Joint Statement between Royal Mail Revenue Protection and the CWU on the Guidelines for the Implementation of Pathway to Change Revision Activity and the Deployment of the Shorter Working Week for Revenue Protection Operational Grades

Branches will be aware that discussions in relation to a number of the smaller business units within RMG have been prolonged and that has been the case for Revenue Protection. With regard to the Revenue Protection function the discussions have been split. Operational change has been dealt with by the department while the Admin elements are being progressed by Andy Furey’s department.

When discussions commenced it was clear that the business had a very defined proposal to realign resource against workload. In effect the business believes that over a period of time the changing traffic and arrival profiles have meant that many items enter the Network too late to be checked within the current duty profile, which has increased the revenue risk and created stranded hours within the duty structures.

They therefore proposed a significant movement of hours, reducing coverage in the 12.00 to 16.00 window and increasing coverage later into the evening. While the department believes that there is substance in the proposal, clearly there was the potential for significant change for some RP members.

Given this and the fact that RP is a very specialised area, the department made a decision to consult and seek the views of our representatives in RP and a session was convened on Wednesday, 21st April where the business presented their proposal and our representatives had the opportunity to question and challenge the business on the detail. In fairness it became clear that our representatives had a very clear understanding of the challenges facing the RP operation and while raising some issues they wish to be addressed, largely recognised the need to rebalance the operation. 

The Slide Presentation used by the business at this session has been received and will be circulated to Representatives under separate cover.

Following that forum, the department entered discussions with the business which concluded with the attached Joint Statement on the revision activity and the deployment of the SWW.

Branches will note that:

 Reviews will be undertaken based on a tabletop approach, conducted locally in line with current resourcing agreements. The overarching principle will be to increase the level of PPI checks, improve efficiency by achieving better alignment of resource to workload and reduce reliance on external resource. 

 Reviews may consider the introduction of inventive duty patterns where these support the above overarching principle. 

 The review will be conducted based on current actual data and on standard working methods and equipment type in line with National agreements. Where Covid-19 mitigation/social distancing arrangements are in place they will be factored into agreed outputs for as long as they remain required. 

 The review will aim to minimise the disruption to employees and will fully consider local and individual circumstances and earning packages. Agreed change will be deployed in line with the IR Framework and relevant National agreements, including MTSF. 

It has been agreed that progress will be jointly monitored at National level and the department are available to assist and support RP units through the change.

Engagement on revision activity should commence from Tuesday, 4th May 2021 and release has been agreed to ensure that Representatives can participate fully in the activity. Deployment of the revision activity will be coordinated for our members in Admin and Operations in each RP unit and as such both activities are targeting Monday, 28th June 2021 to coincide with the Processing Realignment activity. Deployment of revised arrangements will trigger the 2nd Hour reduction in working time (SWW). 

Branches are asked to ensure that the contents of the LTB are brought to the attention of our members in Revenue Protection Units.

Any enquiries in relation to this LTB should be addressed to Davie Robertson, Assistant Secretary, email: dwyatt@cwu.orgquoting reference 702.02.

Yours sincerely

Davie Robertson

Assistant Secretary

LTB 179/21

Attachment 1 – JS Revenue Protection P2C Revisions SWW 30.04.21

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AGREEMENT BETWEEN ROYAL MAIL LOGISTICS AND THE CWU ON RESOURCING GUIDELINES FOR THE DEPLOYMENT OF THE NETWORK REVISION 2021

Dear Colleagues

Branches will recall that LTB 56/21 launched the National Network Review activity defined in the Pathway to Change agreement. The Committee will be aware that while the data gathering exercise took place as scheduled the process identified significant differences between the outputs and the existing Road Service List (RSL) in the region of 30k hours Nationally.

As a result, the business decided to rebuild the RSL from scratch rather than attempt to update the existing version. The delay was communicated to the field in LTB 115/21.

This process has now been completed and the “First Cut” Paragon outputs for the Network Review were shared with the department on Friday, 16th April. Following that initial meeting the formal Stage 2 of the agreed process involving the joint review of the outputs by the National Network Working Group has now been concluded. 

