Romford Mail Centre – Property Update

Further to the contents of LTB’s 370/19, 715/19 and 317/20, Branches will be aware that the lease on the Romford Mail Centre site was previously extended until March 2023 as the final tenancy arrangement, with the site reverting to the landlord from that date.

Discussions have been taking place in line with the Refining the Processing Footprint Agreement on potential options in regard to the future of the Romford Mail Centre operations since the announcement in relation to the lease extension was made. This has included, in line with Section 7.6 of the agreed process, the CWU presenting a comprehensive proposal for an alternative site in Barking to accommodate the Mail Centre operation following the closure of the current site. These groundbreaking proposals, which were worked up by the CWU Cross Functional Working Group, were presented in late October 2020 and have been the subject of ongoing discussions with the business.

In the past two weeks however Royal Mail informed the CWU that the Landlord of the Romford site had reconsidered his position and had indicated that he was willing to consider a longer extension to the current lease. We are therefore delighted to report that the business has today confirmed that the commercial discussions between Royal Mail and the Landlord have culminated in a new lease extension being agreed, which will safeguard the future of Romford Mail Centre on its existing site until March 2031.

Our members in Romford have gone through 18 months of uncertainty and we hope that today’s announcement will be a significant boost to morale and provide certainty and security over their future.

All current functions based at the site will continue to operate out of Romford Mail Centre and discussions will recommence in the New Year in relation to improvements that can be made at the site now that the future has been secured.

We would like to place on record our thanks to the CWU Working Group led by the Anglia Divisional Representatives for their considerable efforts and dedication in representing the interests of our members at Romford throughout the consultation period.

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

Davie Robertson, Assistant Secretary, email: dwyatt@cwu.org quoting reference : 727.03,

Mark Baulch, Assistant Secretary: Outdoor Department, email: outdoorsecretary@cwu.org quoting reference number: 230.03.

Carl Maden, Acting Assistant Secretary; PTCS Department, email: khay@cwu.org quoting reference number 041.

Yours sincerely

Davie Robertson – Assistant Secretary

Mark Baulch – Assistant Secretary

Carl Maden – Acting Assistant Secretary

20LTB606

POST OFFICE: COVID-19 – JOINT STATEMENT ON CLINICALLY EXTREMELY
VULNERABLE

Branches are advised that we have today agreed the attached Joint Statement with
regards to our Clinically Extremely Vulnerable members. The headlines are as follows:

• Across the UK, all Clinically Extremely Vulnerable members who are
  unable to work from home will be placed on paid Special Leave with
  immediate effect.
• The situation will be jointly reviewed in line with government guidance
  with the aim of providing a further update by 4th January. Nobody placed
  on paid Special Leave as a result of this announcement will return to
  work before this date.

This is obviously a positive development for our Clinically Extremely Vulnerable
members’ well-being in these difficult times and credit should go to the Post Office for
their swift and responsible reaction to the government’s tightening of restrictions across
various areas of the nation due to the changing nature of the virus.

I wish to extend my thanks to Lynn Simpson, Postal Executive member for her
endeavours in immediately engaging with the Post Office to secure this position for our
Clinically Extremely Vulnerable members.

Further developments will be reported.

Yours sincerely

Andy Furey
Assistant Secretary

20LTB605 Post Office – Covid-19 – Joint Statement on Clinically Extremely Vulnerable

Attachment 1 to 20LTB605 – Joint Statement

Royal Mail Group – Mandatory Mask Wearing – CWU Compliance Survey (Dec 2020)

This update is being issued further to LTB No. 544/2020 issued on 13 November 2020.

See attached for the information of all Postal Representatives, Branches and Regions a copy of the results of a national survey of ‘Mandatory Mask Wearing’ support and compliance as conducted via the CWU Regional Health and Safety Sub-Committees and Area Safety Reps.

This is a matter that has been discussed at the weekly RMG/CWU National Joint Coronavirus Operations Group meetings.

From day one of the introduction of mandatory face coverings/masks in Royal Mail Group, there has been widespread strong and solid support for the policy from CWU ASRs, IR Reps, Branches and Regions and the CWU/HQ Health, Safety and Environment Department wishes to thank all our Reps for that support in what is an important ‘Covid-Secure’ safety measure.

