CWU Equality Month & Online Equality Event

The Equality, Education & Development department are delighted to confirm that we will be hosting CWU Equality Month throughout the month of March, which will conclude with an Online Equality Event taking place on Friday 26th March 2021 through zoom.

The month will be an opportunity to engage in a number of activities across our equality strands that will link many key issues discussed back to the workplace.

Below is an outline of the structure which in each week will include Webinars, Podcasts and Workshops, some of which will be hosted by NEC Equality Leads and Regional Leads.

A link for the programme can be found here

Week 1 – 1st March will be dedicated to a number of events with the focus primarily around disability in the workplace.

Week 2 – 8th March this week will focus on engagement around women and will coincide with International Women’s Day.

Week 3 – 15th March aims to raise awareness around matters of direct relevance to our BAME members, this week also coincides with UN Anti-Racism Day.

Week 4 – 22nd March the final week will see us focusing on the LGBT+ community in the run up to International Transgender Day of Visibility.

Online Equality Event

The Online Equality Event will be held on Friday 26th March 2021 from 10:00 – 16:00.

The day will bring together the work that has taken place throughout the month of March and a number of innovative sessions, which will include how we build on our achievements and the CWU’s commitment to achieving a more inclusive union.

All Branch Equality Officers, Regional Equality Leads and any representative’s or members with an interest in Equality are invited to attend.

Register

Further details will follow on the full days programme and how to register delegates for the main event on the 26th March 2021.

Any enquiries in relation to this LTB should be directed to the equality&education@cwu.org

Yours sincerely,

Kate Hudson
Head of Equality, Education & Development

LTB 070/21 – CWU Equality Month Online Equality Event

Tomorrow for the first time since 1999 we will see strike action in BT Group as 170 Openreach engineers defend their terms and conditions.

At 7pm tomorrow we want to hold a mass solidarity session on Zoom and every CWU rep and member is welcome.

We would urge you to join us at 7pm tomorrow by simply registering via the link below.

When they come for one CWU member, they come for us all.

Sign up and show your solidarity

CWUandProud

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEqdeiqqzkrHtT9A0U-4TF3YBV3jdbLhFFq

Royal Mail Fleet Maintenance Territorial Representative Vacancy – South West, West Coast & South Wales

Further to LTB 036/2021 dated 2nd February 2021.

At the close of nominations today the following nominations have been received:-

Ian Gray Western                                         MT Branch *ELECTED

Congratulations to Ian on being elected and welcome to the position of Fleet Territorial Representative.

All enquiries regarding the content of this LTB should be addressed to the PTCS Department, quoting reference 220. Email address: khay@cwu.org.

Yours sincerely,

Carl Maden
Assistant Secretary (Acting)

LTB068

TUC BLACK WORKERS CONFERENCE 2021 – REGISTRATION LINK

Further to LTB 066/21 with regards the above conference the link for registeration was incorrect.   The correct link to register is below:

https://www.tuc.org.uk/TUCconferences

Those interested in attending the Black Workers Conference will need to pre-register.  Once registered, attendees will be sent regular updates containing conference documents and links to sign up for the individual sessions that will be running along with panel debates and fringe events and workshops.

Registration will be open until the day prior to the Conference, but attendees are encouraged to register before 15^th March 2021 to ensure that they receive all communications and have enough time to secure their place at any breakout sessions.

To obtain as high attendance as possible we encourage you to circulate this information to your members.

Any further enquiries with regards this please contact conferences@cwu.org or Angela Niven on 020 8971 7256.

Dave Ward
General Secretary

21LTB069 – TUC Black Workers Conference Registration Link

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National Terms of Reference – New Uniform Range Trials (The New Performance Wardrobe)

Dear Colleagues,

For some time now discussions have been taking place with Royal Mail in relation to trial activity of a new
uniform range, recognising that a number of the existing standard uniform items have been in place for some
10 years or more.

These discussions have now been concluded and the attached Terms of Reference have been agreed by
the Postal Executive; also attached are images of the new uniform range.

Whilst the Terms of Reference are self-explanatory, in summary the new uniform range due to be trialled, is
a complete refresh of the current uniform and builds on some of the latest commercial design and fabric
developments. More importantly, this also takes into direct account frontline employee feedback received
over the past few years from the workplace Uniform Roadshow visits.

The new uniform range (which Royal Mail have entitled The Performance Wardrobe) will be trialled across
11 different job roles within Royal Mail Group and includes some 340 frontline colleagues who have all
agreed to be involved and who have been selected to ensure both a gender and age profile representative
balance.

