Sick Absence between Christmas and New Years DayOver the last few days enquiries and complaints have been received relating to managers interviewing members about previous absences between Christmas day and New Years day.

At a meeting earlier this week with National Head of Attendance Jo Ferguson the Union was advised that a spreadsheet had been produced and circulated to all line managers in Royal Mail Operations providing details of all staff who had any absence during the period between Christmas and New Years day in the last 5 years. Apparently, it has been suggested to managers that may wish to hold an informal review under the Attendance procedure if they believe there are grounds to do so having considered this information. Inevitably, we have received reports of people who have had one absence, three or four years ago, being interviewed. 

This type of initiative has occurred at various times of the year (such as Easter, half term periods, etc.) in various parts of the business over the last few years. It has been regularly challenged by the Union and the expectation of both CWU and Royal Mail was that this kind of scattergun approach would cease following the deployment of the 2013 Attendance agreement, which provides for the opportunity for informal discussions if managers become concerned about a particular pattern of absence. Unfortunately, although the number of incidences of use of this approach has reduced since 2013 it has not ceased. It is deeply concerning that it has now in effect been endorsed by the business nationally and run as a national exercise.

There is no doubt that this is contrary to the terms and spirit of the Attendance agreement. All absence is assumed to be genuine but an exercise of this kind is based on the implicit assumption that this may not be the case. It is disingenuous to suggest that it is done to enable the business to provide support to anybody who has difficulties attending during this period for reasons other than sickness absence – its only effect will be cause anger amongst people who have been unfortunate enough to fall ill during this period at some point in the past and who are implicitly having the genuineness of their absence questioned. It is also a matter of concern that the informal review process introduced as part of the 2013 agreement has never been properly deployed and the only experience that most people interviewed as a result of this national initiative will have of an informal review discussion is one which is completely outside the intentions of the Attendance agreement and which will bring the concept into disrepute.

 
We have registered our concern with the Head of Attendance in the strongest terms. We do not recognise the legitimacy of this exercise, nor do we regard it is as an informal interview of the kind provided for by the Attendance agreement. We therefore strongly suggest that members be advised not to attend a discussion with their manager concerning past absences over the Christmas period without a representative being present.

Any enquiries should be addressed to PTCS department, quoting reference PTC/RE/sn/415. 

Email address: djeffery@cwu.org  

 

Yours sincerely
 
 
 

Ray Ellis                                               

Assistant Secretary

          

 Attendance Management Structure: Royal Mail Operations 
Royal Mail has established an Operations HR Attendance Management Team. The team is headed by Jo Ferguson, National Head of Attendance and comprises heads of attendance for each of the three regions plus logistics, supported by attendance leads, six in the East, four each in the West and the North and three in logistics. The regional heads of attendance direct report is the Regional HR Director (team structure attached).

The team has been set up to build line management capability in managing attendance, ensure consistent application of the Attendance agreement and identify and ensure deployment of best practice. The Union has been assured that the remit of the team is to ensure that absence is managed consistently in line with the 2013 Attendance agreement. However, it has been created as a result of a slight increase in the level of absence in the 2014/15 financial year and a key objective of the team is to reduce the overall annual level of absence by ½ percent. 

The Union has welcomed the creation of the new structure. An increasing concern has been the re-emergence of aggressive approaches to absence management in many units, including intrusive contact during short term absence in breach of the national agreement, failure to consider circumstances and mitigating factors when issuing stage reviews in breach of the national agreement and use of threatened or actual stoppages of pay in cases of short term absence which would not normally require a certificate, where OH advice has differed from that of the individual’s GP or other medical professional or on spurious grounds of alleged “non compliance”. The new team provides a focus for discussion at regional and national level on absence management and where the Attendance agreement is being broken we will expect the support of the attendance team in addressing and resolving the problem. Monthly meetings are now taking place with the national head of attendance and senior field officials should ensure that regular contact is established with the regional teams. 

