Royal Mail Group – Latest Updated Coronavirus/Covid-19 – Frequently Asked Questions and Answers Guidance Document (Version 77):

I attach for your information Version 77 of the Royal Mail Group, Managers’ Coronavirus/Covid-19 Frequently Asked Questions and Answers Guidance document, issued by the business on 7 January 2021.

At the commencement of the Coronavirus/Covid-19 outbreak, Royal Mail Group established a ‘Business Pandemic Team’ which includes all national heads of department and this team meets regularly to review the situation across Royal Mail Group and to issue update Questions and Answers information communications to all managers, which is cascaded throughout the business.

The Coronavirus Guidance, version 77 Q&A document has been shared with the Union’s Health, Safety & Environment Department and is hereby circulated for information and reference purposes for CWU Regions, Health and Safety Reps, Branch and Divisional IR Reps.

The Q&A documents are circulated to all RMG managers and are also available to access through a link on the Royal Mail Group ‘Intranet’, in the ‘Managers Update Messages’ section.

Please note that changes and additions from the previous version are highlighted in ‘Yellow’ i.e.,

• Shared Vans Withdrawal
• On-site Gym closures.
• Visitors to Units limited to ‘Business Critical’
• Coronavirus Self-Isolation Guidance (i) following a repeat bout of symptoms and getting a second test, (ii) if someone you live with gets symptoms, (iii) if someone in your support bubble gets symptoms and you were in close contact

NOTE: Please also note that these Q & A documents are ‘Royal Mail Group’ advice documents and all the contents are not agreed with the CWU.

Contents List:

1. HEALTH

1. Prevention
2. Self-isolation, testing and reporting
3. Cleaning and consumables
4. Travel
5. Support and advice
6. POLICY 

1. General guidance
2. Travel/and annual holiday
3. Caring for dependants
4. Sick pay
5. Attendance process
6. Vulnerable employees
7. OPERATIONAL

1. General Ops advice
2. NHS testing kits
3. Operational processes and reporting changes
4. Delivering and collecting from customers
5. Fleet and vehicles
6. ADVICE FOR CUSTOMERS 

Any enquiries to this LTB or feedback on the RMG Q&A document should be directed to Dave Joyce CWU National Health, Safety & Environment Officer.

Attachment:

• Coronavirus Guidance Questions and Answers V77

Yours sincerely

Dave Joyce
National Health, Safety & Environment Officer

LTB 012/21 – RMG – Latest Updated Coronavirus Covid-19 – Frequently Asked Questions and Answers Guidance Document (Version 77)

Coronavirus Guidance Questions and Answers v77

CWU – OBITUARY LIST 2021

It is normal practice to include in the General Conference Agenda pad a reference to those members who have served the Union in many different capacities who have sadly passed away since the previous conference. 

However, due to the current pandemic and the uncertainty regarding when events can resume it has been agreed that an Obituary List will be published separately for this year.

The Obituary List for 2020/21 will be published in a Letter to Branches and shall include the names of all members who have died in the previous twelve months, as notified by Branches. 

To enable the list to be prepared all names must be received no later than Friday 26^thMarch 2021.   Unfortunately any names received after this date will not be able to be included.   Notification should be either by letter addressed to Angela Niven at CWU Headquarters or by email to conferences@cwu.org    Information supplied should include initials, surname and branch.

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

LTB 013/21 – CWU Obituary List 2021

CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 – Lockdown Measures within the UK

Due to the increase in cases and the new variant of Covid-19, further lockdown measures have been announced and we have been discussing these further measures with Royal Mail.

Shielding – Clinically Extremely Vulnerable – CEV
In Wales, Scotland, England and Northern Ireland Members in the Clinically Extremely Vulnerable Category cannot go to work even though we have key/critical worker status. You must stay at home.
Clinically Extremely Vulnerable Members should shield  immediately. If you have not already received a letter, you will be receiving a letter from the relevant Government/NHS and should be sent to Royal Mail when received.

Pay
Clinically Extremely Vulnerable members will continue to receive full sick pay, this includes members who have less than 12 months service.

Royal Mail have put out a communication which is attached at Appendix A.

Contact Numbers
Many members experience difficulty during lockdown. Please find below some helpline numbers you may find useful.

Refuge Domestic Abuse 0808 2000 247
Mind 0300 123 3393
Samaritans 116 123
Anxiety UK 03444 775 774
Calm 0800 58 58 58
Crisis text line (text) 85258
RM First Class Support 0800 6888777

Furlough

We are disappointed Royal Mail have not offered Furlough for members whose children cannot attend school. We have written to Royal Mail today to allow our members, whose children do not have access to school to be furloughed with full pay.

