A Woman’s Place is in Her Union 

Please find below and attached two newly designed flyers/posters that Branches can use to encourage more women to engage in the CWU structures.

 

The first poster is designed to enable Branches to advertise their Women’s Officers more prominently, bringing more profile to this role, which is enshrined in the Union’s rule book. The poster also allows for details of the relevant Regional Women’s Secretary to be inserted.

 

This initiative is designed to supplement the Union’s work around proportionality and representation.

 

The second poster is attached for the benefit of those Branches and Regions that produce newsletters or other electronic material and can be inserted accordingly.

 

Both these items are available to download from the Equal Ops section of the CWU website.

 

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

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

Linda Roy​

National Equality Officer​

 RE: MIDLAND REGION – WOMEN’S EVENT

 

The Midlands Region are holding a women’s event on the 3rd November in Birmingham, the details of the abovementioned event are as follows:

 

 

DATE Tuesday 3rd November 2015                          

 

VENUE CWU Offices, Summer Lane, Birmingham, B19 3TH

 

AGENDA

 

Registration 09:30 – 10:00

 

Speakers:

 

Jess Phillips MP

 

Baroness May Blood

 

Dave Ward GS – Roundtable Discussion – views on proportionality what this looks like for women in the CWU

 

Workshops will also be held on the day. The aim of the day is for female Representatives/Women’s Officers to bring a female member or new activist from the workplace along to encourage involvement in the CWU

 

LUNCH – Will be provided

 

Can people please register by emailing midlandregion@cwu.org this is so they know how many they need to cater for on the day. If people require any further information they can contact Kate Hudson, Midland Regional Secretary on this email also.

 

 

Yours sincerely

 

​​​ ​​

 

Dave Ward​​​​​​

General Secretary

           

 

 

Shared Parental Leave (SPL)

Please find below and attached the latest Factsheet from the Equal Opportunities Department.

This new provision came into force in April this year.  In the first instance you should check with your employer to see how your shared parental leave rights compare to the statutory minimum.

As this is a very new piece of legislation, we would be interested to know how the implementation of SPL is being managed.  If any Branches have evidence of their members experiencing any difficulties, we would be grateful if these could be notified to us accordingly.

This Factsheet is also available online at the CWU website.

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

Yours sincerely,

Linda Roy                 National Equality Officer

Clink on the link below

Shared Parental Leave

Resourcing to Workload – Annual Leave/Resourcing Guidelines 

Further to LTB 559/15 dated 28th August on “Recruitment – Resourcing to Workload – Annual Leave/Resourcing Guidelines – September Review” it has been identified that the link in the Annual Planning Meeting Agenda regarding the full year annual Delivery Traffic Forecast referred to last year’s forecast. This has now been corrected and should be replaced with the up to date link below which can only be accessed via a Royal Mail computer, CWU reps should be able to access this link via the DOMs computer;

https://portal.royalmailgroup.com/sites/A522/DTFTdata/Forecast2016/Report.htm

Branches and representatives should note that when discussing your annual leave plan the above link will give you a forecast that will help you identify the weeks where traffic is historically below your model week (normally June to August) so that extra leave slots over and above the scheduled allocation can be allocated as a consequence of agreed levels of absorption during this period.

It is essential when entering discussions that CWU representatives establish and allocate the unit’s contractual entitlement first which will in turn identify the number of leave reserves required to enable reliable resourcing.
“Vacancies and leave reserve vacancies should remain under constant review to ensure adequate resource is available to meet customer and operational requirements”.
This exercise should include all staff contractual leave, Bank Holiday credits for annual leave that coincides with Bank Holidays and rest days that fall on a Bank Holiday, purchased leave, and any leave days carried over from the previous year.
For example:
If the above added up to 600 weeks to be allocated and covered and 2 weeks were closed for Christmas Pressure the number of leave reserves to cover AWD would be 12, (600 / 50) = 12. Add to this the leave reserves leave 12 @ 5 weeks = 60 weeks would mean another leave reserve (60 / 50) = 1.2.
In this example that would mean that a minimum of 13 leave slots a week for 50 weeks should be available. If you then run your annual traffic forecast and you agree to open up another 3 slots due to agreed absorption through the summer weeks then in the period June to August the number of open slots available should be 16.
 