We are concerned that the team is operating to a specific targeted reduction in the level of sick absence. Our fear is that achieving an arbitrary figure will become an overriding goal leading to inappropriate behaviours to hide the real level of absence and signal to line managers that an aggressive and intolerant attitude should be taken. In this regard the recent initiative on absence over Christmas, reported separately in LTB 794/15, does not bode well.

The Union’s response should be clear – we should uphold the 2013 Attendance agreement and challenge any breach. It is a collective agreement and breaches are therefore not just an individual issue which can be channelled through the grievance procedure but a collective issue which can be addressed through the IR framework.

Any enquiries should be addressed to PTCS department, quoting reference PTC/RE/dj/415. 

Email address: djeffery@cwu.org  

 

Yours sincerely
 
 

Ray Ellis                                               

Assistant Secretary

Following the Parliamentary vote to extend the British bombing campaigns against terrorist targets into Syria last week, Peterborough Trades Union Council are keen to release a statement to confirm that we are fundamentally opposed to this course of action. PTUC send solidarity greeting to our comrades the world over who are victims of terrorist atrocities, however, we believe that the situation will not be made any better by dropping bombs on areas where civilian populations are put at risk, and referring to these unfortunate victims as ‘collateral damage’ is not acceptable either. We believe that bombing Syria will cause more young people to look towards our Governments as the source of their inequality, instability and for the loss of their loved one’s. Another solution must be sought.
There will be a Pots and Pans Demo against the bombing of Syria in Peterborough on Saturday 12 December. Meet at 2pm outside the Conservative Club on Broadway. There is also a Stop the War demo in London. See the STW website for details.
Other campaigns you can get involved in: 

CWU – People’s Post Campaign Petition

https://www.change.org/p/defending-the-people-s-post
FBU Petition

https://www.change.org/p/suffolk-county-council-cabinet-colin-noble-the-full-suffolk-county-council-should-vote-on-fire-cuts-not-just-the-9-cabinet-members?recruiter=64519956&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink
PCS – Save Our Tax Office Petitions

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/112342
The next PTUC meeting will be held on: 

Thursday 28 January 
Solidarity, 

Hazel 
Hazel Perry

PTUC Secretary 

Election of: 

• CWU Delegates to the TUC Equality Conferences – 2016

 

Further to LTB 735/15 dated 19th November 2015, please find detailed below the results of the ballots:

 

TUC Womens Conference

Postal

 

4 Lay Members

​

Kath Kelly

Newcastle Amal

90,831

*Elected

Cathy Chilcott

Bristol & District Amal

78,765

*Elected

Vicki Turner

Leeds No 1 Amal

76,402

*Elected

Clare Drummond

Greater Manchester

75,821

*Elected

Arlene Whittaker

Mount Pleasant International

41,186

 

​

 

Telecoms & Financial Services

​

3 Lay Members​

 

Jean Sharrocks

North East

33,046

*Elected

Jacky Morrey

Mid Wales The Marches & North Staffs

29,850

*Elected

Sylvia Beckett

Capital

27,428

*Elected

Vicki Cornelius

Birmingham, Black Country & Worcestershire

27,096

 

 

 

TUC Black Workers Conference

Postal​

 

3 Lay Members​

 

Amarjite Singh

South East Wales Amal

84,139

*Elected

Ian Taylor

Greater Manchester

54,858

*Elected

Sajid Shaikh

Birmingham District Amal

54,211

*Elected

Bola Omoyeni

South Midlands Postal

30,014

 

Rosebery Taiwo

South Central Postal

25,594

 

Bimba Kasturiratne

Mount Pleasant International

20,491

 

Ceaford Renton

Bristol & District Amal

18,912

 

Gregory Amissah

North Lancs & Cumbria

13,713

 

​

Telecoms & Financial Services

​

2 Lay Members​

 

Ali Moosa

Midland No 1

34,508

*Elected

Winston Richards

Greater London Combined

32,640

*Elected

Colin Bell

South London, Surrey & North Hampshire

16,105

 

 

 

 

TUC Disabled Workers Conference

Postal​

​

3 Lay Members

 

