• BR, CR, DA and SM postcodes will be moved to the Kent and Sussex directorate.

• SL postcode area will be moved to the Home Counties North directorate.

• KT postcode area will move to the GU/TW directorate.

In the West, the number of delivery directorates will be reduced from seven to six.

The HR/WR/North Wales directorate will be realigned as follows:

• SY, LL and CH postcode areas will be moved to an enlarged Cheshire and Merseyside directorate.

• HR, WR, TF and ST postcode areas will be moved to an enlarged West Midlands directorate.

•

Any enquiries on the above LTB should be addressed to the DGS (P) Department.

 

Yours sincerely

     

Ray Ellis

A/ Deputy General Secretary (P)