A vital update from DGSP Terry Pullinger

TO: ALL CWU MEMBERS IN THE ROYAL MAIL GROUP

Dear Member

UPDATE ON THE CORONAVIRUS CRISIS AND OUR DISPUTE WITH THE ROYAL MAIL

We are writing to all CWU members to update you on the Coronavirus crisis and meetings that have taken place with the Chief Executive, Rico Back, and his senior management team, since we announced our ballot result last week.

The Coronavirus Crisis

CWU members across the country are in contact with the union at all levels expressing their major concerns and anxiety about whether or not it is safe to continue working during the Coronavirus crisis.

We want you to know that we could not have taken a stronger position with Royal Mail over social distancing at work and the lack of personal protective equipment for frontline workers.

The Chief Executive and Royal Mail’s senior management team agreed with the union last week, that Royal Mail must enforce Government and UK Public Health advice to the letter. However, we recognise that what is being said at national level by the company is not the reality in far too many offices on the ground. We also acknowledge that Government advice and the advice of the UK Public Health Authorities, has not been clear enough and is creating confusion for workers across the country, most notably for key workers, including those who work in the NHS. In the absence of any conclusive Government or medical advice, the CWU issued at the start of this week, the strongest advice we can to protect our members. For the purpose of complete clarity this advice is set out again below:-

“If any CWU member does not feel safe at work through lack of social distancing or personal protective equipment, they should not work. We will support any individual member or office that takes this position. This is not a call for workers to take unofficial industrial action, but it is a clear statement on the grounds of health and safety that we will support our members.”

The truth is, the situation is different across the country and we are not in a position to give a blanket instruction. This would be wrong and not in the interests of our members and the sustainability of your jobs and the business.

Furthermore, the country’s medical professionals are not giving conclusive medical advice on how the virus spreads and whether or not it’s safe to work. Therefore, the position the union has taken is the right one at this juncture. We are also asking our representatives at all levels to issue the above mentioned advice.

We can also advise that we are pressing the company to prioritise services as sick absence and self-isolation increases. We have told Royal Mail that it is wrong for them to be delivering door to door items and continuing with absorption during the crisis. We expect the company to move to our position on these points in the next day or so.

Update on our dispute

Since we announced our ballot result last Tuesday, we have had three meetings with the Chief Executive and the senior management team. These meetings have prioritised the Coronavirus crisis, but we have also had discussions on resolving our dispute and our offer for Royal Mail to act as an additional Emergency Service.

The position we have reached to date on the dispute, is as follows:-

• The company has confirmed that they will cease all executive action that had been announced but not yet deployed.
• The company has confirmed that their 2024 Strategy Plan for the future is on hold and that they are now prioritising how we deal with the Coronavirus crisis.
• The company has confirmed their plan to TUPE Parcelforce members into a separate company has now been put on hold.
• The company has confirmed that they are willing to agree a process for talks to resolve all issues in dispute.
The above mentioned should be seen as good progress, although the union want the company to go further on reviewing executive action that has already taken place and we will hold them to the positions above and also press for an extension to our ballot. However, we do recognise that at the moment contingency planning for the Coronavirus crisis will take precedence in our day to day operations.

We want to make it clear that we remain in dispute with the company but we recognise that dealing with the Coronavirus crisis, protecting our members’ health and safety and addressing the sustainability of jobs and the business, must be the priority. We have set up regular meetings at national and divisional level to deal with all these issues and we are posting regular updates on Facebook and we will be utilising other communications channels to keep our members informed.

CWU offer to utilise Royal Mail as an additional Emergency Service

We are firmly of the view that subject to prioritising the health and safety of our members at work and the advice we have issued in this letter, it continues to be right for the union to pursue our offer of utilising our members and Royal Mail as an additional Emergency Service.

We continue to press the company to make a public statement on this and we are due to meet a Government Minister on Monday to discuss all the issues contained in this letter. As well as wanting to help the country, our offer is part of a strategy to sustain our members’ jobs and the business in the future. We have long believed that Royal Mail should be freeing up our members and empowering them to be part of developing the future with local to local services, in addition to providing daily deliveries through the Universal Service Obligation. In many ways this goes to the heart of our current dispute with the employer.

Without wishing to score political points during these unprecedented times, we should all be concerned that the Government and Royal Mail’s failure to seriously pick up our offer thus far, whilst at the same time allowing competitors like Amazon and Uber to take precedence, does not bode well for the future.