Tony Sneddon

Scotland No 5

86,241

*Elected

Tony Pedel

York & District Amal

77,261

*Elected

Richard Hirtsch

Leeds No 1 Amal

68,608

*Elected

Lee Starr-Elliot

Bristol & District Amal

51,652

 

 

Telecoms & Financial Services

 

2 Lay Members

 

Peter Sharrocks

North East

34,140

*Elected

Jonathan Bellshaw

Lincolnshire & South Yorks

30,986

*Elected

Jeffrey Till

Greater London Combined

24,412

 

 

 

 

TUC LGBT Conference

Telecoms & Financial Services

 

2 Lay Members

 

Duncan Strivens

South London, Surrey & North Hampshire

30,379

*Elected

Jason Reynolds

Capital

27,308

*Elected

Laurie Smith

Greater London Combined

21,154

 

​

 

The branch analysis for the above elections are attached to this LTB.

 

Any enquiries regarding this LTB should be addressed to the Senior Deputy General Secretary’s Department on telephone number 0208 971 7237 or email address sdgs@cwu.org.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Tony Kearns​

Senior Deputy General Secretary

HMRC ASSURANCE AUDIT – REVISED CWU EXPENSES POLICIES AND PROCEDURES 

Through various LTB’s, branch briefings and Motions at General Conference branches will be aware of the HMRC Assurance Audit that had been instigated by that body against the CWU in May 2011. This resulted in HMRC issuing, following lengthy discussion and negotiation, a new and revised dispensation to cover a number of areas. This was issued to the CWU in November 2014.

 

Since then the NEC has discussed the best way to compile and determine how we need to operate to ensure we comply with the terms of the dispensation which are, de facto, an instruction from HMRC.

 

To achieve this The NEC determined that we should set up a working group to consider the dispensation and incorporate the outcomes into a set of mandatory policies and procedures applicable to all within the CWU. The working group comprised Branch, Regional and National Representatives. They conducted an extensive review of the existing policies and procedures that govern the way that we administer and control the payment of expenses to our representatives and employees and we would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their valuable contributions.

 

Our aim was to make the review as inclusive and wide ranging as possible. We sought and obtained views from all areas of the CWU structure and at the conclusion of the review in December 2015 a revised set of policies and procedures was approved by the National Executive Committee at their meeting held on the 26th November 2015. These policies and procedures are reproduced in this document/booklet for your information.

 

As a result, all payments made from Union funds from 1st January 2016 must be made in strict accordance with these policies and procedures which are based on the overriding principle that every CWU representative and CWU employee are covered by the same set of policies and procedures irrespective of whether you are a local/unit/shift or workplace representative or whether you are a national representative of the Union.

 

The review took into account legislative directives which we are required to comply with and included advice, guidance and specific instructions which we have received from HMRC as a result of their recent Assurance Audit.

 

As you will see certain paragraphs of the policies and procedures are deliberately formatted in italics. We have done this for ease of reference as these are direct extracts from the HMRC dispensation issued to the CWU.

 

The purpose of a dispensation is to allow the Union to make payments to its representatives and employees (provided they are made under the circumstances described) without the requirement for further declaration to HMRC i.e. they would not be subject to tax and National Insurance. Everybody should be aware that HMRC are very clear in that should the Union make payments that are not in line with the circumstances described and as set out in the policies and procedures then the dispensation would be revoked.

 

The very time consuming and difficult process we have been through over a number of years is something we, collectively, should ensure we avoid a repetition of. We do this by way of taking the appropriate action, as outlined in the attached mandatory policies and procedures and by a continual monitoring and assessment process.

 

The impact and success of the revised policies and procedures will be subject to further review by the NEC in the New Year and further detail on this will follow once these new procedures are introduced.  

 

If branches require any additional information particularly around areas not specifically or expressly stated in the policies and procedures these should be referred to the Senior Deputy General Secretary for further guidance and advice.

