RECRUITMENT – MEMBERSHIP RECORDS DEPARTMENT

Branches will know from previous communications of the necessary decision taken to close 150 The Broadway.

As a result, the Membership Records Department is not able to function to its full capacity for a variety of reasons, not least of which is the inability to process mail containing paper membership applications.

A number of staff are equipped to work remotely and online applications are still able to be processed.

We fully understand that recruitment activity in Branches is unlikely to be at levels previously witnessed.  Where recruitment activity is taking place we ask that Branches join new members via the Join Union link or if possible request that new members join up themselves via the website: https://www.cwu.org/join-us/join-online/

We are sure you will understand the difficult circumstances we all operating in and your assistance in working with us as set out is greatly appreciated.

Any other changes to existing members records can be done via the OLS system or by emailing membership@cwu.org

Yours sincerely,

Tony Kearns

Senior Deputy General Secretary

20LTB190

CWU Equalities Calendar 2020-2021

We are pleased to advise that the department has now produced the second Equality & Diversity Calendar which spans from April 2020 – April 2021. 

Given the current climate, we have not been able to launch the calendar at Annual Conference as we had hoped, however, it is now available for Branches to download from the CWU website, using the following link: https://www.cwu.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Equalities-calendar-2020-21.pdf

Please note that you will only be able to print as separate pages but it can be sent to a local printer if you wish it to be printed in booklet format. Once the department is able to function properly, we will arrange for calendars to be circulated to those who request them. 

Our thanks go to all the Regions/Branches/Committees that sponsored the calendar and hope that it will be helpful in diarising your events. 

Any queries on this LTB should be directed to the Equality, Education & Development Department. 

Yours sincerely, 

Kate Hudson 
Head of Equality, Education & Development

LTB 189/20

CWU Equalities Calendar 2020-2021

Equality, Education & Development Department – New Generic E-mail Address

I hope this LTB finds you safe and well. 

The purpose of this LTB is to advise Branches that the Equality, Education & Development Department have arranged for a new generic e-mail address for all enquiries through my department at Head Office. 

Whilst my team will retain their usual e-mail addresses this new address will be our preferred method for general enquiries equality&education@cwu.org 

Branches should also be aware that the Harassment Helpline facility is still in place and you can contact it on 0800 090 2303. 

Yours sincerely,

Kate Hudson
Head of Equality, Education & Development

20LTB188 – Equality, Education & Development Dept – New E-mail Address

QUADRANT PAY CLAIM 2020 – 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 Issued   245
Votes for Acceptance  93
Votes Against               1
Spoils                             0

Therefore the ballot has resulted in a return of 38% with approximately 99% 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 Quadrant of the result and have requested clarification on the timescales to apply the changes to pay rates including back pay.

Any enquiries in relation to this LTB should be addressed to Davie Robertson, Assistant Secretary, email: dwyatt@cwu.org quoting reference number: 301.09.

Yours sincerely

Davie Robertson
Assistant Secretary

20LTB187

Equality, Education & Development Department – New Generic E-mail Address

I hope this LTB finds you safe and well. 

The purpose of this LTB is to advise Branches that the Equality, Education & Development Department have arranged for a new generic e-mail address for all enquiries through my department at Head Office. 

Whilst my team will retain their usual e-mail addresses this new address will be our preferred method for general enquiries equality&education@cwu.org 

Branches should also be aware that the Harassment Helpline facility is still in place and you can contact it on 0800 090 2303. 

Yours sincerely,

Kate Hudson
Head of Equality, Education & Development

20LTB188 – Equality, Education & Development Dept – New E-mail Address

UN-AGREED RECRUITMENT OF AGENCY/CASUALS – UPDATE

Branches will be aware that prior to the COVID19 outbreak and recent announcements, the Postal Department had received many enquiries in relation to the un-agreed recruitment of agency and casual workers.

Branches will recall that at the time the National Ballot(s) for strike action were still in progress and a response was received from Mark Rush, Head of ER/IR Operations, stating that the recruitment of agency was needed in order to help the business with the recovery of service – to minimise the effect on service quality around strike days and the Easter period.

Given the extremely fast escalation of the COVID19 virus and the fact that postal workers have been given ‘key worker’ status, the union has not announced national strike action to date but has requested an extension to the period during which this can now be taken. As a result, the terms of the previous correspondence from the business are no longer applicable.