Review Dates

Whilst all devolved nations are providing the same shielding advice, the review dates are not. The review dates for each devolved nation is below:-

Wales January 18 2021
Scotland Beginning of February 2021
Northern Ireland Mid-February 2021
England Mid-February 2021

Any enquiries regarding the content of this LTB should be addressed to the PTCS Department, quoting reference 420 Email address: khay@cwu.org

Yours sincerely

Carl Maden
Assistant Secretary (Acting)
PTCS Department

21LTB004

App.A

Parcelforce Worldwide Regional Organiser, Parcelforce Worldwide Regional Organiser Substitute and Parcelforce Worldwide Regional Chair – 2021

Nominations are invited from Branches with Members in the respective Parcelforce Worldwide regions (including members in RMSS) for the following Parcelforce Worldwide Regional Organiser positions:

• South East Region
• Central Region
• Scotland/Northern Ireland/North East Region
• Northern Region
• South Central Wales & West Region

Election of:  Parcelforce Worldwide Area Organiser– 2021

Nominations are invited from Branches in Northern Ireland with members in the respective Parcelforce Worldwide Area (including members in RMSS) for the following Parcelforce Worldwide Area Organiser position;

• Northern Ireland

The term of office for the above positions is two years and the successful candidates will take up office on 16^th March 2021 however candidates should be aware that the above Regional and Area positions have been under review for some time by the CWU & Royal Mail and therefore the term of office may be subject to change.

A Nomination form is attached to this LTB. If additional forms are required they are available on request from the Senior Deputy General Secretary Department. Completed forms which must be signed by the Branch Secretary and Branch Chair or accredited deputies and the nominee, should be returned to Tony Kearns, Senior Deputy General Secretary, on the following email elections@cwu.org by 9^th February 2021 (14:00).   

The timetable for the election is as follows:

Nominations Open:                        11^thJanuary 2021

Nominations Close:                        9^thFebruary 2021 (14:00)

Ballot Papers Despatched:          16^thFebruary 2021

Ballot Close:                                      16^th March 2021 (First Post)

If ballots are required, these will be conducted on an individual member ballot basis of the relevant eligible CWU members and will be conducted in accordance with the election guidelines for CWU Senior Regional/Field officials, a copy of the guidelines are attached for your information.

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

Yours sincerely,

Tony Kearns

Senior Deputy General Secretary

LTB 010/21

Election Guidelines

CWU Regional Org Nomination Form

Substitute Regional Org Nomination Form

Regional Chair Nomination Form

CWU Area Org NI Nomination Form

Candidate Consent & Biographical Details Form

Election of: Parcelforce Worldwide Area Health & Safety Representative/Substitute Area Health & Safety Representatives – 2021

Nominations are invited from Branches with Members in the respective Parcelforce Worldwide regions (including members in RMSS) for the following Parcelforce Worldwide Area Health & Safety Representative & Substitute positions;

• North, Scotland & Northern Ireland Region
• Central Region
• South West Region
• South East Region

The term of office for the above positions is two years and the successful candidates will take up office on 16^th March 2021, however candidates should be aware that the above positions have been under review for some time by the CWU & Parcelforce and therefore the term of office may be subject to change.

A Nomination form is attached to this LTB. If additional forms are required they are available on request from the Senior Deputy General Secretary Department. Completed forms which must be signed by the Branch Secretary and Branch Chair or accredited deputies and the nominee, should be returned to Tony Kearns, Senior Deputy General Secretary, on the following email elections@cwu.org by 9^th February 2021 (14:00).

The timetable for the election is as follows:

Nominations Open:                        11^thJanuary 2021

Nominations Close:                        9^thFebruary 2021 (14:00)

Ballot Papers Despatched:          16^thFebruary 2021

Ballot Close:                                      16^th March 2021 (First Post)

If Ballots are required, these will be conducted on an individual member ballot basis of the relevant eligible CWU members and will be conducted in accordance with the election guidelines for CWU Senior Regional/Field officials, a copy of the guidelines are attached for your information.