Building on the experience of previous years, the attached agreed Resourcing Guidelines should assist representatives and Branches in progressing local discussions on Stage 3 of the Network 21 proposals. The guidelines cover a range of resourcing options and again provide clarity on an agreed position on a number of recurring issues such as Leave Reserve ratios, coverage of ad-hoc workload through Flex duties, the use of “as directed” time in duty construction and the movement of work elements between VOC’s in area solutions.

Branches will note that for this review it has been confirmed that a new VOC will be created at Atherstone. A temporary VOC has been in operation at the site for some time.

In addition, some changes to the non-driving fixed timings have been agreed. These were derived through a joint industrial engineering study which was concluded in anticipation of the proposed Network Review in 2019 which did not take place due to the dispute over the business’ change of

stance in relation to the application of the SWW in that review. The revised times which increase vehicle check times for C+E vehicles are included at Annexe A of the attached agreement.

The document also recognises the changing customer profiles and the advent of Sunday Parcel Deliveries in promoting inventive duty patterns.

The Stage 3 local discussions will now commence on Tuesday, 4th May 2021 and release has been arranged for representatives to fully prepare and participate in the process. As in previous years the NWG will be available to advise and assist Branches and representatives in dealing with proposals where required. Given the complexity of the discussions in this revision, duty construction should be targeted to conclude by late June 2021 and progress will be monitored continuously by the NWG and a final National implementation date will be agreed and communicated to Branches and representatives.

The department would like to take this opportunity to place on record our thanks to the members of the NWG for their ongoing assistance on the Network 21 discussions.

Branches are requested to bring the contents of this LTB to the attention of all our Professional Driver members as a matter of urgency.

Any enquiries in relation to this LTB should be addressed to Davie Robertson, Assistant Secretary, email: dwyatt@cwu.orgquoting reference 233.15.

Yours sincerely

Davie Robertson

Assistant Secretary

LTB 178/21

Attachment 1 – Agreement on the Guidelines for the Deployment of Network Revision 2021

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Royal Mail Group – DCPC (Driver Certificate of Professional Competence) Classroom Training with Coronavirus/Covid 19 Risk Controls:

Following discussions between RMHQ and CWUHQ regarding DCPC classroom training, on the basis of the previously agreed ‘Covid-Secure’ – ‘Covid-Safe’ risk assessment and safe system of work control measures, the CWU/HQ Health, Safety & Environment Department is in support of the resumption of DCPC classroom training, following the Government announced new Covid-19 rules as part of the ‘roadmap out of lockdown’.

DCPC training and First Aid training courses were ceased when the country entered Lockdown 1 and when out of lockdown, were re-started because certain training is essential in respect of it being ‘legally required’ or ‘business critical’.

Working within Government, Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and HSE guidance, strict health and safety ‘Covid-Secure/Covid-Safe’ controls were put in place to facilitate training to be delivered. However, the DCPC training was again postponed when the country re-entered Covid-19 Lockdown 3 for drivers other than those whose ‘Driver Qualification Card (DQC)’ was imminently due to expire in the next 3 months.

The suspension of business as usual DCPC training resulted in a considerable backlog being built up, with a number of CWU member drivers approaching a situation when their DCPC certification would expire with the result that they would no longer be able to drive and as such this would obviously, negatively impact on their jobs and for Royal Mail this would impact on driver resources and availability.

As the country is now on the Government’s staged roadmap out of lockdown, Royal Mail indicated its need and intention to re-start the full programme of DCPC training because of it being essential and ‘legally required’. As such, in addition to those drivers whose ‘Driver Qualification Cards (DQC)’ are soon to expire, drivers will be trained more in line with usual timescales from the 17^th May.  This will avoid any backlog and ensure a more timely and manageable system of important legally required, safety and professional competence training arrangements.

This Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (DCPC) training is required in order for a driver to obtain a ‘driver qualification card’ or ‘ DQC ‘. LGV/PCV drivers must carry this card while driving a lorry, bus or coach professionally. Any drivers of lorries and vans over 3.5 tonnes, and passenger carrying vehicles which carry nine or more people, need a Drivers CPC qualification as well as their vocational drivers licence. Without it, they can’t legally drive the vehicle. Once DCPC qualified, drivers must do 35 hours of periodic training every 5 years in order to keep their Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (DCPC) and so be able to drive a lorry(LGV/HGV), bus or coach. If they don’t, then they cannot perform a professional LGV or PSV driver’s job.

