Royal Mail, Parcelforce and RM International Christmas Operations 2019 – Temporary Dedicated Parcel Sort Centres (PSCs), Outhouses and Marquees – Health and Safety

To: All Branches with Postal Members 

Dear Colleagues,

This is to inform and update Branches and Area Health and Safety Representatives that for the ninth year running, Royal Mail Opps, Parcelforce Worldwide and Royal Mail International are setting up and opening a dedicated, nationwide network of temporary ‘outhoused’, parcel sort centre hubs and outhouses, overflow, relief sites as part of the 2019 Christmas operations, to deal with and handle the significantly increased traffic volumes and to sort a significant proportion of the parcels/packets Royal Mail handles before distribution around the UK and final delivery. The sites will be opening on a phased basis from November.

The temporary network will handle a significant proportion of the additional parcels/packets from the normal sorting network of Mail Centres and Regional Distribution Centres, enabling Royal Mail to cope adequately with the increased volumes of parcel/packet traffic as a result of the continued growth of online retail shopping as effectively as possible, providing Royal Mail with increased capacity and flexibility needed as well as reducing the potential for congestion in Mail Centres and Regional Distribution Centres that sort parcels, cards and letters at the busiest time of the year. The set up will also enable the operation to cope better in the event of any severe weather conditions.

Discussions have taken place with Royal Mail Group in relation to Health and Safety at the Temporary Outhouse Christmas Sort Centres and Satellite Offices and the Joint Statement attached has been agreed with the Royal Mail Group Global Director Compliance and Sustainability. This applies to all temporary offices and operations and ensures the full access and involvement of CWU ASRs in order to be fully consulted and to undertake Health and Safety Inspections, pre-start and ongoing safety spot-checks once operational and to be fully involved, working with RMG Safety Team, Property Team and Operational Management, to deal with any Health, Safety, Welfare and working environment issues both before and during occupation. All the relevant safety documents agreed with CWU by the Royal Mail Group Central Safety Team are attached.

The agreed Royal Mail Group (Including Parcelforce Worldwide and RM International)/CWU Joint Statement provides a strong commitment to maintaining a safe and healthy workplace, safe work methods and safe equipment at the Temporary Outhouse Offices, Hubs, Marquees etc., for all staff, and ensures the provision of information, training, supervision and fit for purpose equipment needed to achieve this.

Operational Management supported by the RMG Safety Team will take responsibility for health and safety procedures, working with CWU Area Safety Representatives.

RMG/CWU Joint Statement:

The Joint Statement covers:-  staff safety training and information including site induction training, statutory Health and Safety notices in place, manual handling training, new/temp employees and visitors, safe systems of work, environmental controls, adequate heating and lighting safe place of work, risk assessment, housekeeping, safe machines, plant and equipment, fault reporting, noise and dust control, fire safety and evacuation plan, first aid, ensuring all accidents and near misses are reported and investigated, emergency procedures, joint workplace safety inspections and monitoring. Site access and involvement of CWU Safety Representatives, workplace transport and yard risk controls, continued effective vehicle and pedestrian segregation on site, PPE, emergency procedures and workplace monitoring are also included.

Safety Documents:

I also attach several safety documents agreed with us by the Royal Mail Group Central Safety

Team which have gone out to all Royal Mail Regions, and Safety Teams which they have been asked to complete when introducing additional Outhouses or Temporary Structures to support their Christmas operation. These are:-

(1) Safety Assessment and Concurrence (SAC1) Project/Programme/Product Form

(2) Temporary Accommodation Health & Safety Checklist General

(3) Temporary Accommodation Health & Safety Checklist Marquees on existing sites

(4) Guidance Note For Persons In Control (PIC) Where Temporary Heating is Provided

SAC1 & Risk Assessments:

Completion of the SAC 1 in particular may lead to the requirement to review a number of risk assessments in light of changes being introduced, for example:-

• Yard – Primarily to ensure continued effective vehicle and pedestrian segregation on site.
• Workplace – To identify and record any other significant risk issue inside the building.
• First Aid – Some of these sites can be remote and require first aid provision to be made.
• PPE – Potentially a number of risks at the site in terms of vehicle/pedestrian segregation and with adjacent properties who share the yard.
• Work Equipment – Normal work equipment may not suit some premises/environments
• Fire Risk Assessment including fire evacuation plans – essential.

