EUREST (QUADRANT) REBRANDING – THE PLACE

Branches will recall that on the 1^st October 2020, Royal Mail and Compass Group ended the Quadrant Joint Venture and RMG entered a commercial contract with the Eurest section of Compass Group for the ongoing provision of catering services to our members in Royal Mail Group.  This involved the transfer of our Quadrant members to Compass Group (Eurest).

As part of the new commercial contract, Eurest intended a rebranding of the restaurant facilities and an update of the food offering. However, the Covid -19 pandemic and the necessary social distancing arrangements, including the introduction of a take away only service, affected the timing of this activity.

Given the above during the Covid-19 period utilisation of the restaurants and Breakfast Bar facilities has markedly reduced, exacerbating downward trends in usage over many years.  The department has therefore been discussing with Royal Mail and Eurest measures to make the catering offering more attractive to our Royal Mail members as lockdown measures ease.

Eurest have now informed the department that the relaunch and rebranding activity will commence from Monday 12^th April 2021.   This will involve:

• New signage & branding for Restaurants – The Place
• New uniforms for all Eurest Employees
• The Place – The Movie (for Eurest employees who will receive 30 minutes O/T to watch)
• New Menu Launch and introductory Special Offers for Customers.

The above activity is designed to attract customers who do not currently choose to use the restaurant facilities and encourage existing customers to use the facilities more often.

While it is not the role of the union to advertise on behalf of Eurest, in discussions with Royal Mail the department have impressed our view that the provision of subsidised catering services to our members remains an obligation on behalf of the company.  Equally, the retention of current facilities is of key importance to our Eurest members working in restaurants and breakfast bars across the RMG estate.

As such we would ask Branches and Representatives to promote the use of Eurest services with our Royal Mail Group members to assist in protecting the provision of service into the future and in support of our Eurest members.

Attached for the information of Branches and Representatives is the material associated with the launch, which the business has shared with the department.

Any enquiries in relation to this LTB should be addressed to Davie Robertson, Assistant Secretary, email: dwyatt@cwu.org quoting reference: 311.02

Yours sincerely

Davie Robertson
Assistant Secretary

21LTB145 – Eurest (Quadrant) Rebranding – The Place

The Place Launch

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DAVE EMBERSON – FORMER BRANCH SECRETARY OF WESTERN MT

It is with great sadness that we write to inform you of the recent passing of Dave Emberson former National Executive member and Branch Secretary of the Western MT Branch.

Dave was originally a member of the POEU from 1962 and served at every level of the union, including the National Executive, Regional and Branch positions.

Dave was a BT Fleet Technician who joined what was then the GPO back in 1960 and he retired from BT in 1994.

He was awarded the union’s Gold Badge in recognition of his services to our members and he continued to contribute as a retired member of the Western MT Branch until his recent passing.

The union has been in contact with Dave’s daughter Julie, who is keen to ensure that her father’s contribution to the Trade Union movement is not forgotten and has asked that if anyone wishes to mark his passing, they can do so by contributing to his preferred charity the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance Service.

We are advised that such donations can be sent either to Lesley Shand Funeral Service, 184 Wareham Road, Corfe Mullen, Wimborne BH21 3LL or be paid online at www.funeraldirector.co.uk/david-emberson

Finally, I know I speak on behalf of all of Dave’s longstanding friends and colleagues in the union, in offering our sincere condolences to Dave’s daughter Julie and their family and in saying that he will be greatly missed.

Yours sincerely

Dave Ward
General Secretary

21LTB148 DAVE EMBERSON – FORMER BRANCH SECRETARY OF WESTERN MT

Errata – Election of CWU Regional Secretaries 2021 – Ballot Timetable

Further to LTB 143/21 dated 1^st April 2021 there was a typographical error in the wording and it should have read “ballot papers for the Regional Secretary Elections in Northern Ireland, South East and London Regions will now be dispatched from 8^th April 2021”.

As previously advised ballot papers will be sent to members by 1^stclass post.

Please note that the closing date for the ballots remains 27^th April 2021.

Any enquiries regarding this LTB should be addressed to the Senior Deputy General Secretary’s Department on telephone number 0208 971 7237 or email address sdgs@cwu.org

Yours sincerely,

Tony Kearns
Senior Deputy General Secretary

21LTB146 – Errata – Election of CWU Regional Secretaries – Ballot Timetable

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CWU Special Rules Revision Conference Agenda Pad

Branches would wish to know that the agenda pad for the Special Rules Revision Conference taking place on Saturday 24^th April 2021 has now been published on the website and can be accessed using the following link:

https://www.cwu.org/conference/virtual-special-rules-revision-conference-2021/

A Pdf. copy has also been attached for your information.

Any enquiries to this Letter to Branches should be addressed to conferences@cwu.org

Yours sincerely

A P Kearns

Senior Deputy General Secretary

LTB 144/21 – Special Rules Revision Conference Agenda Pad

VIRTUAL SPECIAL RULES REVISION AGENDA 2021

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Election of CWU Regional Secretaries 2021 – Ballot Timetable

Further to LTB 142/21 dated 31^st March 2021, we have been advised by the Independent Scrutineer that the ballot papers for the Regional Secretary Elections in London, South East and London Regions will now be despatched from 8^th April 2021.