Therefore, Royal Mail Group has agreed to expedite DCPC training in order to clear the backlog of this training, caused as a result of the impact of the Pandemic and suspension of DCPC courses, and in doing so ensure that CWU members who are LGV/HGV drivers affected by this, are able to continue their driving jobs.

Following discussions with Royal Mail, the following ‘Covid-Secure, Covid-Safe’ key training safety controls were agreed.

DCPC Training Key Covid-Safe Controls: 

• Only 6 delegates maximum.
• All meeting rooms will have maximum occupancy for the room notified on the door.
• Room to be cleaned and sanitised before and after training.
• Room will receive a pre-start check for layout, cleanliness.

• Delegates on arrival before entering the room will be asked as a final check if they have any Covid symptoms or are feeling unwell.
• 2M minimum social distancing layout to be maintained.
• Adequate ventilation – no air-con or desk fans.

• Hand sanitiser, disinfectant wipes, gloves, masks, all to be available.
• Checklist to be issued to ADCs to ensure training room is sufficient.
• CWU ASR fully involved enabling pre-use health and safety inspection.
• Ensure Covid compliance standards are met, safe access/egress and floor markings.
• Only business-critical/legally required training is taking place.
• Unit Assessments already in place and site declared Covid-Secure.
• HR Services arrange in advance with the PiC that the room is suitable for the training and what the site COVID rules are.
• Rooms to be set up to ensure social distancing, floor markings, hand washing facilities etc.
• Number of delegates have been reduced.
• Training materials have been amended including section on Covid controls.
• Trainers to supervise and promote compliance to rules.
• Pre-course joining instructions to include requirement for delegates to inform ADC/HRS of any Covid symptoms or contacts with Covid symptoms.
• Delegates arriving from a different site are informed of the site rules and reminded not to attend if they have symptoms.
• Course intro will remind delegates to maintain social distancing, frequently sanitise and wash hands and PPE availability.
• Group work activities in the course will instead be completed in an alternative way.

Following conclusion of the health and safety consultation process, putting the above list of controls in place, it was concluded that those undertaking this training are at no greater risk than any other employees currently working for Royal Mail, undertaking other work and functions.

ASRs should take careful note of the above and should ensure that all ‘Covid-Secure’ health and safety controls are fully applied and complied with in relation to training taking place within their constituent area buildings and sites. ASRs should be informed if training courses are scheduled in their area.

In relation to the resumption of ‘In Cab Training’ of drivers – discussions are underway between RMG and CWU/HQ and will hopefully be shortly resolved. So long as adequate ‘Covid-Secure & Safe’ measures are in place, we are keen and supportive of seeing driver training resume for obvious driver and road safety reasons along with the necessity for Royal Mail Group to meet health and safety legal compliance requirements that place a duty on the employer to adequately safety train and inform the workforce.

Further updates and communications will follow.

Yours sincerely

Dave Joyce
National Health, Safety & Environment Officer

LTB 177/21 – RMG DCPC Classroom Training with Covid 19 Risk Controls

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Election of: Parcelforce Worldwide Substitute Area Health & Safety Representative – North Region

Further to LTB 152/21 dated 8^th April at the close of nominations on the 26^th April 2021, the following have been received:Douglas EdwardsCleveland Amal Branch*Ballot RequiredSimon SmithYork & District Amal Branch 

 The timetable for the above ballot will be advised to branches in due course.

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

Yours sincerely,

Tony Kearns

Senior Deputy General Secretary

LTB 176/21

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International Workers Memorial Day Today 28 April 2021:
“Health and safety is a fundamental workers’ right”

Every year the trade union movement unites to mark International Workers’ Memorial Day and as we have every year since its inception, we at the CWU give it our full support. 

Today, 28^th April, is a very special day in the calendar for trade unionists around the world as we mark International Workers’ Memorial Day, remembering those who have lost their lives at work, or from work-related injury and diseases and we commit to continue to fight for better health and safety standards at work as well as defending those standards against any attacks and erosion of health and safety protections.

The Coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic swept around the world bringing new dangers and difficulties to those essential workers like CWU members who have worked through the pandemic, providing essential postal and telecommunication services, keeping the country going, keeping our nation connected, delivering essential goods and test kit services for the NHS through three lockdowns when no alternatives were available, and coping with huge increases in the parcel traffic carried by postal services.