This is just one example. Units may decide not to employ against all 13 reserves and convert some to S/A or overtime. That is your choice locally.
As a consequence of providing additional leave slots in the summer period there will be leave gaps in the ‘winter’ period which you will need to discuss and agree a plan to deal with. There will be more people available in the unit, bearing in mind traffic/workload traditionally increases during this period. This should be dealt with via weekly resourcing meetings.
In line with the guidance provided in LTB 559/15 any refusal by management not to recruit to the identified reserve staffing levels to facilitate leave entitlement and protect the USO and quality of service should be dealt with through the IR Framework.
Branches and representative should also note that within the Annual Planning Meeting Agenda guidelines it states that a work aid has been developed to assist in annual leave planning;
“This work-aid has been newly developed and will be reviewed jointly by the Royal Mail/ CWU tools group. It has been developed by Royal Mail to help DOMs and Reps jointly make the decisions on how best to fairly share out the total AL blocks for their office against a national workload profile. It is a guide only and should therefore be used accordingly”.
The review mentioned has not taken place; however, it is our intention to undertake this review ASAP. In the meantime this aide should only be used as a guide. CWU representatives should ensure that the principles outlined above regarding establishing annual leave and reserve staffing levels are utilised and applied correctly.
Any enquiries to Bob Gibson’s Office, quoting reference 210

Email address:

” mstewart@cwu.org

Yours sincerely​
Bob Gibson

CWU Assistant Secretary – Outdoor

RE: CWU AFFILIATIONS GENERAL CONFERENCE MOTIONS 66 AND 87 

At 2015 CWU General Conference delegates endorsed motions 66 and 87 in the name of the National Executive Council.

 

66

 

CARRIED

Conference endorses the decision of the NEC taken on 31st July 2014 to affiliate to No TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) campaign.

National Executive Council

87

 

CARRIED

Conference endorses the decision of the NEC on 29th January 2015 to affiliate to the People’s Assembly Against Austerity.

National Executive Council

 

I can confirm that in line with National Rule 6.4.6 branches are now permitted to make local affiliations to these organisations following branch endorsement.

 

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 GS15.0/LTB 615/15.

 

Yours sincerely

 

​​​ ​​

 

Dave Ward​​​​​​

General Secretary

           

Manual Intervention Tool (MIT) 

Royal Mail approached the department earlier in the year expressing their desire to amalgamate the current Manual Intervention Tool (MIRA) and the Attendance Call Sampling Tool (ACST) into one tool called the Manual Intervention Tool (MIT).

 

As a consequence the CWU Measurement and Tools Group were tasked with this piece of work and dialogue has continued throughout the year to undertake this exercise, and to ensure that all the elements of the current tools are captured within the new one.

 

The new Manual Intervention Tool (MIT) has now been finalised and guidelines agreed, which are embedded below. The tool will be released and available on the Royal Mail Sharepoint from Monday 21st September 2015. The guidelines are mainly a reference document for planners to refer to as appropriate when using the tool. However, it is important that CWU representatives read the ‘Important Note’ at the start of the document and in particular paragraph 5 as this provides the context of how the tool operates within revision activity.

 

Any revisions currently ongoing will continue to use the current versions of MIRA and ACST; the new MIT tool will only apply to new structural revisions, and where the planner has been trained.

 

The tool does take a high level of ability to complete properly. Royal Mail has trained up MIT Champions who will be listed in the guidelines and provide a contact point for planners to refer to as necessary. The wider training programme for Royal Mail planners is still being determined. Overview training for CWU trainers will also be arranged in due course.

 

Any enquiries to Bob Gibson’s Office, quoting reference 230.03

Email address: mstewart@cwu.org

 

Yours sincerely

                                    

Bob Gibson                    

The Post Office – Election of: 

• Post Office Area Representatives for Crowns – Areas 2, 3, 4 & 7

• Post Office Deputy Area Representatives for Crowns – Area 2

• 3 Post Office Area Representatives for Supply Chain – All 3 Areas

• 1 Post Office Deputy Area Representative for Supply Chain – South Area

• 4 Territorial Representatives

Further to LTB 537/15 dated 18th August 2015. At the close of the ballots today, please find the ballot results as shown below:-

Crown Area Representatives

 

AREA 2

 

 

 

 

 

Neil Barry

116

*ELECTED

Jennifer Windsor

45

 

 

 

 

Spoilt Ballot Papers

0

 

Total Ballot Papers Received

161

 

Total Ballot Papers Dispatched

409

 

 

 

 

AREA 3

 

 

 

 

 

Laura Conlon

39

 

Richard Titterington

77

*ELECTED

 

 

 