               

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

 

Mediation
 

The Agenda for Growth Agreement set out a new process to strengthen dispute resolution involving the process of mediation. Over a year since its introduction the CWU and Royal Mail have been reviewing the operation of the new mediation procedures, ‘introducing potential further improvements. Currently we are jointly developing:

 

• Providing a clearer organisational structure around mediation to ensure that recommended improvements are considered and agreed by the Postal Executive (see Annex A). The Mediation Team are suggesting the Postal Executive are presented with bi-monthly ‘B’ documents which report on mediations within the business and identifies successes and obstacles (see Annex B).

• Developing the mediation process to cover Bullying and Harassment cases from January 2016. As the Mediation Team have been carrying out mediations for over a year and have gained experience and credibility, we have agreed to use the internal Mediation Team to deal with Bullying and Harassment cases (see Annex C).

• Developing a triage process which enables a better understanding of the background prior to a mediation taking place. In each case, the mediator responsible for managing that case will hold a triage call with the referrers to establish more of the facts and identify as many as issue as possible.

 

Thus far we have developed and agreed a support programme (attached at Annex D) which looks at how the process of mediation works, who supports the parties after mediation and the benefit it can bring to all those involved. The rationale for the support programme builds on the fact that the mediation process involves both regular follow up meetings with the parties (after one, three, six and twelve months respectively) and requesting feedback from all parties in the referral process.  

 

To better support the parties after the mediation day, a bespoke support programme has now been jointly developed which will be offered to the key stakeholders (i.e. the individual or individuals best suited to support the mediation parties when they return to the workplace). This is likely to include Area Representatives, Delivery Sector Managers, Plant Managers, HRBP and Divisional Representatives, although this list is not exhaustive.  

 

The proposed training programme has been tentatively trialled in two divisions and gives Officers or Representatives the chance to learn basic mediation skills which could assist them in their day to day working relationships. In the long-term, the Mediation Team would hope to roll out the support programme across the company but as yet funding has not been secured.  

 

At this stage, the Mediation Team are offering the Support Programme to CWU Representatives and Royal Mail Managers when mediation has taken place in their areas. This will be done on a strictly voluntary basis and would be co-ordinated in conjunction with the Divisional Representatives. The expectation is that the course will be delivered within two weeks of mediation taking place and that the invite could be extended to nearby Branches for Representatives to attend the course, where it makes geographical sense and at little cost to the Branches.  

 

The CWU will continue to monitor the mediation process going forward and will continue to report any future developments.

 

Any enquiries in relation to the content of this LTB should be addressed to the DGSP department.

 

Yours sincerely

 
 

Terry Pullinger​​​​​​

Deputy General Secretary (Postal)

 

Ridgetop Research – Investment Consultants 

Colleagues will recall that the Department circulated LTB 516/15 dated 7th August 2015 in which we alerted Branches to the activity of Cognolink, a New York based Market Research Company. For ease of reference a copy of this LTB is attached.

 

The Department is aware that another company “Ridgetop Research” also New York based has been contacting a number of CWU members again offering a financial incentive to take part in consultation activity. I would direct colleagues to the content of LTB 516/15 and in particular the following reference:

 

“there is clearly a risk that any Royal Mail employee taking part in any paid private consultation of this sort could be in breach of RM’s Code of Business Standards by potentially disclosing confidential business information.”

 

In light of these concerns, we are writing to all CWU Branches to alert you to Ridgetop Research’s activity and ask you, Representatives and CWU members not to participate in any consultations. We have also alerted Royal Mail to these developments, warning them about the potential risks to the business and to report this activity to Ofcom in the context of their obligation to ensure fair competition in postal services.

 

Against this backdrop, all Branches should ensure that the content of this LTB are circulated and brought to the attention of all Representatives and members.

 

Branches are encouraged to alert the DGS (P) Department of any future requests from Ridgetop Research. Any queries about the content of this LTB should be addressed to the DGS (P) Department quoting reference LTB 789/15.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

 

 

Terry Pullinger​

Deputy General Secretary (P)

UNI EUROPA WOMEN’S CONFERENCE AND UNI EUROPA CONFERENCE – 2016 

Further to LTB’s 700/15 dated 30th October 2015 and 734/15 dated 18th November 2015.