Through telephone interviews and written feedback from Area Health and Safety Reps, the following was fed back:

• Overall the feedback results are positive and generally speaking, compliance stands at a good level across the country. However, it’s not perfect and there’s room for improvement!
• A number of weak areas have been identified and even within the strongly compliant areas there are some ‘rogue units’ where compliance is at best weak and at worst virtually non-existent due to poor front-line management commitment, briefings, policing by management and poor safety culture in these units. Some Operational Managers have set a poor example by not wearing their masks properly or not wearing them at all, which is another problem. Staff in these units, then not surprisingly follow suit.
• A number of units have seen standards slip back after a good start.
• With regard to Mail Centres with poor compliance standards, these include Mail Centres where we have had significant Covid-19 outbreaks and compliance is very poor.
• Parcelforce returned good results of circa 90% across all Depots and 95% in the Hubs.
• Logistics returned good results of 90% and above in most DCs with a couple at 80%.
• In Delivery, again compliance is generally strong 85% – 95% mostly but there are some worryingly very poor performing areas and even the good areas inform us that some have ‘rogue’ Delivery Units where compliance is extremely poor.
• The generally poor performing, badly non-compliant areas in London are a concern, bearing in mind the current high levels of Covid-19 cases in the London population with Covid-19 case numbers doubling every fortnight presently. These have been flagged up for urgent attention by Royal Mail along with other poor performing areas.
• Agency staff not controlled sufficiently by managers in a number of offices or allowed to openly disregard and flout the mandatory mask wearing rule was identified.

With the weekend’s announcement by the Prime Minister/First Ministers/Chief Medical Officer Prof. Chris Whitty/Chief Scientific Advisor Sir Patrick Vallance etc., regarding the rapidly rising Covid-19 infection rate and the significantly more infectious new virus strain, the Health Safety and Environment Department has called on the Royal Mail Executive Board to re-double efforts and compliance commitment to ‘Hands (hygiene) – Face (Masks) – Space (2 Metres not 1M+) – Cleaning (Higher Standards) – Weekly Workforce Covid-19 Testing roll out’.

A Joint Workplace Inspection Programme was initiated jointly involving the RMG Safety Health and Environment Team along with CWU ASRs and this is currently working well, involving CWU ASRs and WSRs and we have called on Royal Mail to keep this going, mobilising the SHE Advisors and Business Partners across the Country. However, it has to be said that the 25% cut in SHE Advisors about to be initiated could not have come at a worse time and needs to be re-thought!

Yours sincerely

Dave Joyce
National Health, Safety & Environment Officer

20LTB603 Royal Mail Group – Mandatory Mask Wearing – CWU Compliance Survey (Dec 2020)

Royal Mail Group Mandatory Mask Wearing Compliance Survey (Dec 2020)

Royal Mail Withdrawal of Shared Vans – Following Covid-19 Tier 4/Lockdown Announcements in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland:

Background

Branches and Reps will be aware that over the weekend a series of announcements were made in relation the introduction of new tougher Tier-4 Coronavirus/Covid-19 lockdown restrictions across the UK.  Tier-4 is the toughest of the county’s five tiers of restrictions (0-4). For those affected, Tier-4 will essentially be a return to the full lockdown.

The UK Government for England and devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have been prompted to take urgent action following rapidly increasing Covid-19 infection rates and concerns over a new strain of Coronavirus which is believed to spread more quickly, is significantly more infectious and is up to 70% more transmissible than the old variant, so affecting more people. This is judged to be the reason for the rapidly rising infection rates in the South East and elsewhere. COVID-19 cases have been nearly doubling in London over the past few weeks, while in the East and South East of England cases have continued to rise significantly.

The Government has urged people to continue to get vaccinated against Covid-19 as over the coming weeks and months, the number of vaccination clinics and centres will be set up and could see two million people a week being vaccinated.

Royal Mail Shared Van Policy Change

As a result of the weekend’s announcements from the UK Governments regarding the introduction of the ‘Tier-4 Lockdown’ arrangements to tackle the rapidly rising Covid-19 infection numbers and faster transmission rate of the newly detected Covid-19 Virus strain, the Royal Mail Executive Board have decided, as an ‘emergency measure’ to withdraw their current shared van arrangements which they state is on the basis of putting the safety of the workforce and communities Royal Mail operates in first. The Union certainly welcomes that prompt reaction to the Government announcements as the Union’s position has remained that shared vans should not have been reintroduced in the first place (See LTB No. 489/20 dated 6 October 2020).

Royal Mail state that that this is a ‘temporary cessation’ of the use of shared vans in Tier-4/Lockdown areas which will be kept under review.