Ballot papers will be sent to members by 1^st class post.

Please note that the closing date for the ballots remains 27^thApril 2021.

Any enquiries regarding this LTB should be addressed to the Senior Deputy General Secretary’s Department on telephone number 0208 971 7237 or email address sdgs@cwu.org

Yours sincerely,

Tony Kearns

Senior Deputy General Secretary

LTB 143/21 – Election of CWU Regional Secretaries – Ballot Timetable

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ROYAL MAIL: PATHWAY TO CHANGE AGREEMENT: DELIVERING THE SHORTER WORKING WEEK IN MDEC

The backdrop to the Pathway to Change negotiations for MDEC has been difficult due to further declines in volumes, coupled with automation improvements, which has effectively left the three MDEC units over-resourced overall.  MDEC’s workload has dropped to 5m tasks per week and as a result of enhancements to the current parcel/letter sorting technology and increased customer barcoding is expected to fall by a further 40% over the next 3 months to around 3m tasks per week.

Negotiations started in January with MDEC management with regards to delivering the Shorter Working Week. An agreement has now been reached and was endorsed by the Postal Executive at a meeting on Tuesday 30^th March.  An agreed Joint Statement and Joint Briefing note (attached) have been published today and our MDEC Representatives were updated via a meeting this morning.  We also provided an embargoed copy of the Joint Statement and briefing note to our Reps earlier today.

The following are the key headlines of the agreement reached:

Closure of Farnworth & Stoke MDEC Units

Unfortunately we have had to agree to the closure of the Farnworth and Stoke MDEC units.  Clearly this is a challenging situation; however we cannot shy away from the fact there has been an overall decline in volumes and improvements in automation.  It is for these reasons we have the MTSF agreement in place, which is designed to safeguard employment for our members.  In this regard, these closures will be conducted in line with MTSF principles and the emphasis will be on finding suitable redeployment opportunities for all those who wish to retain employment with Royal Mail.

• Voluntary Redundancy will be offered by the end of August for all members wishing to avail themselves of this option. This timeframe will include notice periods.  It should be noted that for Farnworth this is 20 full-time and 25 part-time jobs and for Stoke there are 28 part-timers and no full-timers.
• For members wishing to retain employment, we have agreed that the redeployment and bumping activities will continue for the rest of the year, with the units closing by 1st January 2022. If everyone can be found reasonable redeployment opportunities before this, the units will close earlier.  This means our members will have every opportunity to find alternative work within Royal Mail and we are optimistic that there are relatively good opportunities for this to happen.
• To inform this activity, an agreed Preference Exercise is planned as follows:
• Forms despatched Tuesday 6th April with a return date of Friday 23rd April

Branches are advised the closure of the Farnworth and Stoke MDEC units does not directly impact upon either the Finance or Customer Experience (CE) units at these locations. In this regard, the attached Joint Statement, which provides reassurance to Finance and CE members, has been agreed. There will however be the potential for bumping opportunities within Finance and CE for MDEC members, depending on the outcome of the preference exercise. Further discussions will take place with management following the closure date of 23^rdApril when all preferences can be taken fully into consideration and wider preferencing undertaken as appropriate.

Shorter Working Week to be Implemented from 1^st May

In accordance with the Pathway to Change Agreement we have agreed that for MDEC the SWW will be implemented from Monday 1^st May and the deployment of this will be undertaken via local discussions to determine how best to reduce the hour.  This position only applies to Farnworth & Plymouth as Stoke do not have any full-time employees.  Our part-time members will though benefit by the automatic increase in the hourly pay rate.

Bonus Consolidation – £60 per month (Pro-rata for part-timers)

Another area where we have been able to make good progress as part of the overall package relates to bonus consolidation.  We have managed to consolidate £60 per month into basic pay with a suitable adjustment in the bonus scheme.  This means, an MDEC keyer earning £20,308 from 1st April 2021 (inclusive of the 1% pay rise) will receive £720 p.a. extra in their basic pay from the consolidation of £60 per month, taking their salary to £21,028, an increase of 3.5% over and above this year’s pay rise.  The consolidation of these bonus monies will trap the money into base pay and it will become pensionable and in turn will improve hourly pay rates, which means both full-time and part-time members gain by this initiative.

The consolidation is linked to the implementation of the Plymouth revision which we have agreed will happen by June/July subject to local negotiations.  Crucially at this point the consolidation will be backdated to 1st April and will benefit those leaving on VR as this will make for a better compensation package.

New Bonus Arrangements 

We have also agreed a new higher bonus tier with an extra £20 per month for those hitting the top end of the performance banding.  The effectiveness of the new bonus measures and targets will be jointly reviewed at regular intervals to ensure it is working as designed with agreed modifications made as appropriate following joint analysis.