However, over the past two weeks the Postal Department has been inundated with enquiries about the un-agreed recruitment of additional agency workers in Delivery Offices, Mail Centres and Regional Distribution Centres. This has centred on concerns about the vetting process that is being used, whether agency workers have been briefed about social distancing, whether the self-isolation procedures for these workers will result in them attending work if they should be self-isolating and other health and safety matters.

The purpose of this LTB is to therefore make Branches aware that all of these issues are being raised with Royal Mail Group nationally and that both operational Officers with responsibility for indoor and outdoor functions have written to the business formally in relation to the un-agreed recruitment of agency and casual workers.

On behalf of the Outdoor Department, Postal Executive member Tony Bouch wrote to the business on 3^rd April 2020 to raise a number of operational issues, including whether part-time OPGs have been given the chance to increase their hours, when agency/casual workers would be stood down and requesting confirmation that the IR Framework will continue to apply. A copy of this correspondence is attached and a response has not yet been received.

In relation to the generic concerns regarding use of agency workers in Mail Centre/RDCs and Delivery Units, a number of discussions have taken place with the business on introducing effective resourcing processes during the crisis, with proper controls to prioritise workload and limit the requirement for agency staff.    On 30^th March 2020 the Postal Department sent a proposed Joint Statement to management that included criteria for an agreed process to govern any agreed utilisation of agency workers in all functions. This matter was also discussed during a conference call on 3^rd April 2020, during which management indicated that they would formally respond to the proposal. However at the time of preparing this LTB a formal response is still awaited.

The proposed Joint Statement was based on the following principles which should guide any local discussions:

• All resourcing activity during the crisis will prioritise the use of Royal Mail employees.
• Agency staff will only be utilised where essential workload cannot be covered internally by offering additional hours and enacting requests to defer or realign annual leave to maximise the availability of internal resource.
• Where agency staff are required, Angard and other suppliers will dedicate agency staff to Royal Mail, reducing the number of individuals entering the workplace.
• The use of agency staff will at no time compromise the social distancing arrangements in place to reduce risk.

Branches should note that the union nationally continues to pursue the issue of the un-agreed recruitment of agency and casual workers and address the concerns that have been highlighted by our members.

Further updates will be provided as developments occur.

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)               

Andy Furey – Assistant Secretary     

Davie Robertson – Assistant Secretary

Mark Baulch – Assistant Secretary     

Carl Maden  – Acting Assistant Secretary         

20LTB186 UN-AGREED RECRUITMENT OF AGENCY CASUALS – UPDATE

LTB 186.20 Attachment 1

Easter Saturday 11th April 2020 – Non-Service Day

To recognise and reward our members for their commendable efforts in keeping this great public service up and running under extremely difficult circumstances, the CWU believe members deserve a full weekend with their families and a break from the current daily pressure. We equally believe that the public we serve would fully understand and support such an act of appreciation.

Against that backdrop I have today written to the business (letter attached) calling for Easter Saturday to be a non-service day. Branches will be updated immediately once a response is received.

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)

20LTB185 Easter Saturday – Non-Service Day

LTB 185.20 Attachment 1

Domestic Violence/Abuse

As the coronavirus pandemic forces governments to take unprecedented steps to restrict peoples’ movements across the country, the CWU Equality, Education and Development Department have become increasingly aware of the rising number of victims of domestic/sexual violence and domestic/sexual abuse. The purpose of this LTB is to help representatives to advise and support members and to signpost them as to what information is available. 

Signs of Domestic Violence/Abuse in the Workplace

CWU representatives are reminded that there may be signs that a member is a victim of domestic violence/abuse and these may be indicative of other concerns. Although we recognise that representatives are not trained counsellors or specialists in dealing with domestic/sexual violence or abuse, often members will not feel confident in speaking to management and may prefer to involve a trade union official or utilise the expertise of our equality representatives. 

Where reps feel confident, they should facilitate a conversation with the member and identify where appropriate support is needed. During the conversation representatives may wish to ask the member indirect and open questions, to help establish a relationship with the member. Below are some examples of questions that could be used. 

How are you doing at the moment?  I have noticed recently that you are not yourself, is anything the matter? Is everything all right at home?  What support do you think might help?  What would you like to happen? How? 

If a representative has reason to believe that a member is experiencing a form of domestic violence, domestic abuse and/or sexual violence, they should refer to their employer’s domestic violence/abuse policy/guidelines in the first instance and encourage members to report it to their line manager so that they can be properly supported.