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

Yours sincerely,

Tony Kearns

Senior Deputy General Secretary

LTB 011/21

Election Guidelines

Parcels Area H&S Rep Nomination Form

Parcels Substite Area H&S Rep Nomination Form

Candidate Consent & Biographical Details Form

POST OFFICE: POSTMASTERS – ELECTION OF TWO NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS

Last August the Post Office announced it was to appoint a Postmaster as a Non-Executive
Director (NED) to sit on the Post Office Board to “advocate the interests of more than
8,000 Postmasters” (press release from 17th August attached). This development came
about following the various rulings of Judge Fraser against the Post Office in the Horizon
court case and the subsequent establishment of the Horizon Inquiry chaired by
Sir Wyn Williams. Nick Read, CEO, has consistently said he wants to “reset the
relationship” with Postmasters, and giving Postmasters a voice on the Board goes some
way towards this, providing they are fully independent and accountable to those they
represent.

Whilst we welcomed the appointment of a Postmaster NED when it was first announced,
we obviously had concerns over the appointment process; the fact that just one new
director was being proposed; the need to ensure that the director was independent in
order to hold the Post Office to account; and over whether the director was going to be
chosen democratically via an election or selected by the current Post Office Board and
Government. Dave Ward, General Secretary, therefore wrote to Paul Scully MP, Post Office
Minister, in late August to highlight these concerns and also to urge him to consider the
CWU’s proposal that alongside any Postmaster seats, there should be an additional place
on the Board for direct employees of the Post Office, being elected from a Crown Office,
or within Supply Chain/Admin.

I also raised the matter of a second Board appointment for Postmasters directly with
Nick Read, Post Office CEO, at the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Post Offices
meeting on 2nd November as he was in attendance at the invitation of the Chair,
Marion Fellows, SNP MP. We were concerned as it could be perceived that one
Postmaster’s voice would be a hollow or token gesture and therefore a further Postmaster
NED was required.

Further Announcement – Two Postmasters as Non-Executive Directors

On Monday 4th January, following an informed media report from Sky News on Sunday 3rd,
the Post Office confirmed there will now be two Postmaster NED appointments to the Board
which is a positive development and one we argued for (press release and “One Update”
communication from Nick Read attached). A further positive is that the process appears
to be being run independently of the Post Office and BEIS and there will be an election for
the position. Following a selection process by independent recruitment specialists, Green
Park, a number of candidates will be interviewed by an independent selection panel who
will then put a shortlist of candidates to a vote of the Postmaster community in March.
The election will be overseen by Civica Elections Services (formally Electoral Reform
Services – ERS) and the two candidates with the most votes will be recommended to the
Board and the Post Office Minister for final approval. The new NEDs are expected to
commence their roles from 1st April.

We welcome these developments with an additional post and an election process, however
we intend to raise a number of further questions about the election and shortlisting
processes and the shortlisting panel, and we will be following the selection process
carefully as clearly it needs to be fair and transparent throughout to win the confidence of
postmasters. In particular we will be closely following any further announcement
regarding members of the independent selection panel for the interviews for selection for
the ballot as the list published earlier this week doesn’t seem to be exhaustive.

CWU to Call Upon the Post Office/BEIS to Allow for an Additional NED

Whilst Monday’s news is welcome, we also don’t believe this goes far enough in terms of
representation for every Post Office worker which we have pushed for and we will therefore
be writing to both Nick Read and Paul Scully MP to propose once again that our directly
employed members are properly represented by having a spokesperson from this group
elected to a further NED position on the Board.

We will also be proposing CWU engagement with the Post Office on a range of issues in
relation to the NED role including confidentiality, training, ongoing
engagement/communication with Postmasters, conflicts of interest, etc. We also wish to
pursue greater transparency around the shortlisting criteria. Furthermore, we believe
there should be an appeals process involving an additional independent panel if an
applicant is not selected for the ballot and can demonstrate they have good reason to
appeal the decision.

Of course, any seat on the Board cannot replace the need for trade union representation
and collective bargaining either for Postmasters or employees. We continue to push the
Post Office to recognise the CWU as the only truly free and independent voice for
Postmasters and are raising this alongside the questions we have about NED positions on
the Board.

Further developments will be reported.

Yours sincerely

Andy Furey
Assistant Secretary

LTB 008/21 – Post Office – Postmasters – Election of Two Non-Executive Directors

Attachment 1 to 21LTB008 – PO Press Release 2020.08.17

Attachment 2 to 21LTB008 – PO Press Release 2021.01.04

Attachment 3 to 21 LTB008 – One News Special – A message from CEO Nick Read 2021.01.04

RMG & CWU KEY PRINCIPALS FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT (THE PATHWAY TO CHANGE) CONSULTATIVE BALLOT TIMETABLE

Further to LTB 607/20 circulated on 22^ndDecember 2020 the timetable for the consultative ballot is detailed below. Ballot Papers will be dispatched and returned by First Class Post.

