Covid-19 Update – BT Property and Facilities Services

Further to LTB 122/2020 the CWU has been in continuing discussions with BT Property & Facilities Services and CBRE regarding their arrangements for dealing with the coronavirus.

Please see below a summary of the measures and arrangements which are in place across the BT estate.

CLEANING
There are 150 critical sites across the BT estate that will receive additional touch point cleaning.  The top 50 of these sites will receive specific cleaning due their critical role. The selection criterion combines both the building criticality and occupancy. Efforts have shifted to cleaning intensification at the key occupied workplaces and additional resource has been provided via the cleaning company SBFM and is in addition to the normal services provided by ISS.

At Voice Services sites (999 operational sites which are in the top 50) priority 24/7 cleaning has been mobilised to give full support to the vital role which these operational sites provide.

Enhanced cleaning is taking place across the more densely occupied sites, targeting high touch surfaces in communal areas such as reception, lift lobbies/buttons, light switches, phones, door handles, stairways, restaurants, toilets, breakout areas, light switches, taps, toilet, stairwells etc.

At locations with a full-time housekeeping presence more frequent checks of washrooms is  taking place to ensure cleanliness and the availability of consumables such as hand soap, toilet roll and paper towels.

A cleaning/consumable stock management process is in place nationally.  Additional consumables such as soap, toilet paper and hand towels are being stored across regional hub locations.

Building signage regarding washing hands, covering coughs and keeping the workplace clean have been distributed and displayed

To support with suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19, the on-site housekeeping teams are able to disinfect impacted areas.  In isolated cases, there is an option to carry out a full decontamination of the workplace to allow safe re-occupation.  In the event of a confirmed case decontamination cleaning will be coordinated using specialist teams and equipment.

There are four levels of cleaning being followed across the estate:-
L1 – L4 cleaning definitions

·       Level 1: Standard Contracted Cleaning – Delivery of cleaning in line with agreed contract specification.

·       Level 2: Enhanced Touch Point Cleaning – An increase to standard cleaning targeting specific touchpoints as a preventative and control measure.

·       Level 3: Local Disinfection Clean – Where BT requests a targeted disinfection of a workstation or nominated area.

·       Level 4: Full Decontamination Electrostatic Spray (Fogging) – Where BT requests a targeted treatment of a nominated building, floor or area.

SECURITY
New front of house visitor health screening checks and social distancing measures have been put in place.  Teams will now be asking key questions to visitors. Questions are set to identify if any visitors are at risk of carrying infection and will prevent entry if there is a risk.

CATERING
Sit down restaurant services are now closed.
the current headlines are:
·       Free meals to contact centre staff commenced back end of last week. Over 6,500 meals have been issued to date.
·       Seeking to expand free food to other non-catered sites from this week. (Barrow, Stoke, Sandwell & Aberdeen)
·       PlusNet trialling a “grab & go” free food throughout the day which is landing well onsite.

FAULT REPORTING
Faults should still be reported via the normal process however during the Covid-19 crisis however it is expected that there may be resource challenges.
If consumables, such as toilet paper, soap etc. is running low these should be reported. These jobs have been increased to a level 2 priority from a level 3 for operational sites.

Further reports will be issued as information becomes available.

Yours sincerely,

Brendan O’Brien – Assistant Secretary
Tracey Fussey & Dave Tee – Executive Members
BT Property & Estates Team

LTB 175.20

RE: CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 SICK PAY AND POLICY UPDATE

Further to LTB 164/20 dated 30th March 2020, I received an email yesterday afternoon from Royal Mail and a telephone call from RMPFS stating they have reviewed the current sick pay and attendance policy and are not changing it at this time. The policy will be reviewed mid-April.

Royal Mail & RMPFS are blatantly ignoring the safety of employees and customers, despite not having any valid reason for not implementing full sick pay, to keep members and the public safe.

I have written to Helen Diksa, Royal Mail Group, IR, HR and Policy Director (which covers all Royal Mail Group members including Parcelforce, excluding RMPFS) and Charlene Ryan HR Director for RMPFS and requested Royal Mail/RMPFS reconsider the decisions they have made to simply re-endorse their current policy.

