BAME Officers 

As from 1st June 2015 we have registered on our database 21 BAME Officers. Could you please make sure, if your Branch has a BAME Officer, that you let Matt Edwards in the General Secretary’s dept know the BAME Officer’s details.

 

If you have not yet filled the BAME Officer’s position, please make every effort to do so.

 

As you know, this is a new position in the Branches and it is very important that you try to fill this position.

 

Thank you for assisting us with this issue.

 

Any enquiries regarding this LTB should be referred to the Equal Opportunities Department.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

Dave Ward​Linda Roy​

General Secretary​National Equality Officer​

What is Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASDs)?

 

Please find attached the latest factsheet produced by the Equal Opportunities Department.  

 

We would be grateful if you would cascade this information accordingly within your Branch.

 

Further copies can be downloaded from the Equal Opportunities section of the CWU website using the following link: http://www.cwu.org/factsheets.html​

 

Any enquiries regarding this LTB should be referred to the Equal Opportunities Department.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

Linda Roy​

National Equality Officer
 Click on the link below to view the factsheet 

Click to access cwu__1435918131_Fetal_Alcohol_Spectrum_Disorde.pdf

ADHD in Children/Teenagers

 

Please find attached the latest factsheet produced by the Equal Opportunities Department.  

 

We would be grateful if you would cascade this information accordingly within your Branch.

 

Further copies can be downloaded from the Equal Opportunities section of the CWU website using the following link: http://www.cwu.org/factsheets.html​

 

Any enquiries regarding this LTB should be referred to the Equal Opportunities Department.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

Linda Roy​

National Equality Officer​

 

Click on link below to view the factsheet 

Click to access cwu__1435918214_ADHD_in_children_teens.pdf

The People’s Post Rally – CWU Westminster Event 9th July 

Please see below the agenda for our Rally and activities on the 9th July, commencing at 11.00 hrs in Central Hall Westminster.

 

AGENDA

Session 1 – The People’s Post Rally Guest Speakers

 

Introduction – CWU President and General Secretary

• Kevin Maguire – Associate Editor Daily Mirror

• Katy Clark – Former Labour MP

• Sadiq Khan – Labour MP Tooting

• Jo Stevens – Labour MP Cardiff North

• Matt Wrack – FBU General Secretary

• Paul Nowak – TUC Assistant General Secretary

• Owen Jones – Political Commentator, Guardian Columnist and author

 

This session will be followed by a short comfort break.

 

Session 2 – The People’s Post Campaign

• An outline of our Campaign Approach and Objectives – CWU General Secretary and Chris Webb

• Q&A / Engagement Session

 

Session 3 – CWU People’s Post Speakers

• Ray Ellis Acting Deputy General Secretary – Postal

• Andy Kerr Deputy General Secretary – Telecoms and Financial Services

• Tony Kearns CWU Senior Deputy General Secretary

• General Secretary – concluding remarks leading to CWU Delegates Event

 

As previously stated it is important that all CWU Branches have a presence at this Rally. Please allow extra time for travel and to show our support for other union comrades involved in potential rail disputes taking place in London on the same day.  

 

Yours sincerely

​​​

Dave Ward​​​​​Ray Ellis

General Secretary ​​​​Acting Deputy General Secretary (P)

GENERAL CONFERENCE 2015 – MOTION 1: HOUSING 

Branches will recall that Conference unanimously adopted Motion 1 on the subject housing in the following terms:

 

“The NEC is instructed to start an affordable housing campaign, working with CWU Youth, the equality sections and other trade unions where possible. This should focus on affordable housing that families, as well as workers on low incomes and wages can afford.

 

Additionally the following must be pursued –

 

• Increasing investment in genuinely affordable housing including from government, pension funds and ethical investors.

• Affordable housing for families and workers on low income.

• Bringing down the costs of renting from private landlords, increasing security of tenancy and quality.

• Lifting the restrictions on local government preventing council house building and working with other social landlords to increase the stock of affordable housing available.

• Maintain existing social/council housing stock by limiting the right to buy

 

The campaign is not limited to these points and the NEC could use other relevant issues that supplement the points above. Bringing down housing costs would in effect be one of the best pay rises we could deliver for members.”

 

This paper seeks to bring branches up-to-date on developments since the adoption of that motion.