 

Branches will recall that the election regulations contained the respective nomination and ballot arrangements for these particular delegations including the Constituency, NEC and Lay Member entitlement and where appropriate the gender and age proportionality requirements.

 

The ballots for the above National Delegations closed on 8th December 2015 and these are produced below for your information. Also attached is a copy of the branch analysis for these elections.

 

Additionally we have also attached a complete list of the elected delegation which we hope is helpful to branches.

 

1. Ballot Results

 

Postal​

​

2 Lay Members

 

Amarjite Singh

South East Wales Amal

88,108

*Elected

Sajid Shaikh

Birmingham District Amal

56,031

*Elected

Andrew Rook

Bournemouth & Dorset Amal

52,157

 

 

Telecom & Financial Services​

 

3 Lay Members

 

Amanda Collick

Great Western

35,162

*Elected

Bobby Kelly

Scotland No 1

31,300

*Elected

Kirsty Lenham

Lincolnshire & South Yorks,

28,007

*Elected

Vicky Cornelius

Birmingham, Black Country & Worcs

23,495

 

Jeffrey Till

Greater London Combined

18,523

 

Miranda Stephenson

Tyne & Wear Clerical

4,486

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. List of elected delegates

 

Postal Delegation

 

NEC member (1 Position)

 

Shelley Banbury, Kent Invicta ​Elected Unopposed

 

Lay Members

 

5 delegates at least 2 must be Women and one member must be under 30

 

 

Jackie Gatward​Elected – in accordance with Gender Criteria

Mohammed Sakib​Elected – in accordance with Age Criteria

Sajid Shaikh ​Elected

Amarjite Singh​Elected

 

1 Vacant position ​Woman Member only

 

Telecom & Financial Services Delegation

 

NEC Member (1 Position)

 

Brendan O’Brien, Midland No 1 ​Elected Unopposed

 

Lay Members

 

4 delegates at least 2 must be Women and one member must be under 30

 

 

Jake Fear​Elected – in accordance with Age Criteria

Amanda Collick​Elected

Kirsty Lenham​Elected

Bobby Kelly ​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

 

East of England Labour Party Regional ConferenceFriday 13th- Sunday 15th November

 

This year’s conference was held in Stevenage, the CWU Eastern Region delegation consisted of Andy Beeby Eastern 5, Sue Lewis CCTV, Mark Toner, Paul Gilchrist, Steve Pitt all Eastern 4 and Jim Webb South East Anglia.

Conference started at 1000 on the Saturday morning, but was overshadowed by the tragic events that happened in Paris on Friday evening, and saw conference stand for a minute’s silence to show solidarity with the French.

This act of terrorism meant that Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn who was to be the key note speaker, could not attend as he had to stay in London for security briefings.  

Every Speaker expressed solidarity to the people of France and sympathy for the Families of those who had been killed in the attacks, whilst out enjoying the start of the weekend.

Sharon Taylor Leader of Stevenage Borough Council was the first speaker of the morning; she spoke about how Stevenage had been Labour controlled council since 1971 but had failed to win the seat at the general election.

And that her council was facing a 40% cut in funding from central government this is on top of the 40% since 2010.

We then had the conference Arrangement Committee report, and election of Tellers hard copy to follow.

The next speaker was Cameron Scott the new Regional Director; Cameron informed us that this was the biggest regional conference the Party had ever held in the East of England.

He said that in spite of the disappointment of the general election result in the East we have much to be optimistic about; the Party membership in the region had more than doubled. This rapid rise began on May 8th and continued through the leadership contest and beyond.

Cameron then went on to explain the changes at Regional Office; the new team consists of Regional Organisers Teddy Ryan and Olivia Vaughan, Communications Officer Graham Moonie and Regional Administrator Hannah Johnson.