The letter points out:-

Their current policy, is outdated as this was made over 2 weeks ago, when the self- isolating period was a maximum of 14 days, it is now 12 weeks. As we all know, this was also prior to a lot of new information being given and prior to the emergency measures implemented by the Government to stop the spread of Coronavirus Covid- 19.

Royal Mail and RMPFS should follow the statements they have made about making your safety their number one priority by ensuring full sick pay for anyone who has to go sick due to having symptoms/contracting the virus or has to take time off to look after a dependent. This will bring consistency with the policy to pay members with less than 12 months service and it will save lives. If our request is refused, it is clear the policy decisions they are making are based on cost and not on the safety of their employees.

The update published by Royal Mail & RMPFS yesterday does not explain why they have not updated their policy, we have asked them for an explanation.

It cannot be right our members who have had to previously take time off to battle Cancer or recover from a Heart Attack etc. are now penalised by a decision to self- isolate which is out of their control and enforced by the Government.

It was announced yesterday the number of UK deaths in hospitals rose to 2,352 – an increase of 563 (31%), the highest day-on-day rise so far. Also, during the period of the next two weeks, between now and your next proposed review date, it is expected the number of positive cases of Coronavirus Covid-19 will peak. This is and will continue to be at a time when the NHS staff are not getting the correct equipment and are already overwhelmed with patients.

How this crisis is handled will never be forgotten and I believe our suggestions will go some way to giving members comfort in not being forced to take risks by having to come to work, due to not being able to afford to stay at home.

A copy of the letter in full is attached to this LTB.

We have had reports into the department Managers are telling members if you have to self-isolate due to someone in your household having symptoms, this is without pay. To be clear if you have to self-isolate due to someone in your household having symptoms, you should self-isolate for up to 14 days, i.e. 7 days after you develop symptoms. E.g. If you get symptoms on day 3, self-isolation is until day 10. The 14 days should be extended if you get symptoms in the latter stages and this should be paid sick leave. Managers should choose “Coronavirus with Symptoms” if the employee has symptoms and “Coronavirus Self Isolation” if they do not have symptoms.

All enquiries regarding the content of this LTB should be addressed to the PTCS Department, quoting reference 415. Email address: snicholas@cwu.org

Yours Sincerely,

Carl Maden

Assistant Secretary (Acting) PTCS Department

20LTB174 – Coronavirus Covid-19 Sick Pay and Policy Update

Attachment 1 – Letter to Helen Diksa

D2D NHS CAMPAIGN – April 2020

Dear Colleagues,

Branches 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.

Accordingly, we have learned that this letter is to be the subject of a Special D2D drop to c32 million households across the UK in the coming week or so. The items will start to arrive in the upstream system today and be shipped to Delivery Offices following that over the remainder of the week.

We are currently in discussions with Royal Mail and have requested that we set out a clear and concise programme for the delivery of these items over the period leading up to and just beyond the Easter Weekend, which also takes into account the effect of social distancing and the current absence levels in Delivery Offices.

The information we currently have on the NHS mailing is as follows:

The below supersedes all previous emails on the National D2D campaigns for England, Wales, Scotland and NI.

See below update on the details of each National Covid-19 campaign and enclosed outer for the National D2D campaign. The standalone Scottish campaign art work has not yet been provided.

Overview of the Covid-19 D2D Campaigns

There are 2 separate D2D campaigns running in parallel for priority delivery between 07/04/20 to the 09/04/20; with a cumulative volume of c32m items. The two campaigns are:

National D2D campaign (c.29m items two weight bands)

27.     Vers#1 – English: c27.5m items, >20-35g: for England, Scotland and NI (expected 3-day delivery service)
28.      Vers#2 – Welsh/English:  c1.5m items, >35-60g: for Wales (expected 3-day delivery service)

Scottish standalone D2D campaign (2.6m items, 0-20g; expected majority over 3-days and up to 5 days (running to 14th April 2020); given the Easter weekend 10th -13th April.