This means shared vans should stop in the England listed Tier 4/Lockdown areas and all of Wales, with immediate effect. Shared vans should cease in mainland Scotland and Northern Ireland from 26 December.

Royal Mail add that they will be keeping this decision under close review as more information from Government and public health bodies becomes available.

Dr Shaun Davis Royal Mail Group Global Director Compliance & Sustainability concludes the communication on behalf of the Executive Board –  Royal Mail emphasise in the meantime, please ensure that all safety measures are being followed in your units, and you and your teams continue to follow Government guidelines.

A copy of the communication is attached.

In summary:

England:

The following areas of England entered Tier-4/Lockdown from 20 December:

• Greater London (all 32 boroughs and the City of London)
• Kent
• Buckinghamshire (including Milton Keynes)
• Berkshire
• Surrey (excluding Waverley)
• Gosport, Havant, Portsmouth
• Rother and Hastings
• Bedfordshire
• Hertfordshire
• Essex (excluding Colchester, Uttlesford and Tendring)
• Peterborough

Wales

The whole of Wales has entered Lockdown from 20 December.

Scotland. 

The whole of mainland Scotland will enter Tier-4/Lockdown from Boxing Day, Saturday 26 December.

Northern Ireland.

The whole of Northern Ireland will enter Lockdown from Boxing Day, Saturday 26 December.

A separate LTB covering a summary of the changes being introduced in relation to the Tier-4 Lockdown Rules as they apply across the UK and where to obtain further information is being circulated in a separate LTB.

Yours sincerely

Dave Joyce
National Health, Safety & Environment Officer

20LTB602 Royal Mail Withdrawal of Shared Vans – Following Covid-19 Tier 4 Lockdown Announcements in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

Updated shared vans policy

Covid-19: New Tiers and Lockdown Rules Announced in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

Branches and Reps will be aware that over the weekend a series of announcements were made in relation the introduction of new tougher Tier-4 Coronavirus/Covid-19 Lockdown restrictions across the UK. Tier-4 is the toughest of the county’s five tiers of restrictions (0-4). For those affected, Tier-4 will essentially be a return to the full Lockdown. The Government stated that “throughout the public health emergency, they have had to respond quickly to the rapid changes, which have been so typical of Coronavirus. New information has required an immediate response.”

In summary:

England

London and much of south-east England has been put into Lockdown (known as Level 4 or Tier-4) which came into force from Sunday 20 December. The measures will remain in place for at least two weeks, with a review at the end of that period to decide if it needs to be extended, with the prospect of a possible full National Lockdown to follow in the new year.

The areas affected are:

• Greater London (all 32 boroughs and the City of London)
• Kent
• Buckinghamshire (including Milton Keynes)
• Berkshire
• Surrey (excluding Waverley)
• Gosport, Havant, Portsmouth
• Rother and Hastings
• Bedfordshire
• Hertfordshire
• Essex (excluding Colchester, Uttlesford and Tendring)
• Peterborough

Wales

The whole of Wales has entered another lockdown from 20 December for 3 weeks.

Scotland

The whole of mainland Scotland will begin a new Tier-4 lockdown for three weeks from one minute after midnight on Boxing Day morning on Saturday 26 December.

Northern Ireland

The whole of Northern Ireland begins a six-week lockdown on Boxing Day Saturday 26 December.

Christmas

The planned relaxation of Covid-19 rules for Christmas have in the main been scrapped for large parts of south-east England (as listed) and cut to just Christmas Day for the rest of England, Scotland and Wales. In Northern Ireland, no changes have been made to Christmas restrictions, with three households allowed to meet from 23 to 27 December.

The Reason for the Changes and New Lockdowns

The action was prompted by Government concerns over a new strain of Coronavirus – known as VUI 2020/01 – which is believed to spread more quickly than the original strain and is judged to be the reason for rapidly rising infection rates in the south east of England and elsewhere.

The New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG) suggests the new more aggressive strain is significantly more infectious and is up to 70% more transmissible than the old variant, spreading more quickly and affecting more people.

While the expert advisory group of scientists are fairly certain the variant is transmitted more quickly, there is no evidence to suggest that it is more lethal or causes more severe illness.

There is also no evidence to suggest the vaccine will be any less effective against the new variant.

COVID-19 cases have been nearly doubling in London over the past few weeks, while in the east and south east of England cases have continued to rise significantly.

