JOINT STATEMENT BETWEEN ROYAL MAIL AND THE CWU ON THE EXTENSION OF THE USE OF LONGER DOUBLE DECK SEMI TRAILERS

Branches and representatives will recall that in 2012 a Joint Statement was concluded with the business in relation to the introduction of 45 Longer Double Deck Semi Trailers (LTB 564/12 refers). In 2014 it was subsequently agreed that an additional 44 trailers would enter service bringing the number to 89 trailers.

The business recently informed the department that, as part of the ongoing Government activity, Royal Mail have now been offered the opportunity to increase the number of 110 York trailers within the Fleet by up to 200. However, following analysis of the requirement for the additional trailer capacity along with parking availability, it has been agreed that Royal Mail should not take up the full entitlement at this time. Instead it has been agreed that the number of 110 York trailers in the fleet could be increased by 50, which would bring the total number in service to 139. Royal Mail has since informed the department that 30 trailers will be procured in the first tranche.

Discussions have therefore taken place with the business to conclude a Joint Statement to allow the extension to take place, which has been endorsed by the Postal Executive and a copy of which is attached for your information.

Colleagues will note that the introduction of the additional trailers will adhere to the 2012 Joint Statement, which covers all issues relating to the use of 110 York trailers, including:

• Driver Training/Familiarisation 
• Site Assessment/Route Planning 
• Duty Construction 
• Health and Safety 

The deployment of the additional trailers will be monitored and it is agreed that any further increase beyond the levels defined in the agreement will be the subject of further consultation and agreement at National level.

Any enquiries in relation to this LTB should be addressed to Davie Robertson, Assistant Secretary, email: dwyatt@cwu.org or shayman@cwu.org quoting reference number: 233.07.

Davie Robertson

Assistant Secretary

LTB 462-19 – JS On The Extension of The Use of Longer Double Deck Semi Trailers – 31.07.19

JS Extension Of The Use Of Longer Double Deck Semi Trailers 

CWU Headquarters – Telephone System

We write to inform you that we are aware that all telephone lines at CWU Headquarters are currently down. Accordingly Branches have not been able to make (landline) phone contact with CWU HQs.  We understand that those trying to make such contact are met with the “line engaged” tone.

Our IT department has been in discussion with Openreach since Friday and we have been informed that the fault, at their end, has now been escalated to a more senior level within their organisation as it continues to be unresolved.

It had been indicated that all phone lines would be operating by this morning, but unfortunately it is proving to be more difficult than anticipated.

Openreach has informed us that they believe all lines will be operating again at some point today.

We ask Branches to bear with us whilst we wait for our service provider to resolve this problem.

In the meantime the email system remains operational and Branches can contact CWU HQ through this avenue.

Yours sincerely,

Tony Kearns
Senior Deputy General Secretary

LTB 459.19 – CWU Headquarters – Telephone System

Royal Mail and the CWU: Final Mile Optimisation (FMO) Joint Launch Communication

Dear Colleagues,

On the 15th February 2019, the Outdoor Department issued a memo to Divisional Reps and ADRs containing a RM & CWU Joint Statement which outlined developments and proof of concept activity in relation to the system upgrades of the outdoor planning tools for Delivery and Collections and which have been given the overall title of Final Mile Optimisation (FMO). 

Since then and following further verbal updates given by the Department at the recent ADR Briefings held on the 12th and 18th July 2019, the purpose of this LTB is to confirm the joint launch of the system upgrades under FMO of Route Manager and Georoute. 

To provide some background, Branches and Reps will be aware that meetings have been taking place since late 2018 between Royal Mail and the CWU through the Delivery Systems Working Group and as part of the National Delivery design and section 19.3 of the National Guiding Principles (Four Pillars and Pay) Agreement on a number of developments and system upgrades linked to planning tools for Delivery and Collections.

The upgrades covered the two key systems of:

• Replacing A-plus with Route Manager
• Replacing the Georoute 2008 with Georoute 2017

Following further discussions and joint proof of concept activity, the attached Final Mile Optimisation (FMO) Joint Launch Communications has been agreed and is attached for the attention of Branches and Representatives.