Note: we have stressed the impact of delays to handover adversely impacting delivery timescales and also the fact that RMG frontline will also suffer from resource constraints.

Priority order for Delivery of the National D2D campaign

The priority order for the National D2D Campaign is:

1st – Scotland (2.6m)

2nd – Wales (1.4m)

3rd –  NI (812k)

4th and where feasible in parallel to the above – England (24.2m).

Note the Scottish arm of the National D2D campaign is separate from the standalone Scottish D2D campaign and they may overlap in delivery. Therefore, Scotland will receive 2 mail packs with different content but both are Covid-19 messages. The artwork for the standalone Scottish mailer has not yet been shared.

As you will no doubt see, these items take precedence over all other national D2D items. Clearly, local discussions will have to take place as a matter of urgency in order to ensure compliance with the dates outlined as much as operationally possible given the measures in delivery offices already, and any changes to working patterns as a response to the letter the CWU sent to The Company and Government which is contained in LTB168/20.

Once again these are unprecedented and extreme measures being taken and we were the last to know once more. Our complete dissatisfaction has been made clear to the company who seem to believe that it is better to plough on regardless without the CWU, whilst showing disregard to our members.

Further details will be circulated in due course.

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 173.20 – D2D NHS CAMPAIGN April 2020

The meeting with the Royal Mail Group’s senior management team took place today and we discussed the CWU proposal to create an emergency network in response to the growing Coronavirus pandemic.

The CEO, Rico Back, chose not to attend the meeting. However, he subsequently wrote to the union and regrettably he has failed to seriously address our proposal or the safety concerns of our members.

The following will summarise what the company stated at the meeting and the content of their subsequent letter:-

• Despite the increasing pressure on our members through growing sick absence/self-isolation, the company do not believe we need to alter national service standards to move to an emergency network.
• Royal Mail will not cease the delivery of D2D/advertising mail.

• Royal Mail will not change their sick absence process which is punishing innocent CWU members, many of whom who have suffered major illness recently.

• Royal Mail said during the meeting it is safe for you to work in your offices without the full provision of Personal Protective Equipment. Royal Mail believe washing hands is the ‘gold standard’ for safety and enough protection for employees.
• Royal Mail could not provide any information on how many offices have the necessary PPE in place.
• Royal Mail stated the safety concerns of CWU members are not widespread. They said their feedback from managers is much more balanced.
• Royal Mail have declined an offer to jointly approach Government on our proposal.
• The CEO confirmed that he does not wish to meet the union anymore during this pandemic.

It is clear to us that any progress that has been made on safety in offices across the UK has been delivered by the hard work of our representatives’ structure and we thank our Branches for this.

The response from the Chief Executive and from the senior management team in today’s meeting is totally unacceptable.

We are taking this opportunity to reiterate our previous position to all CWU members on health and safety in the workplace. This is set out below:-

If Personal Protective Equipment is not in place for all employees, or in any workplace, then that office should cease its operations until the equipment has been provided to all employees. This includes gloves and hand sanitisers.

If social distancing measures are not in place, in line with the Government advice (2 meters apart), then the office should be closed until this is rectified. Additional measures in this statement are designed to support the introduction of strict social distancing in every Royal Mail Group workplace.

Next Steps

It is clear to us that any progress that has been made in offices across the UK has been delivered by the hard work of our representatives’ structure and we thank our branches for this.

We will now take these matters up directly with the Government, the TUC and our legal representatives.

We will be issuing appropriate press statements.

Finally, the union’s Executive will meet to discuss further actions.

Dave Ward ​​​​​​Terry Pullinger
General Secretary​​​​​Deputy General Secretary (Postal)

Dear All

Important update on National Talks

I am conscious that there was some feedback on today’s conference call that the National Statement on Monday came as a shock to most and that you wanted to be updated quicker on responses in future.

I am writing this ahead of Dave and Terry going live on Facebook reporting that talks did not go well today with the business.

Rico was not present and Achum led for Royal Mail.

These are the points which Royal Mail responded to the unions statement.