Over 60% of infections in the capital have been the new variant, which is thought to have emerged in mid-September.

The Government has urged people to continue to get Covid-19 vaccinations. 350,000 people across the UK have already had their Covid-19 vaccine jab. In the coming weeks, the number of vaccination clinics should increase six-fold, following which the plan is for mass vaccination centres to be set up in sports stadiums and conference centres. That could see two million people a week being vaccinated.

Tier 4 Lockdown Rules Summary

• You must stay at home.
• Only allowed out for work, exercise, education, emergencies, childcare, hospital/GP appointments, vets, essential shopping.
• Travel Ban enforced by law.
• No Christmas bubbles.
• No entry to or exit from Tier-4 areas.
• No overnight stays outside home.
• Non-essential shops and hairdressers closed.
• One person can meet one other person outside.
• International travel banned unless for work.

The Full Tier-4 Government Guidance Rules can be found at:

England: https://www.gov.uk/find-coronavirus-local-restrictions

Scotland: https://www.gov.scot/check-local-covid-level/

Wales: https://gov.wales/covid-19-alert-levels

Northern Ireland: https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/coronavirus-covid-19-regulations-guidance-what-restrictions-mean-you

Yours sincerely

Dave Joyce
National Health, Safety & Environment Officer

20LTB601 Covid-19 New Tiers and Lockdown Rules Announced in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

CWU members have kept the country connected in 2020 – watch and share this video to thank them #MerryChristmas

ELECTION OF:

• Parcelforce Regional Organisers, Substitute Regional Organisers & Parcelforce Regional Chairs
• Parcelforce Area Organiser NI (No Substitute)
• Parcelforce Area Health & Safety and Substitute Area Health & Safety Representatives

The above elections were scheduled to take place during in early Autumn 2020 however as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and the revised operational arrangements at CWU HQ it has not been possible to conduct these elections in the usual manner.

Following discussions between the DGSP and SDGS Departments, arrangements have now been agreed to allow for these above elections to be conducted, albeit with revised and specifically designed election arrangements.

Clearly the democratic principles of the CWU are founded on our ability to ensure that the elections are conducted in a fair and equitable way and specifically that members of the union, via their own branch nomination, are given the opportunity to put themselves forward as a candidate. These guiding principles have been included in the revised arrangements a summary of which is set out below in advance of the election process.

Election Timetable 

It is necessary for the election timetable to be significantly longer than normal. This will allow branches sufficient time to seek nominations from their members and to then subsequently agree on which candidates(s) they intend to nominate for election and, once the list of candidates is known to then decide which candidate(s) will receive the branch vote.

Nomination Process

In respect of seeking nominations branches will need to put in place a robust system and use all reasonable methods at their disposal to publish suitable notification throughout the branch area, to allow members the opportunity to submit their name for nomination.  Following this the branch would need to put in place arrangements to hold a membership meeting to decide which candidate(s) will receive the branch nomination.

On the basis that no face to face member meetings are currently allowed then this would need to be conducted via a suitable video conferencing platform such as Zoom or Skype, etc. that provides the opportunity for large numbers of members to take part if required.

Branches will need to allow for members who do not have video conferencing facility to join the meeting by phone again should they wish to do so.

The timeline for the meeting would need to be agreed in advance and notification provided to members at least 7 days prior to the meeting taking place.

Dispatch and Return of Nomination Forms to CWU HQ

Nomination forms for these elections will be sent to branches electronically via an LTB prior to the opening date of the nomination period. It will be our intention to set up a specific dedicated election email address where branches should return completed nomination forms to.

Nomination Forms will need to be returned by the advertised closing date to be included with the list of candidates. 

The revised system will avoid the necessity to return forms via the postal system, which of course may be subject to delay during the current Covid-19 crisis.

Dispatch and Return of Voting Papers 

Where individual member ballots are required voting papers will be sent by the appointed independent scrutineer to member’s home addresses. Members will need to return the voting paper by the advertised closing date.

Where branch ballots are required branches will be sent the relevant voting paper by email to the address that we hold on file.  Branches should return the completed voting papers by email to the advertised CWU election email address.  It will the responsibility of the branch to ensure that voting papers are returned to the correct email address.  Notification will be sent to individual branches confirming receipt of the voting papers.

To be included in the ballot voting papers must be returned by the advertised closing date and time.  

