Election of: Parcelforce Worldwide Area Health & Safety Representative/Substitute Area Health & Safety Representatives 2021
Further to LTB 011/2021 dated 8th January 2021 at the close of nominations on the 9th February 2021 the following were received:
AREA HEALTH & SAFETY REPRESENTATIVESNorth/Scotland & Northern IrelandBallot RequiredPaul DevlinGlasgow & District Amal BranchMalcolm WoodsGreater Mersey & S W Lancs AmalCentral RegionMatthew BurchnallDoncaster & District Amal*ELECTEDSouth West RegionSimon WareingBristol & District Amal Branch*ELECTEDSouth East RegionNicola WilmerKent Invicta Branch*ELECTED
SUBSTITUTE AREA HEALTH & SAFETY REPRESENTATIVESNorth/Scotland & Northern IrelandBallot RequiredDavid AgnewNorthern Ireland Combined BranchPaul DevlinGlasgow & District Amal BranchCentral RegionNimisha VekariaSouth Midlands Postal Branch*ELECTEDSouth West RegionBallot RequiredGeoff BaggottPlymouth & East Cornwall BranchDarryl MorrellBournemouth & Dorset Amal BranchBarry ParkerSouth East No 5 BranchSouth East RegionAaron GreenRomford Amal Branch*ELECTED
The timetable for the ballots for the Area Health & Safety Representative in the North/Scotland and Northern Ireland Region and South West Region is as follows:
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.
This year the TUC Disabled Workers Conference will be held as a virtual conference. The conference is scheduled to run from Wednesday 10th March until Thursday 11th March and registration to attend is open to all. The timetable for the conference is as follows:
Wednesday 10th March:
The unequal impact of Covid-19 on disabled workers
Session Conference debate
Time 14:00 to 16:10
Title Organising against the unequal impact of covid-19 on disabled workers
Speakers Frances O’Grady, General Secretary TUC
Dave Alan, Co-Chair of the TUC Disabled Workers Committee
Thursday 11 March:
The role of trade unions in securing and enforcing Reasonable Adjustments
Session Panel Discussion
Time 12:00 to 13:30
Title The role of visibility in tackling disability discrimination
Speakers TBC
Session Conference debate
Time 14:00 to 16:10
Title The role of trade unions in securing and enforcing Reasonable Adjustments
Speakers TBC
The CWU do have an involvement at the conference. Those interested in attending the Disabled 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 25th February 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:
NATIONAL PENSIONERS CONVENTION – LGBT WORKING GROUP
We have been approached by the National Pensioners Convention (NPC) to nominate a Retired Member to sit on their LGBT Working Group.
Accordingly, this LTB is to ask Branches that if they believe any of their LGBT Retired Members would like to sit on this working group that they please forward name, membership number and contact details to sdgs@cwu.org by Friday 19th February.
The NPC LGBT Working Group is a new working party, set up after the 2019 Biennially Delegate Conference, to represent the interests of retired LGBT people both within the NPC and in wider society. There are many challenges, much ignorance and outright prejudice – including issues with housing, isolation, loneliness, lack of understanding and respect for lifestyle choices that older LGBT people face.
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.
KEY PRINCIPLES FRAMEWORK – THE PATHWAY TO CHANGE AGREEMENT (PAY ARRANGEMENTS)
Further to LTB 38/21 which confirmed the ballot result and endorsement of the above agreement, following dialogue with the business, details of the implementation of the two pay awards are reproduced below.2020 – 2.7% Pay Award
2.7% uplift of weekly paid employees to commence from 22nd February 2021 and in February salaries for monthly paid employees. The uplift and arrears will be received at the same time by both weekly and monthly paid employees on pay date Friday 26th February 2021.
Colleagues will appreciate that the payroll team experience a very heavy workload at the start of April, including work related to the tax year end. In addition to this the 1% pay uplift coinciding with the Easter holidays has made it difficult to implement the weekly pay uplift from the start of April. The arrangements for this element of the pay award are detailed below.2021 – 1.0% Pay Award
The 1% uplift will be implemented from week commencing 26th April 2021 for weekly paid employees. The revised pay rates and arrears will be in both monthly and weekly-paid employee’s pay packets on 30th April 2021 (backdated to the start of April).