European Report Richard Howitt MEP it is clear that David Cameron will call the European Referendum sometime between April and September 2016, Jeremy Corbyn has made a clear statement that the Party will campaign to stay in Europe, by setting up Britain in campaign which is to be headed up by Alan Johnson.

All Labour MEP’s have voted against the TTIP Bill and will continue to do so.

Labour In For Britain campaign Pat McFaddon MP Shadow Europe Minister spoke on why we should stay in Europe below are a few points that he made

➢ Biggest decision for a generation, will have a big impact on how the world see’s the UK

➢ We must be engaged with Europe to influence change

➢ ½ of the UK’s exports go to Europe

➢ All of our employment rights, have come out of Europe

➢ We will have to pay to deal with Europe but have no say on how it works

➢ European Socialists want UK to stay in and are willing to come and soeak at any meeting.

We then had a Q&A session with 3 of the Regions MP’s Daniel Zeichner, Kelvin Hopkins and Gavin Shuker, the main question was is the Party going to unite behind Jeremy Corbyn.

(KH) only 20 MP’s nominated him, but it was the Party who elected him not the PLP.

(DZ) as MP’s we must unite behind the leader, its only a few who have access to the media, we need to put it all behind us and get Labour elected again in 2020.

The afternoon session started with John Clemper Leader of Harlow District Council giving the Local Government Report.

We have 417 local councillors in the East with half of them in opposition and only 190 in control.

Labours Housing Policy Teresa Pearce MP Shadow Housing Minister

➢ Home ownership is the lowest for 3 decades

➢ To buy in 2010 you needed £43,000 deposit now 63,000

➢ £816 per month is the average rent in a private retail house that up 20% since 2010

➢ Right to buy 3,000 have been sold and only 500 new houses built that’s 1in 6

➢ Local elections in 2016 Housing must be at the heart of the campaign.

John Ashworth MP Shadow Minister without Portfolio Holding the Tories to Account

➢ 6 months on from the GE we have seen a number of broken promises from the Tories.

➢ Party of the Workers Steel works closed down

➢ Party of Labour the Trade Union Bill

➢ Before election no to Tax Credit cuts now They have tried and failed

➢ We need to win back votes to Labour by listening to peoples concerns.

Seema Malhotra MP Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Campaigning Against cuts to Tax Credits

➢ George Osbourne is hurting people not helping them

➢ Studies has proved that people will be £1300 worse off, will hit families and businesses as people will have no money to spend.

➢ Osbourne will try and readdress this in mini budget on 25th November

Jim Webb asked the question There are £20 Billion in uncollected taxes, are you going to remind Mr Osbourne to collect them?

Answer The Tories have turned a blind eye, they have imposed cuts to HMRC so that they can’t do their job and collect them.

Day 2 Sunday 15th    

TULO Report Sam Older from Unison moved the report on behalf of TULO

➢ The affiliated Unions had supported all Labour candidates at the GE

➢ Unions had backed Jeremy Corbyn in the leadership election

➢ He spoke a litte about the Trade Union Bill

Resolutions and Rule Changes

Motion 1 The Trade Union Bill GMB, Unison. Unite

See Attached for motion

This was carried unanimously

Motion 2 Labour Party Trade Union Link

See Attached

This was carried unanimously

Motion 3 Austerity and Public Services 

See Attached

Carried unanimously

Parliamentary / General Election Campaign Report

Lisa Forbes the PPC from Peterborough gave a report on the general election, she made the following points

➢ We lost the election in the last week, Miliband was not popular

➢ We had no credibility with the electorate

➢ A massive that’s must go to the Trade Unions for their help and support

➢ We must all now unite behind Jeremy Corbyn

➢ Social media will play a big part in future campaigns

National Policy Forum Report

This was given by Alex Mayer she made these points

➢ We need new ideas moving to 2020 election

➢ Information will be sent out to all Party members giving contact details of all NPF representatives, new ideas can be sent to them.

Richard Howitt closed conference and we sang the traditional songs

 

Andy Beeby

Branch Political Officer

Eastern Number 5