Clearly, the wider relevance of this trial on uniform against the ongoing everyday challenges and strain,
faced by members who continue to provide the UK with essential services during the Covid-19 pandemic, is
fully understood. Nonetheless, the union wholeheartedly welcomes the trial and what is hoped to be a real
improvement to the current uniform.

Any queries to the content of the above please contact Mark Baulch, Outdoor Department, email address:
njones@cwu.org, quoting reference 500, or to Davie Robertson, Processing, Logistics, Parcelforce,
International, Quadrant Department, email: dwaytt@cwu.org quoting reference: 005, or to Carl Maden, PTCS
Department, email address: khay@cwu.org, quoting reference 420.

Mark Baulch 
CWU Assistant Secretary

Carl Maden
CWU Assistant Secretary (Acting)

Davie Robertson
CWU Assistant Secretary

LTB 067/21 – National Terms of Reference New Uniform Range Trials
Final TOR National New Uniform Range
Appendix 1 Uniform TOR
Appendix 2 Uniform TOR
Photos of New Uniform Range 2021

TUC BLACK WORKERS CONFERENCE 2021 – REGISTRATION

This year the TUC Black Workers Conference is being held as a virtual conference.   The conference is scheduled to run from Friday 19th March until Sunday 21st March and registration to attend is open to all.   The timetable for the conference is as follows:

Friday 19 March

10.00                    Race Relations Pre-Meeting

10.30 – 11.30am  Extended Committee Meeting

2.00pm – 3.00pm    Racism a Trade Union response 

Members from the TUC Anti-Racism Taskforce will explore how we can use the Black Lives Matters campaign’s momentum to make trade unions more effective at fighting racism and more inclusive for Black workers.

4.00pm – 5.30pm    Making Black Lives Matter 

An international panel of speakers from Brazil, India, Palestine, South Africa and the USA will discuss how we can reinvigorate and rebuild and international anti-racism movement

6.00pm – 7.30pm   Art Exhibition Launch 

Our annual TUC Black Workers’ Conference is moving online and will be launched in conjunction with ‘Artists Union of England’. An opportunity to see and hear from young creative and radial Black artists taking part in the exhibition.

Saturday 20 March

Four workshops will be running that will gives a chance to input into the TUC Anti-Racism Taskforce work. The workshops will be led by members from each of the TUC Anti-Racism Taskforce workstreams and provide an opportunity to discuss questions on each area in breakout rooms. Numbers for the workshops will be limited, so if you want to get involved sign up as soon as possible.

The titles of the workshops are as follows:

10.00 am –    11.15 am Workshop One – Organising will explore

11.30 pm –   12.45 am Workshop Two  – Negotiating and Collective Bargaining

  2.00 pm –     3.15 pm Workshop Three – Public Policy

  3.30 pm –      4.45 pm Workshop Four – Black Unions and Representation

A maximum number of ten participants will be a put in each breakroom. Therefore, each workshop’s maximum number of participants will depend on the number of available facilitators for each workshop.

Sunday 21 March

2.00 pm – 3.30 pm   Race, COVID–19 and the Vaccine 

A panel of experts will inform you about Vaccine development, how the Covid19 vaccine works with the immune system and how the vaccination program is impacting BME communities.

The CWU do have an involvement at the conference.  Those interested in attending the Black Workers Conference will need to pre-register.  Once registered, attendees will be sent regular updates containing conference documents and links to sign up for the individual sessions that will be running along with panel debates and fringe events and workshops.

Registration will be open until the day prior to the Conference, but attendees are encouraged to register before 15^th March 2021 to ensure that they receive all communications and have enough time to secure their place at any breakout sessions.

To obtain as high attendance as possible we encourage you to circulate this information to your members.   The link to register is as follows:

BlackWorkersConference@TUC.ORG.UK

Any further enquiries with regards this please contact conferences@cwu.org or Angela Niven on 020 8971 7256.

Dave Ward

General Secretary

LTB 066/21 – TUC Black Workers Conference-Registration

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TUC YOUNG WORKERS CONFERENCE 2021 – REGISTRATION

This year the TUC Young Workers Conference will be held as a virtual conference. The conference is scheduled to run from Saturday 27th March until Sunday 28^th March and registration to attend is open to all young workers.    The themes to be debated and discussed reflect the key issues emerging from the final agenda which are as follows;

Saturday 27 March: The unequal impact of Covid-19 on young workers 

Session         Opening Speech with Q&A, Frances O’Grady, General Secretary TUC

Time             10:00 to 10:45

Session         Conference debate

Time             11:00 to 12:00

Title              Covid-19 and the impact on young workers

Session         Political Speaker

Time             13:00 to 13:45

Speaker        TBC

Session         Panel Discussion on Stopping Mass Unemployment of Young People

Time             14:00 to 15:00

Session         Workshops and Fringes

Time             15:00 to 17:00 (workshops from 15:00, fringes from 16:00)

Sunday 28 March: Mental Health of Young Workers 

Session         Opening Speaker on Antiracism/Black Lives Matter

Time             11:00 to 12:00

Speaker        TBC

Session         Conference Debate

Time             11:00 to 12:00

Title              Mental Health of Young Workers

Session         Panel Discussion

Time             12:00 to 13:00

Title              Rising to the Challenge, what we need to do.