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, the CWU, our fantastic Reps in workplaces all around the country have continued to prioritise the health and safety of our members and the vital role this union plays in this period. Tragically, the Virus infected thousands of our members and killed a number ofthem also. We will be especially remembering the pandemic victims this year.

We in the CWU and other unions will renew our efforts to organise collectively to work to prevent more deaths, injuries and disease as a result of work going forward.

A minute’s silence is traditionally observed at 11am on this day and, if you can, please take a minute to remember those who have lost their lives, reflecting on how we can all continue to work together to keep workplaces safe and in solidarity with all workers.

Today, unions and our members can send a message that health and safety protection at work for all is a fundamental right that every single worker must have.

We remember the dead – we fight for the living

(This communication is being issued further to LTB 112/21 issued on 18 March 2021 along with the CWU WMD Poster sent to all Branch Offices – which we trust has been displayed in workplaces).

Yours sincerely

Dave Joyce
National Health, Safety & Environment Officer

LTB 175/21 International Workers Memorial Day Today 28 April 2021

LTB 112/21 Workers Memorial Day 2021 – 28 April 2021

Workers Memorial Day 2021

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Election of Regional Secretaries – 2021

Further to LTB 143/21 dated 1^st April, please find attached a copy of the Independent Scrutineer’s report for the above elections.

Please can you ensure that the results are brought to the attention of the members of your Branch.

Any enquiries regarding this matter should be directed to the Senior Deputy General Secretary’s department for the attention of Peter Metcalfe:

Telephone:  0208 971 7368

Email:  pmetcalfe@cwu.org

Yours sincerely,

Tony Kearns
Senior Deputy General Secretary

21LTB174

R0693_1 ROV 270421 CWU Regional Secretaries 2021

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POST OFFICE: POSTMASTERS: HORIZON INQUIRY – COURT OF APPEAL – 39 CONVICTIONS QUASHED

Further to LTB 116/21 dated 23^rd March.

The Court of Appeal announced its decision last Friday in relation to the main group of appellants (former Postmasters and victims of the Horizon scandal) asking for their convictions to be overturned.  39 had their convictions quashed and when added to the 6 former Postmasters who had their convictions overturned at Southwark Crown Court last year, this makes 45 people who were wrongfully prosecuted and whose lives were ruined by the Post Office through this horrific scandal.

The Court of Appeal quashed the 39 convictions on the following grounds:

• Ground 1: “that the reliability of Horizon data was essential to the prosecution” and “it was not possible for the trial process to be fair”
• Ground 2: that the evidence shows “it was an affront to the public conscience for the appellants to face prosecution”.

Broadly, the Post Office didn’t object to and appeal against ground 1, but generally contested ground 2.

This is the biggest miscarriage of justice in the UK’s legal history with the Court of Appeal judges stating in the ruling:- “Post Office Limited’s failures of investigation and disclosure were so egregious as to make the prosecution of any of the ‘Horizon cases’ an affront to the conscience of the court.”

The decision of the Court of Appeal received significant major news channel and wider media coverage on Friday and this has continued over the weekend and into this week, with the story still making headlines.  Below are a number of relevant media links:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56859357

https://www.itv.com/news/2021-04-23/post-office-postmasters-horizon-court-of-appeal

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/postmasters-convictions-quashed-by-court-of-appeal-50pn7qm8v

https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252499723/Post-Office-scandal-victims-have-criminal-convictions-overturned-in-Court-of-Appeal

https://www.postofficetrial.com/2021/04/court-of-appeal-quashed-further-39.html

Since Friday’s Court of Appeal’s outcome, a further 38 former Postmasters who were previously convicted after being prosecuted by the Post Office have submitted appeals.  We suspect this is just the tip of the iceberg and many more of those who have been wrongfully criminalised will come forward to be exonerated.

In light of this development, there have been further calls for a full statutory judge-led public inquiry into the scandal as the current inquiry being undertaken by retired judge Sir Wyn Williams does not have the power to compel witnesses to attend or be cross-examined.

Paula Vennells (Former CEO) Steps down from Exec Roles Amid Calls for her to be Stripped of her CBE

Former Post Office CEO Paula Vennells announced yesterday she was stepping down from her positions on the Boards of Morrisons and Dunelm and she has also ceased her role as an associate Church of England minister.  Ms Vennells had already quit her roles as chair of the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and non-executive board member of the Cabinet Office.