The pay review and arrears will not apply to any former employee who left employment prior to the date of communication of the negotiators’ agreement on 18th December 2020.
Any enquiries in relation to the content of this LTB should be addressed to the DGS(P) Department.
As part of this week of activity, each union has been asked to hold an online event. We have chosen to host National Follow the Union Day on Friday 12th February.
This day will be used to highlight the details of the national unions social media channels and ask as many members as possibly to like and follow our accounts. In the coming days we will produce materials which will aid branches in promoting the event. We would also encourage branches to advertise and promote your own social media channels as part of this event.
Whilst, on the face of it, this event may not seem one of our more significant moments, it is absolutely critical that as we face serious issues with our employers and we seek to grow our influence in the wider movement, we have the greatest natural reach possible.
National Follow the Union Day will be backed by a number of high-profile figures across our movement who will share messages of support throughout the day.
We would also ask branches to use the day to promote the best of our union. With this in mind our hashtag for next Friday will be #CWUandProud – so we want videos, messages and graphics letting the whole movement know why you are so proud to be CWU.
Please support this event, grow our channels and play in key role in getting our messages out to members.
The industrial action ballot involving our Repayment Project Engineer members closed today. I am delighted to publish the result in line with the required legislation.
(a) number of ballot papers sent out – 170
(b) votes cast in the ballot – 160
(c) individuals answering “Yes” to the question, or as the case may be, to each question – 138
(d) individuals answering “No” to the question, or, as the case may be, to each question – 22
(e) spoiled voting papers – 0
(f) Percentage of number of votes cast in line with the number of individuals entitled to vote in the ballot – 94%
This is an absolutely fantastic outcome and clearly shows the strength of feeling among the members impacted by the imposed changes. Our RPE members have driven this campaign from the beginning until today in order to ensure that the RPE role remains as a team member grade. This will undoubtedly continue and by acting as a collective we will deliver the outcome they set out to achieve.
The support given by reps, Branches, Regional Co-ordinators, the National Team and Executive has been invaluable and is appreciated by the members who have made their voice heard with this result. This is not a CWU driven issue or campaign as has been suggested by the company.
The company must now reflect on this outcome and return to the negotiating table with a genuine desire to resolve this dispute by reaching an agreement that ensures the RPE role remains a team member grade. The CWU is willing to meet the company as soon as possible in order to progress the discussions. In the absence of a commitment to move forward on that basis then the appropriate notice and strike action will take place.
Branches will be kept up to date with progress and are asked to ensure they continue to support their members in the days and weeks ahead.
Any enquiries from Branches regarding this LTB should be referred to my office in the first instance.
POST OFFICE: POSTMASTERS: HORIZON INQUIRY – HAVE YOUR SAY
The Inquiry into the Horizon scandal currently being undertaken by retired Judge Sir Wyn Williams and his team is looking for current or former Postmasters and/or their families to take part in focus groups over the next few weeks. The CWU is encouraging as many Postmasters as possible to participate in this important process in order to further expose the ongoing flaws and previous poor attitude from Post Office management. The first focus group took place on 15th January and Mark Baker, our Postmasters Branch Secretary and serving Postmaster took part in this interesting session, along with two other CWU Postmaster members. The recording of this focus group can be accessed here
In conjunction with our Communications Department a dedicated CWU web page on the Horizon Inquiry has been constructed which provides the full details and links to the application process for the further focus groups. My thanks go to the Comms Team for their excellent work in this regard. A web story has also been published with all associated links and can be accessed here
We believe it is imperative that Postmasters’ voices are heard to make sure those Senior Directors who were responsible for ruining the lives of so many are fully held to account for their actions in the Horizon scandal. Therefore, Branches are urged to give wide publicity to this activity via all available channels including social media.
Parliamentary Questions – 1st February 2021
Interestingly, the following two questions was tabled by Kevan Jones Labour MP for North Durham:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether (a) Post Office or (b) his Department (i) has taken or (ii) plans to take, any legal action against Fujitsu following the civil litigation case Alan Bates and Others and Post Office Limited.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans the Post Office has to seek financial compensation from Fujitsu in response to the costs incurred in the civil litigation case Alan Bates and Others and Post Office Limited.