 

Branches will recall that prior to Motion 1 being adopted, CWU Youth had already adopted housing as a key priority area (indeed Motion 1 was one of the two motions from the 2015 Youth Conference forwarded to General Conference).

 

This led to the launch to an internet-based campaign designed to highlight the lack of regulation and generally low standards in the private rented sector under the header of Unscrupulous Landlords. The campaign also sought to encourage members to give details of their particular “bad stories” which could be used to pursue the campaign’s objectives.

 

As part of this campaigning work, CWU Youth had established a good working relationship with campaign group Generation Rent. Generation Rent and CWU Youth representatives have shared platforms on a number of occasions over the last 6 months.

 

Shortly after Annual Conference, Generation Rent approached CWU Youth to see what support might be possible for a publication they had compiled entitled “A Queen’s Speech for Housing”. This was designed to pull together the various strands of the housing debate into one overarching document that could be presented as a programme for resolving the current housing crisis.

 

When drafted, the document anticipated a hung parliament in which advancing a constructive policy towards housing would become a key element in the post-electoral horse-trading.

 

CWU Youth provided an introduction to the publication and it was distributed on the basis that it had been supported by CWU Youth. This was useful in consolidating the widespread view of the CWU’s support for and leadership in this policy area. The Queen’s Speech for Housing document is attached to this letter to the NEC for ease of reference.

 

Following the General Election, further informal discussions took place with Generation Rent about how the CWU’s policy objectives outlined in Motion 1 could be pursued.

 

It was agreed that a joint approach to those MPs who were successful in the ballot for Private Members Bills would be fruitful.  

 

(Generally speaking, those MPs who come in the top 10 of those essentially drawn out of a hat have the chance of presenting a Private Members Bill of their choice to parliament. Those MPs favoured by the ballot can expect to receive many approaches from interest groups seeking a sponsor for a Bill.)

 

The Private Members Bill ballot was announced on 4 June and it became apparent that Karen Buck MP (Labour, Westminster North and Regents Park) would be approachable on the question of intervention in the housing market.

 

A meeting therefore took place with Ms Buck and her research assistant to explore the possibility of her support for either a Private Members Bill on rent capping or a Private Members Bill to enshrine much higher standards and regulation of the private rental sector. (These are summarised in section 5 of the Queen’s Speech document).

 

At the meeting for the CWU were Simon Sapper, National Officer; John Colbert, Campaigns Manager and James Mills, Press Officer.

 

As a result, we reached an agreement with Ms Buck that she would indeed sponsor a Bill on regulation of the rental sector. In her view, there was a very realistic possibility of this Private Members Bill clearing all the parliamentary hurdles and actually becoming enacted as legislation.

 

The Homes (Fit for Habitation) Bill was consequently lodged with the parliamentary authorities by 23 June 2015.

 

Next Stages

 

There are a number of immediate next stages that we can identify.
The first is for the precise terms of the Private Members Bill to be drafted. This is primarily a job of parliamentary drafts men/women. They will take the policy objectives that Karen Buck provides to them (which she in turn will get from us and Generation Rent) and convert them into parliamentary language.

 

The Bill will then be tabled for a first reading which is usually a formality and then a more substantive debate under a second reading. Because these debates always take place on a Friday morning there is a particular challenge in ensuring that sufficient MPs are in the Chamber for the Bill to have a reasonable chance of success.

 

The first reading is likely to take place before parliament rises for the summer recess in late July with the second reading probably in November 2015.

 

As part of the process of building support for the CWU’s campaign on housing in general and the Private Members Bill in particular, the possibility of fringe events at the TUC Congress and the Labour Party Conference are being actively explored.

 

Part of that exploration is to see what support may be possible from our jointly owned law firm, Unionline. The Unionline board has already expressed the suggestion that they would like to become more involved in supporting some of the union’s key policy objectives. This is a not unknown attitude for a law firm to adopt as can be seen with the Unionline’s most prominent rivals, Thompsons.

 

However, through the Head of Legal Services, we are seeking to discuss with Unionline something more than just financial support in the form of sponsorship for fringe events. We would also wish to explore with Unionline to what extent they could adjust the portfolio of services they offer their customers to embrace some of the key concerns of tenants and then expand that further to embrace homeowners as well.

 

This would mean that there is a close synergy between the policy objectives we are seeking to achieve through Karen Buck’s Private Members Bill and the expertise and service we offer our members and their families through our jointly owned law firm.

