Link to recording of our session with DGSP Terry Pullinger

Please share this everywhere https://www.facebook.com/ThecommunicationsUnion/videos/571081883527992/?vh=e&d=n

Updated Covid-19 Response from Postal Administrations and Trade Unions around the World

Further to LTB 214/20, Branches will see attached the latest comprehensive update from UNI Postal and Logistics outlining the measures that are being taken in other countries by Postal Administrations and Trade Unions concerning the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

This documentation contains information regarding the impact on operations, changes in the provision of the universal service, traffic levels, disruptions to international postal services and other operational issues.  It also lists the measures taken by Government, National Regulatory Authorities and Universal Service Providers in relation to the challenges that the Covid-19 crisis has highlighted.

Branches will see that this latest information is far more comprehensive than any previously published both in terms of the countries listed and the measures that each has taken.  The data is therefore presented in a different format but will still be amended at regular intervals going forward and then circulated as soon as possible.

Any enquiries in relation to the content of this LTB should be addressed to the DGS(P) Department.

Yours sincerely,

Terry Pullinger

Deputy General Secretary (Postal)         

LTB 227/20 Updated Covid-19 Response from Postal Administrations and Trade Unions

Attachment to LTB 227/20 ERGP Summary of Covid19 Measures in postal services 21 04 2020 Report 1 (005)

ROYAL MAIL PENSION PLAN (RMPP) NEWSLETTER

Branches are advised that we are in regular contact with the Trustee of the Royal Mail Pension Plan (RMPP) and also with senior management at the Pensions Service Centre (PSC) with regards to our members’ pensions.

Attached to this LTB for your information is the Spring RMPP newsletter which provides an update to members on recent developments including a section on measures put in place in the PSC due to the impact of the Coronavirus and the latest funding situation (as at 31^st March 2019).  The RMPP newsletter will start to arrive at members’ home addresses from today.

The newsletter also reminds members that, following a Government decision, Capita is now responsible for the administration of benefits in the Royal Mail Statutory Pension Scheme (RMSPS) while the Pensions Service Centre remains responsible for the RMPP.  As such, those members who are in both schemes will receive communications from two sources.  A prime example of this is the annual benefit illustrations due to be published later this year when these members will receive two letters as follows:

• Capita will write to members regarding RMSPS benefits.
• Royal Mail Pension Service Centre will write to members regarding their RMPP benefits.

Any enquiries in relation to the content of this LTB should be addressed to the DGS(P) Department.

Yours sincerely,

Terry Pullinger – Deputy General Secretary (Postal)                                                                       

Andy Furey – Assistant Secretary

LTB 226.20 ROYAL MAIL PENSION PLAN (RMPP) NEWSLETTER

LTB 226.20 Attachment 1

POST OFFICE: PENSIONS UPDATE – COMMUNICATIONS

I would like to advise Branches and members that we have been in regular dialogue with both Post Office and the Trustee of the Royal Mail Pension Plan with regards to the pension schemes for Post Office members. In this regard, we have today published a Tripartite Statement with Post Office and Unite which provides an update on the activities we have been discussing and highlights the following three key communications which members of the various schemes will receive in the coming days:

1. Royal Mail Pension Plan (RMPP) – Newsletter 

The 8 page RMPP Spring Newsletter in its usual colour format will be arriving on doorsteps from Saturday 25th April onwards.

2. Post Office Pension Plan (Scottish Widows DC Scheme) – Newsletter 

A new Newsletter from the Governance Group of the Post Office Pension Plan, which includes representatives from CWU and Unite, will be published in the next week to ten days.

3. Post Office Pension Plan (Scottish Widows DC Scheme) – Annual Benefits statements 

The annual benefits statements showing the value of the funds in members’ Defined Contribution Post Office Pension Plans will be sent to home addresses from Scottish Widows in mid-May

The Tripartite Statement is attached and further developments will be reported.

Yours sincerely

Andy Furey 

Assistant Secretary

20LTB225 – Post Office – Pensions Update – Communications

Attachment 1 – Pensions Joint Statement May 2020 FINAL

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Testing

The Department of Health and Social Care has updated arrangements for testing for essential workers and their families.

These updated arrangements mean that in England and Northern Ireland essential staff working in telecommunications (including but not limited to network operations, field engineering, call centre staff, IT and data infrastructure, 999 and 111 essential services), Postal Services and Delivery, and members of their households showing symptoms which might indicate COVID-19 infection can directly access a self-serve Government website and apply for testing at drive-through regional testing centres currently available in England and Northern Ireland.

Participation is voluntary and confidential. No information will be shared with the employer.

The Union welcomes this development which will help to alleviate the uncertainty facing many members and their families when they or a household member develops COVID-19 type symptoms.