Royal Mail will also be ensuring the following points have been considered:- 

• Site induction training – Everyone will be new to the premises.
• Statutory Notices in place – See the new Health and Safety notice board standard.
• Accident reporting procedure – Arrangement in place to allow reporting of accidents and near misses.
• Heating – RMPFS directive followed for temporary heating.
• Housekeeping standards – To minimise the risk of slip and trip accidents.
• Manual handling training – For all the temporary staff.

This set of clear arrangements will help overcome problems experienced in the past with Christmas ‘Outhouses’, ensuring better Health and Safety standards, joint working and problem solving.

Attached are the Royal Mail Opps, Parcelforce Worldwide and Royal Mail International locations of the Christmas Outhouses and additional buildings and Marquee Accommodation being used for the Christmas period 2019.

Attachments:

• RMG/CWU Joint Statement 2019
• Guidance Document for Temporary Heating (Guidance to Person In Control)
• Temporary Accommodation Health and Safety Checklists
• SAC1 Handover Certificate (SHEI 5.3) (Appendix 4)
• Change Management SAC1 (SHEI 5.3) (v2.0)
• Royal Mail Opps, Parcelforce Worldwide and Royal Mail International locations of the Christmas Outhouses and Marquee Accommodation and additional parking 2019

Yours sincerely

Dave Joyce
National Health, Safety & Environment Officer

19LTB658 Christmas Operations 2019 – Temporary Dedicated Parcel Sort Centres (PSCs) Outhouses and Marquees

Change Management SAC1 (SHEI 5.3) (v2.0)

Christmas 2019 – Site Detail

Joint Statement2019 (2)

Marquees on exisiting sites OH

PIC Temp Heating Guidelines

SAC1 Handover Certificate (SHEI 5.3) (Appendix 4)

Temporary OH

Royal Mail Dispute – High Court Judgement

CWU members will be and are extremely angry and bitterly disappointed that one judge has granted Royal Mail an injunction to invalidate our ballot for strike action.

We balloted over 110,000 members and they voted by over 97% in favour of strike action in a massive 76% turnout.

Not one single person out of 110,000 who were balloted complained to Royal Mail that their right to vote was interfered with. Not one single person out of 110,000 who were balloted complained to the independent scrutineers that their right to vote was interfered with. The electoral reform society who conducted the ballot confirmed it was run in full accordance of the law. And after over seven weeks since the ballot commenced, not one single person has complained to the certification officer who is appointed by the government to regulate trade unions.

Yet despite all of this – with no evidence supporting their claim from any employee – Royal Mail can come to this court in what is a cowardly and vicious attack on its own workforce – and through a witness statement of one manager can be granted an injunction to stop our right to strike in defence over 100,000 jobs and the very future of UK postal services.

We have run a fantastic modern day campaign that combines face to face meetings with use of social media to engage willing members to maximise the yes vote and turnout. Members participated and cast their vote of their own free will. To suggest otherwise is to insult the intelligence and the integrity of thousands and thousands of good hard-working people.

We will be considering the judge’s detailed reasons for this but we want to make it clear that the only thing this union, its representatives and its members have done – is to run a fantastic modern day campaign to engage and encourage workers to defend their jobs.

We want our members to know that we will not be moved and we will be doing everything in our power to oppose the company’s industry destroying plans and this decision, including appealing against the judgement once we have taken guidance from our lawyers, re-balloting and launching a huge leverage campaign with major shareholders against the company’s actions.

This injunction is not only a massive injustice to our members it’s also an injustice to every worker in the country.

We all need to wake up and recognise that this Tory government has deliberately stacked the rules against workers in favour of the constituency they were born to serve – which is big business and the establishment.

We appeal to the TUC and workers everywhere – in what is a call – to arms that it’s time for us to fundamentally shift the balance of forces in this country back to working people and remove these draconian laws once and for all.

To Rico Back and the Royal Mail Board we say you cannot face away from the reality that your victory in this court will be short-lived. You cannot face away from the reality that you have completely lost the confidence of the workforce and as a result there is no way you will ever be able to fully implement your plans for the future.

This union and our members will not be moved.

We will be communicating further on this issue directly to our members and representatives prior to the end of this week.