Summary/Conclusion

Whilst the closure of Units is never good news and we recognise it will be difficult for many of our members, our MDEC members will be acutely aware of declining volumes and the automation plans.  Therefore I imagine the closure announcements won’t come as a surprise but members will obviously be disappointed.  Our aim is to ensure that no stone is left unturned in finding suitable redeployment opportunities for all members wishing to be redeployed.  We have ample time to make this happen and we will be working jointly with management in this regard.

In terms of the benefits to members, this agreement delivers both the SWW and a £60 consolidation together with an improved top banding of £20 per month extra as part of an enhanced bonus scheme.

In closing, I would like to place on record my thanks to Andy Hopping and David Wilshire, PE Members, who have provided support and guidance in these negotiations.  I also wish to thank our Representatives for the professional and dignified manner in which they dealt with this situation when hearing the news of these closures earlier today.  We will obviously continue to engage with the Reps going forward with the clear aim of ensuring this exercise is conducted fully in line with the MTSF agreement.

Yours sincerely

Andy Furey

Assistant Secretary

LTB 141/21 – Royal Mail – Pathway to Change Agreement – Delivering the Shorter Working Week in MDEC

Attachment 2 – Joint Statement

Attachment 3 – Joint Briefing Note

Attachment 4 – Joint Statement MDEC Announcement Stoke and Farnworth

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POST OFFICE: PAY AGREEMENT – 97% YES VOTE

I am pleased to advise Branches our Post Office members have voted overwhelmingly in favour of the one year Pay Agreement for 2020 as follows:YES VOTES in favour of the pay agreement92097%NO VOTES against the agreement253%TURNOUT62%

*spoilt ballot papers – 2

The positive ballot result means members will receive the pay increase and all arrears backdated to 1st April 2020 including allowances and overtime with their April salaries.

Pension Contributions: Employee/Employer – New Maximum Tier of 20%

I would like to remind members that as an integral part of this agreement we have secured an improvement to the Defined Contribution pension scheme with a new maximum tier of 8% employee and 12% employer. We would encourage all members to take advantage of this new opportunity to have 20% of pay put into their pension pot. Members should email POL.Pensions@postoffice.co.uk using their Post Office email account to increase their employee contribution to secure a better employer contribution.

We are now considering our pay claim for 1^st April 2021 and plan to bring a draft pay claim letter before the Postal Executive for endorsement.  An LTB will be published following the submission of our claim.

In closing, I wish to thank our Representatives and members for their patience and support during the pay negotiations for 2020.

Yours sincerely

Andy Furey

Assistant Secretary

LTB 139/21 – Post Office – Pay Agreement – 97% Yes Vote

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Our colleagues in BT are fighting for their jobs as we move towards an industrial action ballot. We have developed a simple tool for emailing your local MPs to support them.

It would be fantastic to see our postal reps and members backing this campaign.

Please click the link below and within a minute or so you can email your MPs asking them to pressure BT CEO Philip Jansen.

Please ask your friends and families to do it too.

https://www.cwu.org/campaign/count-me-in/have-your-say/bt-group-stop-attacking-key-workers/

CountMeIn

Election of CWU Regional Secretaries 2021

Further to LTB 097/21 dated 9^th March 2020 at the close of nominations the following had been received:

Eastern RegionPaul MoffatCentral Counties & Thames Valley*ELECTED

Midland RegionMark HarperNottingham & District Amal*ELECTED

North East RegionJohn WoodhouseNewcastle Amal*ELECTED

Northern Ireland RegionFra MartinNorthern Ireland CombinedBallot requiredErin MasseyNorthern Ireland Telecoms

North West RegionCarl WebbNorth Lancs & Cumbria*ELECTED

Scotland RegionCraig AndersonScotland No 1*ELECTED

South East RegionRuth HarrisPortsmouth & District PostalBallot RequiredDan HermitageSouthdowns Weald & Rother

South West RegionKevin BeazerBristol & District Amal*ELECTED

Wales & The Marches Region    Gary WatkinsGwent Amal*ELECTED

London Region Khurram KhanSouth West Middlesex AmalBallot RequiredIan MurphyHarrow & DistrictDespatch ballot material from:6 April 2021Close of ballot: 27 April 2021 (first post)                

The voting papers will be sent direct to member’s home addresses by the appointed independent scrutineer. In the ballot the relevant members will be sent a ballot pack containing the voting paper, biographical details, election statement and a return envelope. Members will also be given the choice to vote online via a specific website set up and administered by the appointed independent scrutineer details of this will be contained with the ballot paper.

Members will need to return their ballot paper by the advertised closing time and date in order for their vote to be counted. 

Any enquiries regarding this LTB should be addressed to the Senior Deputy General Secretary’s Department on telephone number 0208 971 7237 or email address sdgs@cwu.org.

Yours sincerely,

Tony Kearns

Senior Deputy General Secretary

LTB 142/21 – Election of CWU Regional Secretaries 2021

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