CWU Annual Conference 2016 – General Conference Agenda Pad
Branches would wish to know that the 2016 General Conference Agenda Pad has now been published on the website and can be accessed using the following link:

Click to access gen-conf-agenda-2016.pdf

Hard copies of the agenda are in the process of being printed and will be distributed to branches when completed.
Any enquiries to this Letter to Branches should be addressed to conferences@cwu.org or call 020 8971 7256.
Yours sincerely
 
Tony Kearns 

Senior Deputy General Secretary
Email Attachments – Click to download
· 16LTB155 – General Conference Agenda Pad 2016
· Attachment 1: General Conference Agenda Pad 2016

National Youth Education Event 2016: Registration and Workshop sessions 
As you will have seen from LTB 110/16 the next National Youth Education Event is provisionally booked for the Jury’s Inn Hotel in Sheffield from 14-16 October 2016. 
Branches are asked to liaise with their young members and young activists and reserve places at the event at the earliest possible opportunity. 
As has become tradition, the timetable for NYEE 16 will include parallel workshop sessions to enable participants to opt to consider a range of interesting and relevant subjects in more detail. In past years workshop sessions have concentrated on housing, mental health, civil liberties, fracking, use of social media, knife crime, drugs, defending the right to protest and many others. 
The Youth Committee would be keen to hear from branch youth officers and other young activists with regard to subjects or issues that they believe would be suitable for a workshop session at the NYEE. The Youth Committee will make a selection from the suggestions received from branches, and this sort of input is very helpful in ensuring that the NYEE timetable meets the needs and desires of the union’s young members as a whole. 
Suggestions for NYEE workshop sessions should be made by email to youth@cwu.org as soon as possible, but in any event no later than 8 April 2016. 
Yours sincerely,
 
Simon Sapper

National Officer
Email Attachments – Click to download
LTB 154/16 – National Youth Education Event 2016: Registration and Workshop sessions

Change to CWU Hashtag – #TheCWU
As part of our ongoing review of all communication strands, we are looking to make some changes to our social media strategy. These will be detailed in a further update in the coming weeks.
The purpose of this LTB is to inform branches that from today we will be using the hashtag #TheCWU on all our twitter and facebook postings. Given the size and prestige of our union it is vital that we have our own identity in every field of communication. This will also enable us to track the success of messages in a more robust manner. 
Branches should share this information with all representatives and members. Any questions relating to the content of this LTB should be directed to Marcia Murray mmurray@cwu.org
Yours sincerely,
 
Chris Webb
Head of Communications, Engagement and Media
Email Attachments – Click to download
LTB 151-16 – Change to CWU Hashtag

MR PAUL MALONEY BRANCH CHAIR BIRMINGHAM AND DISTRICT BRANCH 

Further to LTB 585/15 regarding Paul Maloney Branch Chair Birmingham and District Amal Branch, the Branch would like to express their gratitude for all donations received.

Paul is currently continuing his recovery at the Oswestry Orthopaedic Hospital and the Branch is hopeful that he will be transferred to a rehabilitation centre near Birmingham in the future.

Despite sustaining life threatening and changing injuries Paul is determined to resume his work as Branch Chair and the Birmingham Branch want to help Paul achieve his goal. If Paul is able to return to work he will need specialist equipment and changes to his work area, as well as physical adjustments to the building to meet his requirements. To this end the Branch has established a rehab fund to assist in facilitating Paul’s return to work.

Paul Kennedy Divisional Representative for the Midlands and member of the Birmingham and District Amal Branch will be undertaking a sponsored indoor triathlon on gym equipment in aid of the Paul Maloney Rehab Fund. This will consist of a 3 kilometre row, a 40 kilometre cycle and a 10 kilometre run on the treadmill. The triathlon will take place in the Conference Room of the Birmingham and District Amal Branch premises at 13.00 on Tuesday 29th March.

All donations are appreciated and can be made directly to the Birmingham District Amal Branch. Cheques should be made payable to ‘Birmingham District Amal Branch’ – please write on the back of the cheque ‘Paul Maloney Rehab Fund’.

Individual sponsorship forms are available from the Birmingham District Amal Branch and attached to this LTB.

Donations can also be made via the following GoFundMe page:

http://www.gofundme.com/gqm8mnz2 (click on the link or alternatively copy and paste into your browser).

All of the money raised will go to the Paul Maloney Rehab Fund.

Any enquiries on the above LTB should be addressed to Steve Reid, Branch Secretary on 0121 503 4661 or 07870743592 or steve.reid20@gmail.com.