Any enquiries on the above LTB should be addressed to gsoffice@cwu.org.

Yours sincerely

Dave Ward
General Secretary

Tony Kearns
Senior Deputy General Secretary

Terry Pullinger
Deputy General Secretary (Postal)

19LTB659 – Royal Mail Dispute – High Court Judgement

POST OFFICE: COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT – GRIEVANCE POLICY AND PROCEDURE

I am pleased to inform Branches and our Post Office members that the Postal Executive unanimously endorsed a Collective Agreement for a new Grievance Policy and Procedure (Appendix A). 

The Collective Agreement and associated materials is being launched today, Monday 11th November. To support the introduction of this new agreement we have agreed the following Joint Statement with Post Office and Unite. 

We are pleased to be launching the revised Grievance Policy which is a ‘National Collective Agreement’ across Post Office Limited with Unite and CWU.

The policy aims to help employees and managers resolve work-related concerns in a positive, constructive and timely way, by providing a robust process for managers to deal with these concerns. The process for dealing with grievances has been simplified to make sure concerns can be dealt with quickly and effectively.

We believe many workplace concerns can be dealt with through day-to-day discussions. A key aim of the revised policy is to encourage employees to discuss the matter with their manager as soon as possible after it arises. By talking through the concern in this way, we think the majority will be resolved at this point. 

The revised policy improves on good practice set out by ACAS and has been agreed jointly with our unions, replacing the existing policy and guide.

We believe the new approach will benefit the business, our employees and union representatives. We hope you find this policy useful in helping you resolve employee concerns.

Andy Furey             Mike Eatwell     Lee Kelly

        Assistant Secretary  UNITE Officer    Employee Relations & Policy Director

CWU                       UNITE              POST OFFICE LTD

The Agreement includes a number of key features as follows: 

• The revised Agreement will be implemented consistently and fairly across the Post Office
• The formal procedure should be completed and the outcome shared with the member within 28 working days of the complaint being raised
• A facility to enable members to submit their grievance complaint directly to HR Services via a bespoke email address thus giving them the ability to go outside their line management
• The Agreement has three stages, one informal and two formal, including the Appeal, with a right to Union representation at all stages
• An explanation of the process should a ‘group of employees’ wish to raise a grievance
• Inclusion of the Voluntary Mediation process that is a component of the Collective Engagement Framework Agreement (CEF)
• Signposts and links to other relevant agreements such as Dignity at Work complaints and the Whistleblowing policy for criminal activities and malpractices
• Clarification of the process if a grievance is raised during an ongoing conduct process
• Explains appropriate level of management during the process
• The Agreement exceeds Acas standards
• Formal joint annual reviews will take place to identify any trends through statistics and review opportunities for improvement.

Accompanying the Grievance Policy and Procedure is an information toolkit and two fact sheets, one for the employee and one for the manager that will help to ensure all those who use the policy (those raising the grievance and those hearing the grievance) have a clear understanding of the agreed processes. Attached are the following supporting documents:

Appendix B: Employee Fact Sheet – This document helps members to understand the procedure and includes clear timescales and a flow chart of the process 

Appendix C: Manager Fact Sheet – This document helps management to understand the procedure and includes signposts to relevant documentation and policies 

Appendices D(i), (ii), (iii): Checklists (Formal Meeting, Appeal Meeting & Investigation) – Aide Memoires to ensure consistency in implementation of the policy and procedures and expected standards and behaviours 

Appendix E: Template Forms (To Report, Appeal, Investigate, Summarise) 

All parties believe the introduction of the newly agreed Grievance Policy and Procedures, accompanied with supporting resources and training is really positive news.

Finally I would like to thank Lynn Simpson, Postal Executive member, for leading on the negotiations and concluding this Agreement.

Yours sincerely

Andy Furey

Assistant Secretary

19LTB653 – Post Office – Collective Agreement – Grievance Policy and Procedure

Attachment 1 to LTB653-19 – Appendix A

Attachment 2 to LTB653-19 – Appendix B

Attachment 3 to LTB653-19 – Appendix C

Attachment 4 to LTB653-19 – Appendix D(i)

Attachment 5 to LTB653-19 – Appendix D(ii)

Attachment 6 to LTB653-19 – Appendix D(iii)

Attachment 7 to LTB653-19 – Appendix E