Spoilt Ballot Papers

0

 

Total Ballot Papers Received

116

 

Total Ballot Papers Dispatched

389

 

 

 

 

AREA 4

 

 

 

 

 

Craig Andrew

42

 

Sue Trehearne

52

*ELECTED

 

 

 

Spoilt Ballot Papers

0

 

Total Ballot Papers Received

94

 

Total Ballot Papers Dispatched

292

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AREA 7

 

 

 

 

 

Dominic Lafont

21

 

Sean Ryan

27

*ELECTED

 

 

 

Spoilt Ballot Papers

0

 

Total Ballot Papers Received

48

 

Total Ballot Papers Dispatched

190

 

 

Crown Deputy Area Representatives

 

AREA 2

 

 

 

 

 

Gordon Sergison

94

*ELECTED

Jennifer Windsor

57

 

 

 

 

Spoilt Ballot Papers

10

 

Total Ballot Papers Received

161

 

Total Ballot Papers Dispatched

409

 

 

 

Supply Chain Area Representatives

 

NORTH AREA

 

 

 

 

 

Richard Darville

43

 

Keith Gibson

20

 

Johnny McKeever

49

*ELECTED

Alan McLachlan

19

 

Alan Robertson

16

 

 

 

 

Spoilt Ballot Papers

0

 

Total Ballot Papers Received

147

 

Total Ballot Papers Dispatched

244

 

 

 

 

CENTRAL AREA

 

 

 

 

 

Kevin Clarke

71

*ELECTED

Mark Worthington

16

 

 

 

 

Spoilt Ballot Papers

1

 

Total Ballot Papers Received

88

 

Total Ballot Papers Dispatched

300

 

 

 

 

SOUTH AREA

 

 

 

 

 

Rob Jones

126

*ELECTED

Stephen Richards

41

 

 

 

 

Spoilt Ballot Papers

6

 

Total Ballot Papers Received

173

 

Total Ballot Papers Dispatched

440

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supply Chain Deputy Area Representatives

 

SOUTH AREA

 

 

 

 

 

Craig Dapson

81

*ELECTED

Stephen Richards

57

 

 

 

 

Spoilt Ballot Papers

35

 

Total Ballot Papers Received

173

 

Total Ballot Papers Dispatched

440

 

 

Territorial Representatives

 

David Bowmaker

476

*ELECTED

Huw Davies

322

 

Mole Meade

468

 

Peter Meech

498

*ELECTED

Jim Reeves

493

*ELECTED

Chris Roche

479

*ELECTED

 

 

 

Spoilt Ballot Papers

3

 

Total Ballot Papers Received

1122

 

Total Ballot Papers Dispatched

3970

 

 

Any enquiries regarding this Letter to Branches 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

 

Important Notice: Scam Alert 

A member of staff at HQ who unfortunately was also a victim has made me aware of a phone scam which I would like to bring to your attention. Around February this year various ISP’s (internet service providers) were hacked and millions of customer details was stolen, as you would expect, the theft was followed up with a scam to try and extract money from those customers. A call would be made by someone impersonating a technician from your ISP; they can seem very convincing as the stolen information includes details which should only be known by your service provider, names and addresses, dates of birth and bank details.

 

The scam has now resurfaced and can take various guises, for example, they may inform you your router either needs updating, replacing or isn’t working correctly. You are then directed to a website to download a program which will allow them to solve the issue remotely. Once the program is installed, they now have access to either lock your device and ask you for payment before it will be unlocked and or scan your device for personal details to be used for identity fraud.   

 

Here is some additional advice one of the hacked ISP’s have put on their website:-

 

“Our advice on avoiding scams:

Bank details: if you have received a call and been asked for your bank details, this is likely to be a scam. If you are ever unsure, hang up and call the company back on their official number. 

Dialling correct numbers: when calling ensure you get the number from a trusted source – such as the official website or your latest bill or statement. If you get a call that feels suspicious, hang up and call back on the official number. You should always ensure the fraudster has hung up before you dial as sometimes they keep the line open to try to trick you. If you are in any doubt you should phone a friend or a trusted number first to make sure it goes through correctly.

Premium rate numbers: any messages asking you to make expensive phone calls – premium rate numbers start with 090 – especially when it comes to ‘prizes’ or ‘offers’, are most likely a scam.

Persuasive sellers: anyone that’s rushing you into a service or product and wants to take your bank details could quite easily be scamming you. Don’t allow yourself to be pressured or bullied.