Yours sincerely

Dave Ward

General Secretary

TERMS OF REFERENCE – PDA Pilot
Dear Colleague
Branches and Representatives will be aware of LTB’s 130/16 and 130/16a which were issued this week by Dave Joyce, which deal with the Health and Safety elements linked to the use and rollout of the PDA. The operational elements regarding the use of technology are being dealt with by the Outdoor Department to ensure the enhanced technology associated with the new PDA’s can be used positively.
As part of the Integrated Delivery Programme and in line with national agreements we are continuing to work with Royal Mail to maximise the use of technology, including PDA’s, with the intent of fully utilising factual data to increase our joint understanding of the delivery and collection operation. Royal Mail has made a commitment to invest £130 million on the purchase of new PDA’s in order to keep pace with the rapidly evolving technology being used in the wider postal industry and the changing market and customer expectations/requirements.
At Tuesdays statutory PEC meeting the Postal Executive agreed to support the test and piloting of the new PDA in a number of Delivery Offices which have been selected as being representative of the delivery and collection operation such as City/Urban, Rural (including SPDO’s) High engagement score and High Impact Delivery Offices, to ensure that the technical capability and usability is in place and that the training and workplace coach materials are fit for purpose.
Woodbridge DO has been undertaking initial system and user testing and following this a pilot will take place as follows:
 
Phase 1 of pilot deployment is scheduled for 14th March – which will comprise 4 Delivery Offices. Altens DO, Enfield DO, Docklands DO and Llandrindod Wells (including Rhayaddr SPDO),

 
The 2nd wave of pilot deployment is scheduled for 28th March – 2 weeks later and will comprise 4 Delivery Offices, 2 Associated SPDOs and a Collection site. Bath DO, Hinton Charterhouse SPDO, Formby DO, Clifton DO (NG), Gotham SPDO, Bangor (BT) DO and Edinburgh MC,

 
Subject to the pilot being successful it is anticipated that National deployment will commence on the 18th April and will be completed by the end of October 2016.
Training for all frontline OPG’s on the new PDA will be undertaken by Workplace Coaches utilising the units WTLL session prior to the respective pilot commencing. This will include full demonstrations on the new device and ongoing support for users.
Further discussions will continue to take place with Royal Mail regarding the full deployment plan and to understand whether there are any changes required to the technical process, software applications and training materials to assist with and support the full deployment.
In addition, talks will also continue to discuss and share the relevant information linked to further enhancements of the software which will be subject to phase 2 applications once full deployment has been completed and again this will be a matter which will be addressed by the Outdoor Department and placed before the Postal Executive prior to roll out.
Any enquiries to Bob Gibson’s Office, quoting reference 540
Email address: outdoorsecretary@cwu.org
Yours sincerely
 
Bob Gibson
CWU Assistant Secretary
Email Attachments – Click to download
· LTB 138/16 ROYAL MAIL & CWU NATIONALLY AGREED TERMS OF REFERENCE – PDA Pilot
· Attachment 1: Final Agreed PDA TOR March 2016

Urgent – Recruitment – Resourcing to Workload Delivery Offices
It has become apparent from reports to the department and via meetings that in a significant number of areas delivery Units are encountering problems with unagreed absorption and lapsing, the joint review of PT hours and resourcing/recruitment in general, and in all instances the actions of management are contrary to our national agreements, guidelines or joint statements. It is therefore necessary for the following actions to be invoked without delay.
In all instances where the processes contained within national agreements, guidelines and joint statements are not being followed the IR Framework should be brought into play without delay. Where management refuse to participate in the IR process then the ADR and CWU Divisional rep should be informed ASAP so that they may offer advice and/or intervene.
It is unfortunate that the CWU has to resort to such measures but it is blatantly obvious that national agreements are being ignored and our members are becoming increasingly frustrated at the lack of response from Royal Mail and action on their behalf from the union.
As a consequence of this disregard for national agreements there are units where PT contracts have been employed that have not been agreed or in most cases even discussed with the CWU. In instances like this disagreement should be registered ASAP with a view to reviewing without delay these contracts. This should also apply to existing PT members who are consistently working beyond their contracted hours so that their hours can be reviewed and contractual hours increased accordingly.
CWU Divisional representatives are being asked to ensure that this message is delivered in all delivery Units as of Monday 7th March 2016. Where management continue to ignore the request for reviews and a willingness to resolve these problems then Branches should request ballots for industrial action. There is no requirement to abide by agreed dispute resolution procedures when one party is refusing to abide by national agreements.
Any enquiries to Bob Gibson’s Office, quoting reference 210
Email address: outdoorsecretary@cwu.org
Yours sincerely     
Bob Gibson                            
Email Attachments – Click to download
· LTB 137/16 Urgent – Recruitment – Resourcing to Workload Delivery Offices

