ROYAL MAIL: ATTENDANCE AND DISCIPLINARY NATIONAL AGREEMENTS

ROYAL MAIL: ATTENDANCE AND DISCIPLINARY NATIONAL AGREEMENTS

Branches will be aware that we advised Conference last month that two new National Agreements for Attendance and Disciplinary had recently been endorsed by the Postal Executive and these had emanated out of Emergency Motion E1 from Conference 2024 and the resultant HR Summit held last year with Royal Mail.  The two new Agreements are crucial and should be seen in the context of the wider Reset programme and the agreed principles of establishing significantly better ER and IR environment.

Earlier this week, a joint Postal Executive/Senior Field Officials briefing was held and presentations, followed by Q&A sessions took place on the two National Agreements.  These sessions were productive and interactive with good questions being posed.  It should be noted that the information provided was confidential, as Royal Mail have not at this stage shared the Agreements with their senior operational and HR managers, and in any event, the current arrangements remain in place.

In respect of next steps, we are due to meet with Royal Mail the week after next to continue negotiations on the various supporting materials, which are described as policies and guidelines that underpin the Collective Agreements.  We are also involved in discussions to review and revise the NAP arrangements, whilst retaining an independent Appeals Chair.

At an appropriate point, once we have completed the associated negotiations, and the Postal Executive has had the opportunity to review and endorse the supporting materials, there will be a National Briefing of Branches to present the two Agreements, and thereafter we will conduct consultative Branch Ballots to seek ratification of the Agreements.  The plan is for the two Agreements to be simultaneously introduced later this year, following Royal Mail’s introduction of a new HR/Finance system.  This project is fundamental for Royal Mail as it includes payroll, along with payments arising from the RMPP and the Collective Plan pension schemes. Therefore, at this stage, we are unable to indicate when the new Attendance and Disciplinary Agreements will be activated due to the system changes.

In the meantime, we are making good preparations for an extensive training programme of all Reps and this will be led by Kate Hudson, Head of Equality, Education & Development and her team.  The clear intention is to ensure that our Reps are fully equipped and knowledgeable to undertake representations on behalf of our members on Attendance and Disciplinary matters in keeping with these new Agreements.  Further developments will be reported.

Yours sincerely,

Andy Furey

Assistant Secretary

LTB 170/26 – Royal Mail Attendance and Disciplinary Agreements

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