 

 

 

Scam technical support: more scammers are calling people trying to gain remote access to their computer so they can gain access to personal information. You shouldn’t be asked to pay for viruses to be cleared from your computer or to fix any issues over the phone. If you are, don’t give them any details and hang up. 

Scam website: scammers may direct you to a website that looks like it could be an official site. Make sure you are definitely on the right website and not on a scammer site. Scam websites will often have poor quality of logos and general design. If you are in any doubt then leave the website.

Refunds: Scammers may try and get personal information by telling you that you are due a refund. If in doubt you should hang up and call the company yourself.”

 

The above internet scam has been confirmed by police, BT, Carphone Warehouse and Talk Talk are known to have had a data breach. This is by no means an extensive list, we have had an attempted scam call made to HQ this week! I would advise using caution whoever your service provider is and be alert to any scam calls you may receive at work.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

 

Dave McIntosh

ICT Manager

 

 

 

 

Bespoke Door 2 Door Item 1st & 2nd October 2015 

Branches and CWU representatives will be aware of the fact that Royal Mail operates in an extremely competitive environment for direct mail and advertising revenue. The CWU recognises this and continues to support the businesses drive to increased revenue through growth in addressed and unaddressed products in order to protect jobs and terms and conditions. There is however a significant number of Door to Door customers that Royal Mail cannot currently capture for a variety of reasons and these potential customers end up advertising through competitors, using television, radio, press or other mail carriers who are eating into what was traditional workload in Royal Mail.

 

In order to improve Royal Mail’s prospects of capturing more work and revenue in this competitive market we have agreed to trial alternative D2D delivery methods (see LTB 596.15) to see if we can reduce the costing of the product and get a foothold in this particular sector. Through this type of contract we hope to be able to demonstrate to customers in this area of the market that Royal Mail can cope with this type of contract.

 

Whilst D2D is not something our members are particularly fond of on a day to day basis we have a responsibility to our members to work with Royal Mail to stem the threat of competition and the associated loss of workload and revenue, and to bring as much work as possible into our workplaces to help protect jobs and terms and conditions. That is why we have agreed to deliver this contract.

 

As far as the joint statement is concerned we have plagiarised the Joint Statement used last year for the World Cup contract and attempted to put in place things we believe will assist our representatives arrive at sensible operational arrangements through dialogue with their local managers, recognising that this will require willingness and commitment on their part as well to bring this about. Resourcing to workload for w/c 28th September will need to be reviewed in light of the joint statement and is an essential requirement of the joint statement. The statement is not too prescriptive and is intended to provide guidance and examples of what probably needs to be put in place to support our members and the operation over the whole week including any jointly identified additional resource being paid at SA rate. Serious consideration will also need to be given to the provision of replenishment and the feeder runs required to support this. It is important that H&S issues are taken fully into consideration indoor and outdoor.

As part of the resourcing discussions CWU Representatives will also wish to note that the Bespoke D2D contract due to be delivered W/C 28th September but not to be delivered on Monday 28th (see LTB 546.15) has now been reverted to a standard contract which means this contract can now be delivered Monday to Wednesday if that suits local arrangements.

 

Attached to this LTB are the postcodes where the items are being provided for delivery which in total amounts to 5m items for 620 delivery units at an average of 8k per unit spread across most of the UK (Not N. Ireland). The L, CH and some WA postcodes have been excluded. Units will need to check the contract manager to see what other items they can expect during w /c 28th September and factor this into their local discussions and resourcing plans.

 

Finally we have recognised that this contract that will undoubtedly stir sentiment and raise concerns and emotion in certain postcodes and in some of our members and as a consequence certain postcodes have not been included. This issue will need to be dealt with sympathetically in other areas of the UK with complete respect for the wishes of those concerned.

 

It would be appreciated if all Branches could please ensure that this LTB is circulated to all Delivery offices and CWU Delivery representatives without delay.

 

Any enquiries to Bob Gibson’s Office, quoting reference 230.03

Email address: mstewart@cwu.org

 

 

Yours sincerely
Bob Gibson

CWU Assistant Secretary  

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE: ACCESS TO BRANCH SAGE ACCOUNTS 

Further to LTB 572/15 dated 3rd September.

 

Branches are advised that the Citrix Helpline number has now changed. For future support please contact Moore Stephens on 0207 651 1900 or alternatively email helpdesk@moorestephens.com.

 

Branches are asked to let those who access this service to be aware of the contents of this notice.

 

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