We understand that briefing of Royal Mail managers commenced last night and will continue this morning.  Royal Mail has provided the Union with the attached statement which clearly indicates the voluntary and confidential nature of this service.  Royal Mail intends to ‘signpost’ employees who are self-isolating to the testing website within the first three days of absence.  The CWU welcomes this as part of the employer’s duty of care to its employees. The Royal Mail statement makes clear the voluntaryand confidential nature of the testing service.  Employees are under no obligation to inform their manager if they or a member of their family have been tested and the manager should not seek this information.  However, the union would strongly encourage members who test positive to immediately report this so that they can be appropriately supported and any measures necessary to help safe-guard colleagues, such as unit cleaning, can be applied.

Information regarding testing in Scotland and Wales will be circulated as soon as it becomes available.

Any enquiries relating to this LTB should be directed to Ray Ellis (rellis@cwu.org).

Yours sincerely

Ray Ellis
Acting National Health, Safety & Environment Officer

20LTB224 Coronavirus (COVID-19) Testing

Voluntary coronavirus testing for eligible employees

A WEEK OF ACTIVITIES TO HIGHLIGHT THE ROLE OF KEY WORKERS

The purpose of this LTB is to set out significant dates for next week which will form part of a wider TUC response to highlight the role of key workers during the COVID19 pandemic.

The CWU has been instrumental in calling for a collective response from the whole movement to build on the way wider society is finally recognising jobs that have been undervalued for decades, including some undertaken by CWU members.

This is about connecting two themes that everybody can relate to.  Firstly, that we cannot go back to the way work was seen before this crisis and secondly, that we set the narrative on the New Deal for Workers’ Campaign.

The activities that will take place next week are set out below:-

Workers Memorial Day on 28^th April

The TUC will be calling for all unions to join a national minutes silence at 11:00.  The CWU will support this by holding a minute’s silence on the CWU Facebook page at this time.  We understand that 11:00 is not practical for many of our members and therefore we will ask colleagues, for example in Delivery Offices, to fall silent at 07.30.  Branches can support this by publicising the minutes silence and using your local knowledge to judge when the best time will be for groups of depot/shift workers.  We ask you to share the images and videos of these moments on your social media pages.

Posters, graphics and resources to support the day are available here:-

https://www.cwu.org/workers-memorial-day/

Branches will be aware that Workers’ Memorial Day is long established in the international trade union calendar.  However, given the tragic circumstances of so many key workers losing their lives during this pandemic, the TUC and CWU believe it is right to raise the profile of this day and focus the whole movement on showing our respects to all workers who have lost their lives making sacrifices for others.  In this regard the content of this LTB supersedes the LTB sent out by Ray Ellis earlier in the week.

National Postal Workers Day on 29^th April 

This is a separate initiative from the CWU to link in with the week’s activities and a full plan for this has been communicated to Postal Branches.  Again, Branches will recognise this as a long established day in the CWU calendar, reflecting the connection and identity that postal workers have in wider society.  We encourage the whole union to get behind this next Wednesday using #PostalWorkersDay

May Day – 1^st May 

Branches will know that the 1^st May (May Day) has long been established through the trade union movement as international workers’ day and is supported annually by rallies in towns and cities across the UK.  This year the TUC will be increasing the profile of May Day and work has been undertaken to ensure that all unions play their part in the activities that will take place on the day.  These include the following:-

• Each union has committed to a flagship video showing their members at work, the value of their work to wider society and specifically linking the themes of we cannot see the world of work going back to normal, with the call for the new deal.
• There will be a short video from every General Secretary in the TUC, released simultaneously, explaining why the world of work cannot go back to normal and why Britain’s workers need a new deal.
• Unions are encouraged to host a Facebook live session and the CWU will be doing this in the early evening with a number of high profile guests. This will enable the union movement to engage with our members and the public on why we need to change the balance of forces that govern the world of work.  Further information on this live Facebook session will be shared in due course.

The above May Day activities are in addition to the normal May Day rallies that this year will be taking place online and which the CWU will be contributing to.

Summary

The Coronavirus pandemic has been life changing for our members, their families and society. This is a moment where we must reassert trade union values by encouraging collectivisim and campaigning for positive change to the insecure and low paid employment models that have unfortunately become part of the foundation of the UK’s economy.

The week’s activities are also an opportunity for the whole of the CWU to showcase to society the role and value of our own key workers in BT, all internet workers, call centres, the Post Office and Royal Mail.  We will also utilise the week’s activities as a thank you to our own members and representatives for the dedicated and courageous work they have undertaken throughout the pandemic and we will be encouraging the public to do likewise.

We are asking all CWU Branches to demonstrate again that our union is ready and willing to participate in these events, in the same way we have previously with major turnouts at national demonstrations.

We will be asking Regional Secretaries to hold a video conference meeting with Branches to ensure the list of activities above are publicised, supported and coordinated in the best way possible.

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

Yours sincerely

Dave Ward

General Secretary                          

20LTB223 A WEEK OF ACTIVITIES TO HIGHLIGHT THE ROLE OF KEY WORKERS