The meeting with the Royal Mail Group’s senior management team took place today and we discussed the CWU proposal to create an emergency network in response to the growing Coronavirus pandemic.

The CEO, Rico Back, chose not to attend the meeting. However, he subsequently wrote to the union and regrettably he has failed to seriously address our proposal or the safety concerns of our members.

The following will summarise what the company stated at the meeting and the content of their subsequent letter:-

• Despite the increasing pressure on our members through growing sick absence/self-isolation, the company do not believe we need to alter national service standards to move to an emergency network.
• Royal Mail will not cease the delivery of D2D/advertising mail.

• Royal Mail will not change their sick absence process which is punishing innocent CWU members, many of whom who have suffered major illness recently.

• Royal Mail said during the meeting it is safe for you to work in your offices without the full provision of Personal Protective Equipment. Royal Mail believe washing hands is the ‘gold standard’ for safety and enough protection for employees.
• Royal Mail could not provide any information on how many offices have the necessary PPE in place.
• Royal Mail stated the safety concerns of CWU members are not widespread. They said their feedback from managers is much more balanced.
• Royal Mail have declined an offer to jointly approach Government on our proposal.
• The CEO confirmed that he does not wish to meet the union anymore during this pandemic.

It is clear to us that any progress that has been made on safety in offices across the UK has been delivered by the hard work of our representatives’ structure and we thank our Branches for this.

The response from the Chief Executive and from the senior management team in today’s meeting is totally unacceptable.

We are taking this opportunity to reiterate our previous position to all CWU members on health and safety in the workplace. This is set out below:-

If Personal Protective Equipment is not in place for all employees, or in any workplace, then that office should cease its operations until the equipment has been provided to all employees. This includes gloves and hand sanitisers.

If social distancing measures are not in place, in line with the Government advice (2 meters apart), then the office should be closed until this is rectified. Additional measures in this statement are designed to support the introduction of strict social distancing in every Royal Mail Group workplace.

Next Steps

It is clear to us that any progress that has been made in offices across the UK has been delivered by the hard work of our representatives’ structure and we thank our branches for this.

We will now take these matters up directly with the Government, the TUC and our legal representatives.

We will be issuing appropriate press statements.

Finally, the union’s Executive will meet to discuss further actions.

Dave Ward ​​​​​​Terry Pullinger
General Secretary​​​​​Deputy General Secretary (Postal)

Dear All

Important update on National Talks

I am conscious that there was some feedback on today’s conference call that the National Statement on Monday came as a shock to most and that you wanted to be updated quicker on responses in future.

I am writing this ahead of Dave and Terry going live on Facebook reporting that talks did not go well today with the business.

Rico was not present and Achum led for Royal Mail.

These are the points which Royal Mail responded to the unions statement.

1. PPE was not needed to protect OPGs or CWU graded staff as they could simply wash their hands.
2. Social distancing was happening in many workplaces.
3. They will be not changing their position on D2D.
4. There are 40 confirmed cases of COVID 19 in Royal Mail with 4 in serious condition.
5. They will not be at this moment standing down the USO , they will deal with it on a case by case basis and they have confirmed that 3 offices are already delivering less that 5 days per week.
6. Royal Mail have rejected the unions proposal on resolving the dispute ie joint statement.
7. They have said they will not be reviewing the sick pay issue until the middle of April and so if you have used your sick pay provisions us than you will either be on half pay or pensionable pay and if your partner or someone in your household is having to isolate for 12 weeks than if you take that time off than you will be on unpaid or you will have to take your leave.

Clearly the company have rejected the unions proposal and have said they will write to the CWU within the next 24 hours confirming their position.

The CWU will tonight announce what we will be doing to ensure our members are safeguarded during this crisis.

We are consulting with our QC and lawyers as well.

We realise fully that members and reps are trying to cope in what is probably the most challenging times as being a rep.

However today the UK suffered the highest death toll yet from the COVID 19 and we are at least 2 weeks away from the peak.

In Spain postal workers took strike action and have now achieved safety arrangements and a commitment that no PPE means no work.

The CWU will be announcing how we intend to move the above forward tonight.

Hopefully this update will help you ahead of this announcement.