 

There is an added community of interest here because Karen Buck, as reported above, is supported by the GMB who are partner-owners of Unionline.

 

Summary

 

Branches can see from the foregoing report that no time has been lost in attempting to progress the issues so clearly adopted by our conference as a policy priority. Further reports will be supplied on a regular basis.

 

Any queries on this LTB should be directed to Simon Sapper, Assistant Secretary, at CWU Headquarters.

 

Yours sincerely

 
 

Dave Ward

General Secretary  

 
 
COMMUNICATION WORKERS UNION

 

 

 

Rule Book
 

The revised Rule Book including the amendments carried at Annual Conference 2015 is now available as a pdf.file via the CWU website.

 

http://www.cwu.org/rulebook.html

 

If you have any problems downloading a copy of the Rule Book from the website please contact Angela Niven on 020 8971 7256 or by e-mail to aniven@cwu.org

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

 

 

 

Dave Ward

General Secretary

NSSN Conference Saturday 4th July 2015 – Conway Hall London 

The National Shop Stewards Network’s (NSSN) conference takes place on Saturday the 4th July 2015 in Conway Hall, London. It has been announced this week that Harris Sideris will be speaking at the conference. Harris, who is from Athens, is one of two Vodafone workers who were sacked a few weeks ago. Harris is also a member of the trade union committee of the contract workers at Vodafone who are fighting for full union rights. As a result of these sackings there have so far been two one-day strikes.

 

The fact that the conference falls a day before the Greek referendum on the EU austerity package gives union and anti-cut activists the opportunity to show solidarity with both Harris and his fellow sacked worker as well as the Greek people.

 

Harris will join the already confirmed speakers Mark Serwotka PCS General Secretary, Ronnie Draper BFAWU General Secretary, Matt Wrack FBU General Secretary, Steve Gillian POA General Secretary, Peter Pinkney RMT President, Helen Pattison Youth Fight for Jobs, Dave Smith anti-blacklisting campaigner, Isai Priya Tamil Solidarity trade union co-ordinator and Rob Williams NSSN National Chair.

 

The Conference costs £6 to attend and it is possible to pay on the day. You can find more information on the conference from the NSSN’s leaflet here you can also find further information via their website here.  

 

The Conference Starts at 11:00 and finishes at 16:30 – Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London, WC1R 4RL.

 

Any further enquiries regarding this LTB should be addressed to the General Secretary’s Office at gsoffice@cwu.org quoting the reference GS17.4/LTB 437/15.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Dave Ward

General Secretary      

                                      

 Motion E7 – General Conference 2015

 

Motion E7, in the name of Kent Invicta Branch called upon the NEC to issue a statement providing assurance and a commitment that “future education and training is delivered by suitable qualified education provider(s) and qualified tutors in line with trade union principles of solidarity and covered by recognition agreements with the appropriate unions.”

 

At its meeting yesterday, the NEC agreed the following statement to be issued to Branches via LTB which outlines the points raised and actions taken pursuant to the Conference decision:

 

“The CWU were informally advised on 17th April 2015 and formally notified of the closure of the Trade Union Education Department at Solihull College on 13th May 2015. This closure is as a direct result of the 24% cuts to Skills Funding Agency (SFA) funding for the College made by the last Coalition Government as one of their final attacks on adult education. Our formal contract with the college to deliver the national programme of CWU courses at our residential education centre, Alvescot Lodge will therefore terminate on the 31st July 2015. For clarity, our regional programme which is/can be arranged at HQ Departmental,; Branch; Region; Sub-Committee request can be/is delivered under contract by Ruskin College.

 

The CWU has written to Solihull College expressing our serious concerns and to the TUC and the UCU offering support for any campaigns.

 

The NEC have considered fully the implications of this closure and reaffirm the existing policy that CWU education will continue to be accredited where possible and therefore delivered by qualified tutors who may be CWU Reps, CWU employees, or employees of an external provider covered by their appropriate trade union recognition agreements.

 

As has been the case for many years, this will be supplemented by informal, unaccredited training that may be delivered by CWU staff and Senior Lay Officials.

 

The CWU will now be considering options for delivery of our programme from 1st August 2015 to 31st July 2015 in line with existing conference policy and positive discussions have taken place with the TUC and an alternative provider.”