We have a very good booklet on the issue, which was produced by the Women’s Advisory Committee and can be found using the following link: https://www.cwu.org/media/9684/02838domestic-violence-booklet_2017.pdf 

If you require further assistance you can contact the Equality, Education and Development Department on equality&education@cwu.org. 

We understand that members may also need specialist support and attached is a comprehensive list of useful contacts that you may wish to signpost to members. 

PLEASE NOTE: If members are in danger and unable to talk on the phone, call 999, and then press 55. This will transfer them to the relevant police force who will assist without them having to speak.

Yours sincerely, 

Kate Hudson 
Head of Equality, Education & Development

20LTB 184 – Domestic Violence Abuse

Attachment-to-LTB-184-20-–-Domestic-Violence-Abuse (1)

COVID 19 – UPDATE

It is with great sadness we have been advised that two postal workers, Bola Omoyeni and Stefan Haluszczak, tragically died in hospital over the weekend after contracting Covid19. 

Bola worked at the National Distribution Centre in Northampton and was also a long standing CWU representative, who for many years had held a position at National level on our Race Advisory Committee.  He was a friend and colleague to many CWU reps around the country and made a great contribution to representing our members.  Bola had spent over 30 years working for Royal Mail.

Stefan was also a long standing employee of Royal Mail, who worked at the Coventry Parcels Hub.  He was very well respected in the office and had worked for the company for 8 years.

We are sure we speak on behalf of the whole of the union in sending our sincere condolences

to the family and friends of both of our colleagues who passed away. 

The union is in contact with our local Branch and Royal Mail to ascertain the full circumstances and we will be supporting our members and the Branch in dealing with the situation.

The thoughts of the whole of the CWU are with the families and friends of our two members who tragically passed away over the weekend.

Yours sincerely

Dave Ward Terry Pullinger

General Secretary                                                     Deputy General Secretary (Postal)

20LTB183 COVID19 UPDATE

D2D NHS CAMPAIGN – April 2020

Dear Colleagues,

As previously advised to Branches in LTB 173/20 colleagues will be aware that the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson is writing to every household in the UK, enforcing the stay safe policy being ordered by government, as well as other advice.

Accordingly, we have attempted over the course of the week to establish more detail in regards to this mailing and to also document a jointly agreed set of guidelines with Royal Mail management at a National level.

Disappointingly, Royal Mail has once again chosen not to engage with the Union at a National Level in any genuine or meaningful way in order for us to provide satisfactory advice in terms exact timescales of when these items will be arriving into delivery units or the operational process for delivering them.

Given the current attitude from the Royal Mail senior management team, along with their current structures and interfaces with the National Union means that it is extremely difficult to deal with current issues in a joined up and constructive manner. It is unacceptable that at a time of National unprecedented crisis and at a time when everyone should be pulling together for National interest that Royal mail should act in this way. Particularly in regards to an important National Government posting, which contains advice that is in the public interest.

Therefore, we are issuing the following advice to our Branches and Representatives in order for them to engage in Area/local discussions with management along the following lines to establish an agreed process for dealing with the National NHS D2D drop covering the following points;

• These National NHS D2D items take precedence over all other national D2D items. (Taking account of CWU policy of suspending other commercial D2D items.)
• Essential indoor plan for the prep of items to ensure ‘warm call’ is facilitated as far as possible (which would include advance and staggered prep arrangements); noting some units perform reduced hours on Monday and Tuesday.

• Daily joint discussion in order to establish product priority along with fair and manageable workloads taking account of the current working arrangements.
• Establish how the delivery of the items can take place in units with high absence levels.
• Maintain social distancing as part of any local arrangements.
• Comply with current ‘one person, one van’ policy – with adequate replenishment solutions, including dealing with any weight on delivery issues.

As outlined above local discussions will need to take place as a matter of urgency in order to ensure compliance with the operational specification as much as possible given the measures and constraints in delivery offices that are already in place as a consequence of the current Covid-19 crisis.

In regards to the 3-day delivery specification we are of the understanding that this contract and commitment has been given to the Government on a “best endeavours” basis.

Our complete dissatisfaction continues to be made clear to the company who seem to believe that it is better to plough on regardless without the CWU, whilst continually showing disregard to our members.

Any enquires as to the content of this LTB should be directed to the Outdoor Department, reference 230.03, email address: outdoorsecretary@cwu.org.

Yours sincerely,

Mark Baulch                         

CWU Assistant Secretary

LTB – D2D NHS CAMPAIGN April 2020 MB doc 2_DG_TB