Regards

Martin

TERMS OF REFERENCE BETWEEN ROYAL MAIL AND THE CWU COVERING A

NEW COMMERCIAL INITIATIVE – PUDO GROWTH OPPORTUNITY (RELAY)

Dear Colleagues

Branches and representatives will be aware that the RMSS Business Unit and in particular the Relay section, previously known as Branch Direct, provide bespoke logistics product offerings to the market, which includes Pick Up and Drop Off (PUDO) services utilising Royal Mail Delivery Offices as the collection point.

PUDO services relate to the conveyance of items from large stores, to a location where a customer collects their item and hands over any parts for return. RMSS/Relay currently already has a share of this market with existing products, mostly in the area of machine parts, where engineers are tagged to a Delivery Office as a fixed pick up location. A potential opportunity has now been developed to extend this offering and discussions involving both departments have concluded arrangements for a Pilot of a new PUDO product offering.

To offer the service to a wider range of Relay customers and grow market share in this extremely competitive area, it has been agreed to pilot the introduction of a Dynamic’ variant of the existing PUDO service, enabling engineers access to collect their items at any Delivery Office with the item being addressed to the company. The process will be like handing over a “local collect” item, but it will be addressed to a client company name and job number, rather than a named person.

The Pilot will involve 374 Delivery Offices, 4 Parcelforce and 2 Relay sites and will start on 4^thApril and run until the 4^th May 2017. The attached Terms of Reference ensure that the CWU will be fully involved in all activity in the Relay and Delivery function.

Working/Steering Groups will provide monthly updates to National leads on issues relating to the relevant functions.

Any enquiries in relation to this LTB should be addressed to:

RMSS Relay: Davie Robertson, Assistant Secretary, quoting reference number: 218.24.

Email: dwyatt@cwu.org or shayman@cwu.org

and

Deliveries: Mark Baulch, Assistant Secretary (Elect), quoting reference 540.

Email address: outdoorsecretary@cwu.org

Yours sincerely

Davie Robertson Mark Baulch

Assistant Secretary Assistant Secretary (Elect)

THE U WORD DELIVERY WORKPLACE PODCAST – EPISODE 3

Dear Colleagues,

Please see below a link to the latest episode of our workplace podcast. This month we have focused on the Unit Reps Briefings, doing the job properly, lapsing, pensions and pay.

Can all CWU Representatives share this link with members via social media, email, text and WhatsApp. We would also encourage Reps to bring the podcast to the attention of members during WTLL sessions or indeed any other any similar opportunity.

https://soundcloud.com/user-53225609/the-u-word-workplace-special-episode-3

Any enquires should be directed to the Outdoor Department, reference 535, email address: outdoorsecretary@cwu.org.

Yours sincerely,

Mark Baulch              

Assistant Secretary

19LTB170.19

DAVE JOYCE ANNUAL LEAVE

The purpose of this LTB is to advise Branches that Dave Joyce is now on annual leave until Tuesday 14^th April.

Ray Ellis, National Officer, will be covering Dave’s role as Head of Health and Safety during this period.  Please ensure that any enquiries on health and safety matters, including those on the Coronavirus crisis are directed to Ray Ellis rellis@cwu.org and Gerard Harkin gharkin@cwu.org in the normal way.  This includes enquiries in relation to LTB’s that have been issued by Dave in the last week or so.

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

Yours sincerely 

Dave Ward                                                               

General Secretary

20LTB169

Maintaining a National Postal Network and Saving Lives during the Coronavirus Pandemic

Branches will be aware that since the announcement of the Coronavirus pandemic and the fact that postal workers have been given ‘key worker’ status, the General Secretary and Deputy General Secretary (Postal) have been in dialogue with management at the highest level within Royal Mail Group. These talks have centred on how to continue to maintain a national emergency postal service whilst reacting to the ever changing narrative, the daily announcements from the Government, stopping the spread of the virus and saving lives.

However, as we are now over a week on from the announcement by Boris Johnson regarding a national lockdown and even further on from the Government’s declaration about the need for social distancing measures and the provision of PPE equipment for key workers (such as protective gloves and hand sanitiser) the union now harbour concerns that management are showing little urgency in addressing these major issues.