 

The terms of the motion are therefore discharged and any queries relating to this LTB should be addressed in the first instance to Lee Wakeman at lwakeman@cwu.org  

 

Best wishes,

 

 

Trish Lavelle

Head of Education and Training

 
No. 432/15

 

1st July 2015

 

To: All Branches with Postal Members

 

Pension Salary Exchange (PSE)

 

Since LTB390/15 was issued and the CWU Q&A letter on PSE was sent to members, most of the queries received on PSE have related to the two issues below:

 

Will PSE reduce my basic state pension?

 

No. Royal Mail Pension Plan (RMPP) members are contracted out of the second state pension and as a result pay 10.6% National Insurance (NI) instead of 12%.

 

This means that RMPP members will not be entitled to the full rate of the single tier state pension from April 2016. This is the result of contracting out – it has nothing to do with PSE and the introduction of PSE will make no difference to state pension entitlement for RMPP members.

 

Members of the Royal Mail defined contribution plan (RMDCP) may see a trivial reduction in state second pension, of around 15p a year for each £100 pension contribution exchanged in excess of £15,100 a year. For a RMDCP member paying a 6% pension contribution on earnings of 20k a year, this will produce a reduction of £1.20 a year for the whole life of the second state pension.

 

What are the changes to Terms and Conditions referred to in the documentation issued by management?

 

The only contractual change is to the headline rate of pay, arising from the difference in how pension contributions are made under PSE. There is no other change to Terms & Conditions.

 

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

 

Yours sincerely

Ray Ellis ​

A/Deputy General Secretary (P)​

AGENDA FOR GROWTH AGREEMENT: RESOURCING 

Information provided to the union by Royal Mail Group indicates a level of agency staffing in some parts of the business which appears to be at variance with the terms of the Agenda for Growth agreement.

 

Agenda for Growth contains the following provisions:

 

Section three, paragraph 2.73 “Employees will be employed on permanent contracts, except where there is a genuine short term need identified by the employer after consultation with the union”.

 

2.7.4 “Agency workers are intended to cover short term or unforeseen resourcing needs, expected to last for periods of no more than 12 weeks, which cannot be covered by offering additional hours to existing employees whilst maintaining quality of service. In the rare circumstances that employment exceeds 12 weeks the provisions of the Agency Workers Regulations 2010 will apply”.  

 

The default position is therefore that recruitment should take place on permanent contract – only if there is a defined short term need should a temporary contact be issued and only after consultation with the union. Agency staff should only be employed where the need for additional resource is not expected to last more than 12 weeks.  

 

Is it clear that in some units agency staff are being used on an ongoing basis, well in excess of 12 weeks, with no attempt by Royal Mail Group to regularise the situation in line with the terms of Agenda for Growth. We have received reports that in some locations employment agencies have offices on Royal Mail premises.

 

The union has strongly registered its concern nationally and has requested an up to date breakdown by location of all non permanent staff. We have made it clear that we expect Royal Mail Group to take appropriate action to ensure that all parts of the business are compliant with the Agenda for Growth.

 

It is necessary for the union at all levels to challenge breaches of Agenda for Growth. Head office is not aware of any registered disagreement on excessive use of agency staff, despite the numbers running into hundreds in some units. Head count figures, including agency numbers, should be provided to senior field officials on a regular basis to enable an overview to be maintained – I have written to senior field officials seeking confirmation that information is being provided. In addition, resourcing meetings should take place on a weekly basis at unit level. It is vitally important that management are challenged on use of non permanent staff where this is outside the terms of Agenda for Growth.

 

It is imperative that the union defends the terms of Agenda for Growth. Widespread use of agency staff outside the terms of the agreement can only serve to undermine the position of permanent staff in the long term. In some parts of the business it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that a two tier work force has in effect been established by widespread use of agency staff with no job security, recruited on minimum wage and in some cases on zero hours contracts.

 

Branches and representatives should therefore review staffing arrangements in every unit –

 

• If non-permanent staff are being used without consultation this should be challenged

• If the use of non permanent staff is inappropriate or excessive this should be challenged

• If the matter can’t be swiftly resolved disagreement should be registered.

If you have any further enquires please do not hesitate to contact the DGSP department.

 

Regards,
Ray Ellis

A/Deputy General Secretary  

 
COMMUNICATION WORKERS UNION

URGENT INFORMATION FOR MEMBERS