Paul Scully, BEIS Minister provided the following identical answer to both questions:
While the Government sets the strategic direction for the Post Office, it allows the company the commercial freedom to deliver this strategy as an independent business. The details regarding contracts with Fujitsu and seeking financial compensation, are an operational matter for Post Office Limited.
The Department has not taken, and has no plans to take, any legal action against Fujitsu.
EDM 593: Judge-led public inquiry into the Horizon scandal
It is good to report in recent weeks there has been a significant increase to the number of signatures to this EDM regarding Horizon, which we previously highlighted to Branches in various LTBs including 311/20. The EDM now has 137 signatures and I am grateful to those Branches and Representatives who have promoted this topical EDM to their MPs and wider political circles. However, in the absence of a proper judicial inquiry, the Union believes we should engage with the only vehicle currently open to us, meaning we will continue to participate in Sir Wyn Williams’ Inquiry.
The parliamentary questions above, together with the EDM demonstrate that the Horizon scandal remains very much under the microscope from politicians.
ROYAL MAIL CONSULTATIVE BALLOT – RMG AND CWU KEY PRINCIPLES FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT (THE PATHWAY TO CHANGE) – BALLOT RESULTS
Please see below the result for the above named ballot.ResultFOR53,99891.5%AGAINST5,0338.5%Number of eligible voters112,595Votes cast by post:38,671Votes cast online:20,384Total number of votes cast:59,055Turnout:52.4%Number of votes found to be invalid:24Total number of valid votes to be counted:59,031
This emphatic ‘Yes’ vote marks the end of an extremely testing two-year dispute with Royal Mail Group and we would like to place on record our sincere thanks to all of our Representatives and members for the invaluable contribution they have made to society as key workers but also for their outstanding and unflinching solidarity to each other and their union.
This collective strength has enabled us to defeat an ideology all too present in society today, where greed and profit is more important than service and culture. We now have an agreement that offers hope, growth, job security and the protection of a wonderful public service.
The race to the bottom, mass job losses and declining business strategy has been defeated and we now have a Royal Mail Group leadership that totally support this agreement and are committed to working with the CWU to redesign and grow this great public service.
Embracing change and creating a positive and mature mutual interest culture is at the heart of this agreement. Our members are the most trusted provider on the door step, customers have total confidence in their postal worker and we are and always have been an essential service.
This past year has proven beyond doubt the vital role postal workers have in society, from Covid test kits, vaccination appointments and keeping every business, government service and household connected, our members have delivered against the greatest odds.
We have always known the value of the service our members provide to society.
We know what a modern universal service looks like.
We know what a decent job looks like.
We know what the value of job security is for our members and their families.
We have fought for so long for a vision of the future and the right to shape it, this agreement gives us the opportunity to do that.
There is now a massive job ahead of us to deploy the terms of the agreement and ensure the mutual benefits are achieved – let’s start that work now.
Please ensure that these results are brought to the urgent attention of the members of your Branch.
Any enquiries in relation to the content of this LTB should be addressed to the DGS(P) Department.
We are pleased to be able to inform you that since launching towards the end of last year, the new United Tech and Allied Workers (UTAW) National Branch within the CWU – which seeks to represent and fight for workers interests in the expanding tech and digital sector – has just reached its initial membership target of 200 members!
As was highlighted in LTB 461/20, the CWU has for some time been a viable option for workers in the tech industry looking to unionise and already had members in the sector. The formation of the new branch and the recruitment efforts that have followed have sought to expand our existing membership and provide a dedicated space within which to organise and collectivise, to support and empower one another, to fight against exploitative business practices in the industry, and for the improvement of every member’s working conditions.
Please join us in warmly welcoming all new members to the UTAW branch of the CWU, and spread the word within your networks to help us further expand the CWU family and grow what is, without a doubt, the best fighting union in the country.
Attached to this LTB is a one-page info sheet for distribution to branch members. There are also graphics suitable to be shared on social media – these can be downloaded here
Any enquiries relating to the above should be addressed to rodept@cwu.org
Yours sincerely
Ray Ellis Dave Ward Head of Recruitment & Organising General Secretary