Branch Voting Recommendations

Clearly we are in unique and challenging times and whilst branches would normally arrange mandating meetings to decide which candidates to vote for in the respective elections we do not believe that this is either practical or necessary during the current crisis.  Therefore, on this occasion this decision can be made by the Branch Committee and the decision subsequently notified to members of their branch accordingly.

Election Timetable and Term of Office 

The election timetable for the above will be as follows:

Nominations Open:                11 January 2021

Nominations Close:                 9 February 2021

Ballot opens:                              16 February 2021

Ballot closes:                              16 March 2021

The term of Office for the above positions will commence from 16 March 2021 for a period of 2 years.

Any enquiries regarding this Letter to Branches should be addressed to the Senior Deputy General Secretary’s Department on telephone number 020 8971 7237, or email address sdgs@cwu.org.

Yours sincerely,

Tony Kearns

Senior Deputy General Secretary

LTB 600/20

POST OFFICE: NEW LONG TERM COMMERCIAL AGREEMENT WITH ROYAL MAIL

Branches are advised that Post Office and Royal Mail have today announced a
commercial agreement known as the “second Mails Distribution Agreement”,
commencing on 29 March 2021 and operating for 11 years until 28 March 2032. A
press release between the two parties has been published today and is attached.

We welcome the principle of this new agreement as it hopefully brings some stability
for our Postmasters and directly employed members. We do though have some genuine
reservations as it seems the Post Office / Royal Mail relationship is no longer “exclusive”.
This is confirmed in Post Office CEO Nick Read’s statement via a “One Update” to
employees (also attached):

“The new agreement also provides exciting opportunities to open our network
to other potential providers and online retailers, ultimately paving the way to
increased volumes and remuneration.”

Currently we only have the joint press release and internal Post Office communication
to consider and will therefore be asking for more details in relation to the agreement.
Patently we need to understand the full implications of these “exciting opportunities”
and what they could mean for our members (particularly in terms of remuneration for
Postmasters for the handling of additional parcels etc.) We intend to engage with the
Post Office at the earliest opportunity to get full disclosure of the details of the
agreement so we can determine the wider implications.

We should all remember this new commercial agreement is only necessary due to the
political sabotage which took place in April 2012 when Post Office was separated from
the privatised Royal Mail. Clearly both organisations should be one entity, as is the
case with postal services around the world.

Yours sincerely

Terry Pullinger                                Andy Furey
Deputy General Secretary (P)        Assistant Secretary

LTB 599/20 – Post Office – New Long Term Commercial Agreement with Royal Mail

Attachment 1 to LTB 599/20

Attachment 2 to LTB 599/20

York Container Shortages and Repatriation – Assistance Request:

As all Reps will know, the ‘double-whammy’ impact of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns, regional restrictions and high street closures, has resulted in the public turning to the on-line internet market. This trend has been further accelerated during the Christmas peak, resulting in record levels of parcel and packet traffic, the sum total of which cannot be underestimated.

Royal Mail has put a record number – 630,000 Yorks into service, including an extra 70,000 purchased this year, all of which have been soaked up by the operation and the massive increase in parcel/packet traffic.

Royal Mail Container Control have appealed to the Union for assistance, requesting CWU Representatives across the country, at every level, help them in improving and speeding up the repatriation of Yorks to where they are needed in the network operation.

Royal Mail has deployed additional support teams including the setting up of a Tactical Container Control Room to support the movement of Yorks and pipeline leads in each service delivery area are helping co-ordinate the repatriation of York containers from Delivery Offices to Mail Centres and RDCs.

To support this further, would all local Area and Unit Safety Reps plus Delivery and Distribution Reps report any office where there is a build-up of Yorks in the Delivery Offices which are not being cleared and returned to the Mail Centres and RDCs to the Tactical Container Control Room. This information will be of great assistance in ensuring that the empty, static Yorks can be recovered back to where they are needed promptly in order to keep them moving to support the operational upstream and importantly help keep the operational offices safe.

Please share this communication with your Unit Reps.

REPORTS TO THE ROYAL MAIL NATIONAL CONTAINER CONTROL ROOM CAN BE SENT BY TEXT, E-MAIL OR TELEPHONE – PHOTOS CAN BE SENT ALSO TO:

ian.j.macdonald@royalmail.com

Mobile:- 07436560875

Thanks for your help.

Yours sincerely,

Dave Joyce
National Health, Safety & Environment Officer

LTB 598/20 – York Container Shortages and Repatriation – Assistance Request