The following are some of the many media articles covering this aspect of the story:

https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252499778/Post-Office-scandal-CEO-steps-down-from-roles-after-massive-miscarriage-of-justice-is-laid-bare

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56882496

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/apr/26/post-office-paula-vennells-quits-morrisons-dunelm-boards

There has also been a significant amount of pressure and demands for Paula Vennells to be stripped of her CBE which she was awarded in 2019 for “services to the Post Office and to charity” and also for her to repay bonuses of more than £2.2m which she received during her tenure.  The following articles were published in the Tribune, Evening Standard and Daily Mail:

https://tribunemag.co.uk/2021/04/the-great-post-office-trial-verdict-is-a-vindication-for-workers

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/post-office-ceo-kevan-jones-high-court-simon-clarke-b931437.html

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9513081/Ex-Post-Office-boss-Paula-Vennells-goes-ground-amid-scandal.html

In addition, Kevan Jones, Labour MP for North Durham yesterday wrote a second letter to the Honours Forfeiture Committee to urge its Chair to rescind the CBE awarded to Paula Vennells. Kevan Jones stated on Twitter “The CBE award is utterly wrong and deeply insulting to those who suffered during her period at the Post Office.”  A link to a copy of his letter is as follows:

https://twitter.com/KevanJonesMP/status/1386765775004786688?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

The Union is also calling for a criminal investigation against the senior figures within Post Office who put these loyal Postmasters in this situation.  It is abundantly clear there must be full accountability for this appalling scandal and we need to uncover the scale of the corruption and expose those who are responsible for this travesty of justice.

Ministerial Statement

We await the ministerial statement from Paul Scully, BEIS Minister later today with interest.  We will be disappointed if the Minister doesn’t announce a criminal investigation into what has undoubtedly been an unprecedented scandal in terms of both scale and duration.

Further developments will be reported.

Yours sincerely

Andy Furey
Assistant Secretary

21LTB173 Post Office – Postmasters – Horizon Inquiry – Court of Appeal – 39 Convictions Quashed

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Excellent live session with DGSP Terry Pullinger tonight. Please share as far and wide as possible https://fb.watch/56ND8BOOyq/

CWUandProud

AFFILIATE – THE CWU APP

We are very pleased to advise you that the CWU Affiliate App will be launching over the next two weeks. 

Initially, this will be a soft launch, where we will test and share the product with our regional and Branch Secretaries, before extending the launch to our wider representative base and membership.

The CWU Affiliate App is the next step as part of our commitment to keep opening up the union by continually improving communications and engagement with our representatives and members.  The App will also support the work we are doing to raise the profile of the CWU within the overall Labour movement and wider society.

This innovation is an example of the investment that we promised as part of the Redesign Project and the App will be introduced in different phases.  The first Phase will see all of our communications channels consolidated into one place.  We will host video, podcasts and written articles within the app, as well as having the ability to directly engage members – e.g. polling the membership on big issues.

Crucially, the union will also have the ability to send notifications to all members via the App.  This will be an excellent tool for us when advertising major events or industrial action ballots.

CWU events will be detailed on the App via software, which will enable you to link directly to your smartphone calendar.

In addition to our CWU content, we will also have a public facing element of the App.  This ‘Affiliate’ section will enable us to promote disputes which are taking place across the movement, show solidarity with all workers and promote key campaigns such as New Deal for Workers.  

In a further phase, the App has also been specifically designed to support and develop our recruitment and organising strategy and hopefully build a platform to grow the union.

CWU Regions will be able to upload regional events, news and communications via the App and the ambition will ultimately be to extend this access to Branches in a future phase.We know representatives and members will welcome this important development and we look forward to both the launch and the growth of the App.

Further practical details on how to download, access and create an account on the App, will be issued in the coming days.

For now, we would ask Branches to bring the content of this LTB to the attention of members and encourage everyone to download it as soon as we launch.

Any enquiries on the general content of this LTB should be addressed to the General Secretary’s office – jdunn@cwu.org. Any specific enquiries on the technical aspects of the App should be addressed to the Communications Department – commsdept@cwu.org.

Yours sincerely

Dave Ward

General Secretary

LTB 172/21 – AFFILIATE – THE CWU APP

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