• Ballot Papers Dispatched Monday 18^thJanuary 2021
• Ballot Closes First Post Wednesday 3^rdFebruary 2021
• Result announced Wednesday 3^rd February 2021 (Afternoon)

Online Voting

The option to vote online will also be available for Postal CWU Grades taking part in this consultative ballot. The online option will be via a secure voting site administered by Civica specifically for this ballot. The details and instructions for the online option will be contained on the ballot paper.

Please note that members will only be able to vote once, either by post or online, the software system used to count the votes will not allow more than one vote to be counted for each member.

All enquiries regarding the content of this LTB should be referred to the Deputy General Secretary (Postal) Department (hford@cwu.org) or Senior Deputy General Secretary Department (lparrett@cwu.org) as appropriate.

Yours sincerely,

Terry Pullinger

Deputy General Secretary (Postal)   

LTB 007/21 – RMG & CWU KEY PRINCIPALS FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT (THE PATHWAY TO CHANGE) CONSULTATIVE BALLOT TIMETABLE

NATIONAL BRIEFINGS – RMG & CWU KEY PRINCIPLES FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT

(THE PATHWAY TO CHANGE)

Further to LTB 003/21 issued yesterday, for the avoidance of doubt please note that the following Representatives are invited to attend the Parcelforce Worldwide Briefing listed below:

• PFW Depot Representatives
• PFW Area Representative

Thursday 7^th January 2pm – 5pm– Parcelforce Briefing

Davie Robertson, Assistant Secretary.

Link to register:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0ld-CgqTsrEtWYgQ0_Or0zuWBgwUgcf-eS

The business has agreed that release will be provided for Representatives to take part in the Briefing.

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 005/21 – NATIONAL BRIEFINGS – RMG CWU KEY PRINCIPLES FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT – THE PATHWAY TO CHANGE

CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 – Lockdown Measures within the UK

Due to the increase in cases and the new variant of Covid-19, further lockdown measures have been announced and we have been discussing these further measures with Royal Mail.

Shielding – Clinically Extremely Vulnerable – CEV
In Wales, Scotland, England and Northern Ireland Members in the Clinically Extremely Vulnerable Category cannot go to work even though we have key/critical worker status. You must stay at home.
Clinically Extremely Vulnerable Members should shield  immediately. If you have not already received a letter, you will be receiving a letter from the relevant Government/NHS and should be sent to Royal Mail when received.

Pay
Clinically Extremely Vulnerable members will continue to receive full sick pay, this includes members who have less than 12 months service.

Royal Mail have put out a communication which is attached at Appendix A.

Contact Numbers
Many members experience difficulty during lockdown. Please find below some helpline numbers you may find useful.

Refuge Domestic Abuse 0808 2000 247
Mind 0300 123 3393
Samaritans 116 123
Anxiety UK 03444 775 774
Calm 0800 58 58 58
Crisis text line (text) 85258
RM First Class Support 0800 6888777

Furlough

We are disappointed Royal Mail have not offered Furlough for members whose children cannot attend school. We have written to Royal Mail today to allow our members, whose children do not have access to school to be furloughed with full pay.

Review Dates

Whilst all devolved nations are providing the same shielding advice, the review dates are not. The review dates for each devolved nation is below:-

Wales January 18 2021
Scotland Beginning of February 2021
Northern Ireland Mid-February 2021
England Mid-February 2021

Any enquiries regarding the content of this LTB should be addressed to the PTCS Department, quoting reference 420 Email address: khay@cwu.org

Yours sincerely

Carl Maden
Assistant Secretary (Acting)
PTCS Department

21LTB004

App.A

CWU Social Media Directory

Dear colleagues,

Over recent years, the whole union has significantly enhanced its presence on social media. We have seen some fantastic work from Branches, Regions and Divisions.

We want to put together a directory of all the CWU accounts across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. We will then share this document with all branches on a regular basis to enable you to follow, like and share each other’s accounts.

On that basis can we request Branches, Regions and Divisions to send names and details of their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts via email to Marcia Murray mmurray@cwu.org

The cut off date for emails will be February 5th.

If this piece of work is successful, we will then branch out to other social media channels.

Kind regards

Chris Webb

Head of Communications, Engagement and Media 

LTB 006.21