1. PPE was not needed to protect OPGs or CWU graded staff as they could simply wash their hands.
2. Social distancing was happening in many workplaces.
3. They will be not changing their position on D2D.
4. There are 40 confirmed cases of COVID 19 in Royal Mail with 4 in serious condition.
5. They will not be at this moment standing down the USO , they will deal with it on a case by case basis and they have confirmed that 3 offices are already delivering less that 5 days per week.
6. Royal Mail have rejected the unions proposal on resolving the dispute ie joint statement.
7. They have said they will not be reviewing the sick pay issue until the middle of April and so if you have used your sick pay provisions us than you will either be on half pay or pensionable pay and if your partner or someone in your household is having to isolate for 12 weeks than if you take that time off than you will be on unpaid or you will have to take your leave.

Clearly the company have rejected the unions proposal and have said they will write to the CWU within the next 24 hours confirming their position.

The CWU will tonight announce what we will be doing to ensure our members are safeguarded during this crisis.

We are consulting with our QC and lawyers as well.

We realise fully that members and reps are trying to cope in what is probably the most challenging times as being a rep.

However today the UK suffered the highest death toll yet from the COVID 19 and we are at least 2 weeks away from the peak.

In Spain postal workers took strike action and have now achieved safety arrangements and a commitment that no PPE means no work.

The CWU will be announcing how we intend to move the above forward tonight.

Hopefully this update will help you ahead of this announcement.

Regards

Martin

TERMS OF REFERENCE BETWEEN ROYAL MAIL AND THE CWU COVERING A

NEW COMMERCIAL INITIATIVE – PUDO GROWTH OPPORTUNITY (RELAY)

Dear Colleagues

Branches and representatives will be aware that the RMSS Business Unit and in particular the Relay section, previously known as Branch Direct, provide bespoke logistics product offerings to the market, which includes Pick Up and Drop Off (PUDO) services utilising Royal Mail Delivery Offices as the collection point.

PUDO services relate to the conveyance of items from large stores, to a location where a customer collects their item and hands over any parts for return. RMSS/Relay currently already has a share of this market with existing products, mostly in the area of machine parts, where engineers are tagged to a Delivery Office as a fixed pick up location. A potential opportunity has now been developed to extend this offering and discussions involving both departments have concluded arrangements for a Pilot of a new PUDO product offering.

To offer the service to a wider range of Relay customers and grow market share in this extremely competitive area, it has been agreed to pilot the introduction of a Dynamic’ variant of the existing PUDO service, enabling engineers access to collect their items at any Delivery Office with the item being addressed to the company. The process will be like handing over a “local collect” item, but it will be addressed to a client company name and job number, rather than a named person.

The Pilot will involve 374 Delivery Offices, 4 Parcelforce and 2 Relay sites and will start on 4^thApril and run until the 4^th May 2017. The attached Terms of Reference ensure that the CWU will be fully involved in all activity in the Relay and Delivery function.

Working/Steering Groups will provide monthly updates to National leads on issues relating to the relevant functions.

Any enquiries in relation to this LTB should be addressed to:

RMSS Relay: Davie Robertson, Assistant Secretary, quoting reference number: 218.24.

Email: dwyatt@cwu.org or shayman@cwu.org

and

Deliveries: Mark Baulch, Assistant Secretary (Elect), quoting reference 540.

Email address: outdoorsecretary@cwu.org

Yours sincerely

Davie Robertson Mark Baulch

Assistant Secretary Assistant Secretary (Elect)

THE U WORD DELIVERY WORKPLACE PODCAST – EPISODE 3

Dear Colleagues,

Please see below a link to the latest episode of our workplace podcast. This month we have focused on the Unit Reps Briefings, doing the job properly, lapsing, pensions and pay.

Can all CWU Representatives share this link with members via social media, email, text and WhatsApp. We would also encourage Reps to bring the podcast to the attention of members during WTLL sessions or indeed any other any similar opportunity.

https://soundcloud.com/user-53225609/the-u-word-workplace-special-episode-3

Any enquires should be directed to the Outdoor Department, reference 535, email address: outdoorsecretary@cwu.org.

Yours sincerely,

Mark Baulch              

Assistant Secretary

19LTB170.19