To say that Royal Mail Group management have been slow off the mark would be an understatement. Instead of attempting to find an agreed way forward at pace, they are making decisions sometimes days after the union has raised its concerns and even then in the form of half-baked communications directly to the frontline. We believe that their commercial focused approach is ill-conceived and not in the best interests of protecting our members and the wider public and that ultimately this may threaten lives.

Whilst our members and Representatives at all levels continue to do a superb job during such unusual times, it has become increasingly clear that those running the business appear to be focused more on the commercial impact on the company rather than the safety of those on the frontline. It is a disgrace that a whole host of units are still waiting for protective gloves and hand sanitiser to be supplied and that safe social distancing is still to be implemented in some workplaces.

Neither the public nor the CWU and its members can see how delivering a leaflet to advertise pizza can be considered an emergency or an essential measure necessary to maintain a national vital postal network during a time of national crisis. It is indeed clearly apparent that management are attempting to run exactly the same business as before and are trying to ensure that everything fits around that stance, rather than recognising the fact that these are unprecedented times and emergency measures and the safety of those on the frontline and the wider public must be the priority.

In the absence of recognition from senior managers that these are exceptional times that require emergency measures, and when such a laid back attitude threatens the very safety of our

members and indeed the general public, the union has taken the initiative.

On Monday evening the General Secretary and Deputy General Secretary (Postal) wrote an open letter to Rico Back, CEO of Royal Mail Group, to set out what the union believe is the right position for the company and the Government to immediately adopt during this crisis in relation to Royal Mail Group and the services it provides. Enclosed with the letter was a statement that concentrates on the need for an emergency network at this time and measures that we believe will save lives. A copy of the letter and statement are attached for the information of Branches.

Both the letter and statement have been unanimously endorsed by the Postal Executive and we believe that these emergency service principles should be introduced immediately. We would urge all Representatives to urgently raise these matters with management and give this LTB the widest possible circulation.

We are yet to receive a response from Royal Mail Group but we will be speaking with them today and will make the strongest possible representations. Branches will be updated once the business’s position is known and will be advised of the union’s latest stance.

In closing we would urge you all to stay safe and thank you for your continued support during this extremely difficult period.

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)

Dave Ward – General Secretary

Andy Furey – Assistant Secretary

Davie Robertson – Assistant Secretary

Mark Baulch – Assistant Secretary

Carl Maden – Acting Assistant Secretary

20LTB168 Maintaining a National Postal Network and Saving Lives during the Coronavirus Pandemic

20LTB168 Attachment 1 30.03.20 Ltr to Rico Back & Sally Ashford – RMG

20LTB168 Attachment 2 CWU Statement

Coronavirus: Driver CPC Requirement – Temporary Changes

Branches are advised that due to the current Coronavirus crisis, the Department of Transport (DfT) has put in place temporary changes in Professional Driver Qualification requirements for CPC. For absolute clarity the changes announced by the DfT apply to Great Britain only, as arrangements in Northern Ireland are devolved. However, the department has been informed by Royal Mail that the Northern Ireland Department for Infrastructure has also approved the same measure.

Most professional lorry and bus drivers must complete 35 hours periodic training every 5 years to maintain a Driver CPC card however during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak it has been recognised that it may be difficult for drivers to complete the required training.

The DfT has therefore put in place temporary changes in Professional Driver Qualification requirements which mean that drivers whose Driver CPC card expires in the period from 1st March 2020 to 30th September 2020 can continue driving. Drivers will not be subject to enforcement action by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) in respect of the Driver CPC regulations. Police forces have been informed of this position.

Any driver stopped by an enforcement officer may be asked to show that they have previously recently held a Driver CPC, and as such Drivers should continue to carry their expired Driver CPC card if they have it.

The Professional Drivers that this measure applies to will be required to comply with Driver CPC rules from 1st October 2020. Attached for the information of Branches is the communication released by Royal Mail on the issue.

Any enquiries in relation to this LTB should be addressed to Davie Robertson, Assistant Secretary, email: dwyatt@cwu.org quoting reference 014.14

Yours sincerely

Davie Robertson 

Assistant Secretary

20LTB167

20LTB167 Attachment