Whilst the attached joint launch communication is fairly self-explanatory, it confirms the following key items:

What is Final Mile Optimisation

FMO is a necessary technical refresh of the outdoor route planning systems for Delivery and Collections which are over 10 years old and reaching end of life.

New software and technology means that the new systems can:

• Simplify and improve current processes
• Take advantage of new data products e.g. road speed, terrain, maps, NYB
• Reduce the maintenance task for local units
• Enhance the verification processes
• Complete revisions faster with a quicker start-up phase
• Build in manual interventions automatically
• Use latest agreed outdoor values
• Achieve greater accuracy with high confidence in outputs

This refresh forms part of Royal Mail’s Digital Transformation Strategy. It will help to better maintain accurate routing data ensuring fair and balanced workload for all, plan and execute change faster by automating many of the tasks that previously relied on manual input or intervention and supports the development of new products and services to customers such as Consumer Collections and Inflight Redirections.

FMO will be deployed in 2 releases as follows:

Release 1 goes live on a staged basis from w/c 29th July 2019 and will include:

• Pegasus A-Plus and Road Network Maintenance applications replaced with a new Route Manager application for Delivery
• Georoute 2008 replaced with Georoute 2017 for Delivery
• Updated data products and automatic refresh cycle through trusted 3rd party sources 

Release 2 will go live at a later date following completion of a design, build, and test phase:

• Adjusted should take time to reflect forecast traffic
• Seasonal route planning capability
• Georoute 2017 and Route Manager for Collections

Royal Mail and the CWU can now confirm that Release 1 is ready to go live from 29th July. 

Planning for Release 2 will commence shortly with joint discussions taking place through the Delivery Systems Group continuing on the new capabilities associated with it. Both parties understand this development is likely to be deployed in late 2020 and as such, have agreed these discussions will also take place parallel to the New Delivery Agreement outlined in section 19.3 Guiding Principles Agreement.

Current Status

The current status of the programme means that GeoRoute will be upgraded for Deliveries and will use the latest outdoor values taken from the nationally agreed exercise for the observation studies that took place in 2017. The current A-Plus and Road Network Maintenance systems will be combined into a new system called Route Manager, and large amounts of data will be automated in the new systems. Delivery will transition from the Pegasus platform onto Route Manager. The move to current technology will also assist with integration with other platforms which are also subject to further discussions between Royal Mail & the CWU.

Next Steps/Notifications

A technical cutover of the A-plus system has now been completed. This means that units are unable to make changes to the underlying data until the new system goes live on a staged basis from w/c 29th July. To manage the initial load on system resources, a managed ramp up will be planned. Preceding go live further communications will be shared, advising units when they can access the new system. 

A key aspect of the new system is the notifications function which advises Champions and Unit Managers of any changes in Route Manager either for information or review and action. Units should expect an initial peak of notifications in the immediate period after going live. Managers will need to review the level of items to action, agree a plan to clear these down and schedule sufficient time for their Champions to complete these and this needs to be considered at future weekly resource meetings. It is important to note that Route Manager changes will not impact on workload at route level in release 1; it is purely an administrative task.

Post Go Live Review

Both Royal Mail and the CWU are keen to understand how the new system supports both business as usual and revision activity in the future. Further National discussions regarding the delivery revision programme along with a joint agreed revised revision process to support revision are continuing and further joint communications will be issued in due course.

In issuing the attached Final Mile Optimisation (FMO) Joint Launch Communications and as set out above, Branches and Representatives are advised however that a Nationally agreed revised revision process to reflect and capture these system upgrades has not been reached yet and talks remain ongoing in this area, including the need to pilot the revised revision process to ensure it is fit for purpose against the upgrades made to Route Manager and Georoute.

Equally, the Outdoor Department has been clear to Royal Mail from the outset that any planned or currently ongoing revision activity within Delivery Offices must be planned to factor in the 1-hour SWW reduction due this year and in line with the National Guiding Principles (Four Pillars and Pay) Agreement.

This position reflects current developments concerning the National Point of Principle Disagreement and Honouring the Four Pillars and Pay Agreement (LTB 456/19 issued by the DGS(P) Department referred and is attached).