The CWU will have an involvement at the conference.  Those interested in attending the Young Workers Conference will need to pre-register.  Once registered, attendees will be sent regular updates containing conference documents and links to sign up for the individual sessions that will be running along with panel debates and fringe events.

Registration will be open until the day prior to the Conference, but attendees are encouraged to register before 12^th March 2021 to ensure that they receive all communications and have enough time to secure their place at any breakout sessions.

To obtain as high attendance as possible we encourage you to circulate this information to your members.   The link to register is as follows:

https://www.tuc.org.uk/events/young-workers-conference-2021

Any further enquiries with regards this please contact ltownsend@cwu.org

Dave Ward

General Secretary

LTB 065/21 – TUC Young Workers Conference 2021 Registration

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PSP – PAYROLL RUN AND OVERTIME PAYMENTS FOR 26^TH FEBRUARY 2021

The DGS(P) Department has received confirmation from Royal Mail Group that the PSP system will be closed to users at 1800 on 19^th February 2021 (this evening), with the payroll re-opening around 0600 on Monday 22^nd February 2021.

The reason for the closure is to complete the calculation of back-pay / arrears for the April 2020 pay rise as next week’s payroll runs over this weekend.

This means that the inputting for weekly overtime this week had to be completed by 1700 tonight, in order to be included in the weekly pay on Friday 26^th February 2021.

When the system re-opens on Monday 22^ndFebruary 2021 any payments / hours keyed will be paid on Friday 5^th March 2021.  This may therefore apply to overtime performed on Saturday 20^th and Sunday 21^st February 2021.

Branches should ensure that the contents of this LTB are made available to all representatives so that they can respond to any enquiries that may come their way.

Any enquiries in relation to the content of this LTB should be addressed to the DGS(P) Department.

Yours sincerely,

Terry Pullinger

Deputy General Secretary (Postal)      

LTB 064/21 PSP – PAYROLL RUN AND OVERTIME PAYMENTS FOR 26TH FEBRUARY 2021

POST OFFICE: CLINICALLY EXTREMELY VULNERABLE – JOINT STATEMENT

Branches are advised that all Post Office employees categorised as Clinically Extremely
Vulnerable and pregnant employees have been shielding on paid special leave since 5th
November 2020 and are not expected to return to work until at least 31st March 2021.

As a consequence of new government guidelines issued on 16th February 2021, a further
1.7m adults have now been identified by medical experts as being at higher risk and
therefore now fall into the category of CEV. These people will shortly be receiving letters
advising them to shield.

Consistent with the original agreement those newly designated CEV, if employed by the
Post Office, will also be offered paid special leave with immediate effect. Whilst there
is no definitive list of those who have now been included, the NHS is using a Covid-19
Population Risk Assessment to determine the priority group.

The following Joint Statement has been issued informing members of the latest
development:

JOINT STATEMENT POST OFFICE, CWU AND UNITE
Clinically Extremely Vulnerable Employees

Following the guidance released by Government on 16th February the number of
people who are being asked to self-isolate is to be increased. This new
Government risk assessment takes into account extra factors other than just
underlying health conditions to determine an individual’s risk of becoming
seriously ill if they were to catch COVID 19.

We will continue with our approach that all Clinically Extremely Vulnerable
colleagues should be placed on paid Special Leave with immediate effect. This
includes individuals who are pregnant who are unable to work from home and
those that have received a letter from their GP or NHS asking them to shield.
Those able to work from home will continue to do so.

If you receive a letter from your GP or the NHS in the next few weeks, please let
your line manager know so they can support you on the next steps.

In line with the Government guidance colleagues should shield till at least 31st
March. We will continue to review this approach and Government guidance with
the aim of providing a further update by 31st March. Colleagues placed on Special
Leave as a result of this announcement will not return to work before this date.

Lee Kelly                                      Phil Savage                       Andy Furey
Employee Relations &            Unite the Union              CWU Assistant Secretary
Policy Director

Branches and Representatives are urged to bring this LTB and associated Joint
Statement to the attention of our Post Office members.

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

Yours sincerely

Andy Furey
Assistant Secretary

LTB 063/21 – Post Office -Clinically Extremely Vulnerable – Joint Statement