TRADE UNION BILL UPDATE
The purpose of this LTB is to provide Branches with an update about recent developments on the Trade Union Bill.
The Bill has now completed its Committee stage in the House of Lords and its Report stage will take place over two days on 16th and 21st March. The Committee stage in the House of Lords is generally used to establish where there may be a consensus on making amendments to the Bill.
As a result of the week of protest and action from 8th-14th February and the lobbying being undertaken by the CWU and other unions, the government has come under pressure over a number of elements of the Bill. Because of this, during the Committee stage it indicated that it will consider accepting amendments on the following points in order to get the Bill through:
Allowing the use of electronic voting in some union ballots – it is not yet clear whether this could include industrial action ballots;

Keeping a one-week notice period for industrial action (instead of increasing this to a fortnight);

Extending the time limit being proposed for industrial action (the Bill would currently impose a limit of four months from the date of the ballot); and

Giving devolved governments in Scotland and Wales control over check-off and facility time in public services (preventing the UK government from scrapping these).

While these changes have not yet been confirmed and the Bill would still be a significant attack on trade unions, it should be recognised that these would be important amendments on these issues.
Alongside the Committee stage in the main House of Lords, a smaller Select Committee was established to examine the political clauses of the Bill in more detail – the government had attempted to avoid this additional scrutiny. This Committee published its report on 2nd March and has made three significant recommendations to the whole House:
That the proposed ‘opt-in’ for unions’ political funds, should apply to new members only (and not all members as the government wants);

That unions should have 12 months to implement this (not three months as the government is proposing); and 

That members should not be required to ‘opt-in’ again every five years, which the Bill would currently require.

Although these are currently only recommendations to the House of Lords, it is clear that the government is coming under significant pressure over its attack on unions’ political funding.
Amendments that would give effect to all of the above points are likely to be debated when the Bill is before the House of Lords on 16th and 21st March and the Bill will subsequently need to be approved by the House of Commons. It is therefore important for Branches to continue to campaign and lobby Conservative MPs to make clear the strength of opposition to what the government is doing.
CWU ROLE IN TUC PROTEST WEEK
The above developments are a direct result of the campaigning efforts of trade unions during the TUC’s heartunions week from 8th-14th February and in particular on the day of protest on 11th February. The CWU had a significant level of engagement in this across all of our constituencies and thousands of members used the #CWUandProud hashtag online and many areas undertook recruitment and other campaign activities including public meetings, street stalls, leafleting, rallies and publicity stunts.
It is clear that the CWU played a leading role in publicising opposition to the Bill, which has been recognised across the movement, and I would like to thank all regions, branches, representatives and members who took part. For those branches that have not already seen this, on the 11th February we also projected an image highlighting the campaign onto the Houses of Parliament. Photos of this are attached to this LTB.
Branches will be kept up to date with further developments on the Bill and any queries on the contents of this LTB should be addressed to gsoffice@cwu.org
Yours Sincerely,
 
Dave Ward

Royal Mail Group Safety Health and Environment (SHE) Team Deployment Plan 2016
For the information and attention of Royal Mail Group CWU Health and Safety Reps, please find attached a copy of the 2016 Royal Mail Group Safety Health and Environment (SHE) Team Deployment Plan, which includes new and revitalised or updated Safety Standards, Engagement Campaigns and SHE Activities.
For Quarter 1:- 

SHE Initiatives & Communications for Operational Impact are;

Dog Awareness, Fire, Sun Safety, Action on Stroke, Men’s Health Week.
SHE Management System Build work is to be on;
First Aid Risk Assessment, Programmes Review, Assets Selection and Assessment, Occupational Health Standards, BHRA Review, Water Systems Review, Serious & Fatal Incident Reporting and Investigation Review.
See attached Excel file spreadsheet of the full SHE Plan for the year, covering all four quarters.
ASRs will be fully involved and consulted on the Plan Elements.
Yours sincerely
Dave Joyce

National Health, Safety & Environment Officer
Email Attachments – Click to download
· LTB135/16 Royal Mail Group Safety Health and Environment (SHE) Team Deployment Plan 2016
· SHE Deployment Plan 2016-17