As such, Branches and Representatives are advised that in the case of Delivery Offices currently involved in revisions or where revision activity is planned that disagreement should be registered via the IR Framework where Royal Mail does not accept that the 1-hour SWW reduction is planned in as part of the revision outputs.

Further updates will be provided in due course.

Any enquiries to the content of the above please contact the Outdoor Department reference 230.03, email address: outdoorsecretary@cwu.org.

Yours sincerely,

Mark Baulch

CWU Assistant Secretary

LTB 458.19 – FMO Joint Launch Communication

19LTB456-UPDATE-HONOURING-AND-DEPLOYING-THE-FOUR-PILLARS-AND-PAY-AGREEMENT

FMO Joint Launch Communications

CWU Retired Members Conference – Wednesday 23^rd October 2019

The CWU Retired Members Conference will be held on Wednesday 23^rd October 2019 at the Birmingham CWU Offices, 46-48 Summer Lane, Hockley, Birmingham B19 3TH.

a) Delegates 

Only Branches with Retired members Sections are entitled to send Delegates.

Branch delegate entitlement to this Conference as agreed by the NEC is as follows:

Retired Members Regional Committee Secretaries shall attend the Retired Members conference with the right to speak and move motions on behalf of their Retired Members Regional Committee but not to vote. Funding for Retired Members Regional Committee Secretaries to attend Retired Members Conference shall be from the General Fund.

In order that we can cater for any delegate with special needs such as seating, etc., it is important that you advise us in writing of the name of the delegate(s) and the particular requirement by return but no later than Friday 4^th October 2019.

b) Motions

Each Branch is entitled to submit one motion for consideration to be included on the agenda of the Conference. Motions should be submitted electronically to conferences@cwu.org using the attached template. Confirmation of receipt of motion will be sent to branches within 72 hours. Should confirmation not be received within this time branches are asked to contact Angela Niven on 020 8971 7256   Branches who do not have this facility may request paper motion forms by contacting the Angela Niven on 020 8971 7256.

Branches, Regions and the Committee are reminded that the Standing Orders Committee will not alter or amend any of the motions submitted therefore it is important that motions are checked before they are submitted.

Each Retired Members Regional Committee is entitled to submit one Motion to the Retired Members Conference.

The Retired Members Committee are entitled to submit up to three motions to the Conference, standing in their name.

Motion forms must be returned by midnight on Wednesday 25th September 2019. Anything received after this date will not be accepted.   All sections of the form must be completed.

If Motions are being sent electronically they will only be accepted to the above email address.

As with previous Conferences, the agenda will be structured in such a way as to maximise debate and participation by delegates. There will be 2 sections to the agenda, one for motions which are eligible for consideration for submission to General Conference, and one for motions that in the view of the Standing Orders Committee would not be admissible to the General Conference agenda.

Branches will be aware that the Retired Members’ Conference has the entitlement under the rules of the union to submit 2 motions to stand in the name of the conference to General Conference. It is therefore important that if branches wish their motions to be in this category, they must contain policy that is capable of being discharged by the NEC, as opposed to either of the Industrial Executives.

The 2 motions for submission to the General Conference agenda will be decided from amongst those motions adopted at the Conference. A ballot to select the 2 motions will be held at the Conference.

c) Election of Delegates to General Conference

As you will know, the Retired Members’ Conference will select two delegates to represent the Retired Members to attend General Conference 2020.

The Standing Orders for the Retired Members’ Conference will advise a ballot to select these two delegates will be conducted during Conference itself.

Additionally, individuals must be willing to accept nomination, and must have the nomination of their own branch and/or the Retired Members’ Committee, to be eligible.

The exception to this are members of the Retired Members’ Committee themselves who may be proposed for these positions but need to have the nomination of the Retired Members’ Committee and/or any Regional Committee.

Any enquiries regarding this LTB should be addressed to Angela Niven either by post to head office or by email to conferences@cwu.org

Yours sincerely,

A P Kearns
Senior Deputy General Secretary

19LTB430 – CWU Retired Members Conference

RM Guidance 19

RM Motion 19

RM Nomination Form 19

Retired Lists for 2019