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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CWU Virtual Rules Revision Conference 2021 – Standing Order Report No.2

Please find attached the following:

• General Conference SOC Report Supplementary No.2

Any queries regarding this Letter to Branches should be addressed to Angela Niven on conferences@cwu.org

Yours sincerely,

Tony Kearns

Senior Deputy General Secretary

21LTB171 – CWU Virtual Special Rules Revision Conference – SOR No.2

VSRR SOR2.doc

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CWU Podcast For Delivery Members – Taking The Commitments Within The Pathway To Change Agreement Forward

We have produced a podcast as part of our engagement strategy with Delivery Office members, together with our Communications Department in order to keep our members informed and up to date with regard to taking the key commitments of the Pathway to Change Agreement forward.

As part of this strategy, we will aim to produce a podcast which will be released monthly.  Each episode will focus on a key issues for Delivery members. We will also seek input from our members and representatives so that the content is as lively and dynamic as possible covering the key issues. We will also be developing other communication and engagement initiatives aimed at keeping delivery members informed.

In line with this, please see below a link to episode one of our workplace podcast. Please could you share this as widely as possible using: –  WhatsApp, Social Media and email.

Here is the link:  https://soundcloud.com/the-cwu/delivery-members-podcast

Any enquires should be directed to the Outdoor Department, reference 555, email address: njones@gmail.com

Yours sincerely,

Mark Baulch                

CWU Assistant Secretary

LTB 170/21 – Podcast for Delivery Members

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A podcast to share with all delivery members.

🎙🎙 We sat down with National Officer Mark Baulch and covered a wide range of subjects involving revisions, part-time workers, culture, the post Covid world, equipment and more.

CWUandProud

EUREST (EX QUADRANT) PAY CLAIM 2021 – BALLOT RESULT

Reproduced below for the information of Branches is the result of the above ballot which has been received from Tony Kearns, Senior Deputy General Secretary:Ballot Papers Issued228Votes for Acceptance  80Votes Against   3Spoils   0

The ballot has therefore resulted in a return of 36% with approximately 96% voting in favour of the agreement.

Branches are requested to ensure that members are made aware of the result of this ballot.

The department has informed Eurest of the result and we understand that arrangements are being put in place for the increased rates of pay and any backdated monies to be paid to members in their April 2021 salaries.

Any enquiries in relation to this LTB should be addressed to Davie Robertson, Assistant Secretary, email: dwyatt@cwu.orgquoting reference number: 301.10.

Yours sincerely

Davie Robertson

Assistant Secretary

LTB 169/21 – Eurest (ex Quadrant) Pay Claim 2021 – Ballot Result

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RECENT CWU POLITICAL INTERVENTION – HARTLEPOOL POLL

You may have seen that the Union recently made a high-profile political intervention relating to the Hartlepool by-election due to be held in May.  This intervention was about much more than the current Labour leadership and this LTB is intended to offer a brief overview of why the poll was commissioned and the role that it plays as part of our wider political strategy.

Representatives and members who attended the CWU Engagement Event last year, will be aware of the importance that we placed on the need for the trade union movement to assert its own agenda and lead the way in reconnecting with the working-class communities that Labour lost in the 2019 general election.  It is widely accepted amongst political analysts/commentators that reversing this trend – which has been decades in the making – will require a fresh approach and some serious self-reflection across the Labour movement.

This point is at the heart of our political strategy and the independent Survation poll we commissioned in Hartlepool was designed to take this work forward in three key areas. 

Firstly, to see what voters in the so-called ‘Red Wall’ were thinking about key policies that support our own members’ jobs and that connect the CWU industrial and political agendas.

Secondly, it was designed to strengthen the call for trade unions to come together with our own distinct agenda and build support for the New Deal for Workers campaign.

Thirdly, it was to help assess where people in this ‘Red Wall’ seat are with Labour since the leadership change and a year of the challenges we have all faced from the pandemic.  National polls have shown that Labour is losing support across the country, with the public complaining that they do not know what the Party stands for. We are hearing this reflected from members who are becoming disillusioned with Labour.  This isn’t about disaffiliation from the Party – it is about making serious interventions that can help them change course towards a better strategy that connects with working people.

We wish to make clear that the Hartlepool constituency poll was independently undertaken through a high-profile national polling company, namely Survation. The poll was conducted by telephone and weighted to match the demographics of the seat itself, with a representative sample providing a valid polling result that reflected the constituency. The lead for the Tories of 7% has been reflected in recent national polls that show a similar lead for the Party over Labour. More recent polling has actually shown the Tory lead to be greater than this, including up to 14% in the latest national YouGov poll.

Our intervention received widespread national and regional coverage, with the call for the trade union movement to play a leading political role receiving newspaper and broadcast coverage across the country.

The full results of the poll and the text of the Times article that I produced to accompany the results are attached to this LTB.  We want this information out there so that we can have a serious engagement with Branches about the political strategy of our union. 

Alongside our work on developing a renewed political focus, we are keen to meet and engage with Branches, representatives and members on all the issues covered in this LTB and we welcome any Branch contacting my office through me or our National Political Lead, Liam Young, to arrange these meetings. 

We are also looking to set up a national political event in the near future where we will be able to discuss these issues in depth with some key guest speakers who can elaborate on all these subjects.  This work also ties in with the New Deal for Worker’s campaign and how we see the union expanding its influence in our Regions and local communities and we will update you on this in due course.

Any enquiries on the above LTB should be addressed to the GS Office – lyoung@cwu.org.

Yours sincerely

Dave Ward

General Secretary

LTB 168/21 – RECENT CWU POLITICAL INTERVENTION – HARTLEPOOL POLL

GS ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN THE TIME TO ACCOMPANY THE HARTLEPOOL POLL

CWU Hartlepool Constituency Poll Summary Document

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