It is absolutely right that postal workers across the UK were given key worker status. We now need to build on this and we are asking our representatives and members to work with their local managers and communities to push and enact our offer wherever possible. In the meantime, we will continue to discuss this with the company and the Government and we anticipate that there may be some Government contracts being offered to Royal Mail, specifically relating to urgent work needed to deal with the current crisis.

We will keep you informed of developments on all these issues and we thank you for your continued support.

Stay safe and strong, these are extraordinary times and the union will continue to do what’s right for our members and your families.

Yours sincerely

Dave Ward Terry Pullinger
GS DGSP

Royal Mail Guidance For Mail Centres – Social Distancing

Please find attached for the information of Branches and representatives a copy of Royal Mail slides that have been received by the department in relation to changes to working practices to accommodate social distancing, which we understand have been circulated in the field. The slides relate to operational activities and do not cover Engineering processes or tasks.

For absolute clarity the attached slides have been produced by the business without consultation or input from the department. That said they do seek to address some of the issues that have been raised in respect of how social distancing can be applied in the Mail Centre operational environment.

There are however a number of issues that the department will be raising with the business in respect of the processes contained in the slides and seeking to clarify or revise, in order to improve where necessary.

Not least of these is the reference to throughputs that is included in the diagrams, which we would stress to colleagues are not agreed by the department. This is an issue that has been raised previously with the business, who have accepted the CWU position and informed us that these are included for Industrial Engineering and regulatory purposes only.

In the meantime it is clearly imperative that the need for social distancing is accommodated at all sites and the business’ guidance document will provide a foundation for engagement and activity to take place locally to address any issues that are identified.

Any enquiries in relation to this LTB should be addressed to Davie Robertson, Assistant Secretary, email: dwyatt@cwu.org quoting reference 014.14

Yours sincerely

Davie Robertson 

Assistant Secretary

20LTB155

Attachment – Social Distancing v2

CWU 2021 Diary

We are now taking orders for CWU 2021 diaries.  Please find attached an electronic diary order form for your branch use.

We continue to offer branches personalised diaries at no additional cost.  Branches can personalise an area on the front cover of the CWU pocket diary and also have the option to have a personalised page (printed on one side only) which will be inserted near the front of the pocket diary.

The CWU pocket diary is priced at £1.75 and the A5 desk diary is priced at £2.60.

We also continue to offer branches bulk discount on pocket diaries only on orders of 1,000 or more for £1.40 per diary.

Branches ordering unaltered diaries should return their completed order form by no later than Friday 11^th September.

Personalised branch diary orders only

Branch personalised diary orders must be returned by no later than Friday 22^nd May. On receipt of your order form you will be emailed the appropriate template(s), please ensure to include your email address as this is where your template(s) will be sent with further instructions.

Please complete your template(s) as soon as possible and note the return deadline is Friday 12^th June. Due to strict deadlines any orders or proofs received after the dates provided may not be processed.

If you would like to use your 2020 diary template(s) and there are no changes, please advise Marcia Murray.

Orders will be based on the following:

Minimum order to personalise front cover: 250 units

Minimum order to insert page: 500 units

Minimum order to personalise front cover and insert page: 500 units

All completed order forms and enquiries on this LTB should be addressed to Marcia Murray by email only to mmurray@cwu.org

The diaries will be dispatched from Friday 25^th September 2020.

Kind regards,

Chris Webb

Head of Communications, Engagement and Media


LTB 152/2020

CWU 2021 diary order form

View Online

QUADRANT CATERING – COVID-19 RESPONSE

Branches are informed that discussions have been taking place with Quadrant in relation to the introduction of measures for social distancing, to protect catering employees and RMG employees who use the facilities.

To enable to the continued provision of essential catering facilities and ensure adherence to Government advice in relation to social distancing, Quadrant have now introduced a revised service offering during this very difficult period. The details of the revised arrangements are attached for information (Annex A).

The department firmly believes that it is extremely important that the Quadrant facilities remain available wherever possible to support RMG employees during these unprecedented times. The introduction of the revised service will assist in reducing the risk of infection for colleagues, while also providing the continuation of a catering facility. Equally, we believe that it will be extremely beneficial for RMG employees in reducing the need for them to have extended contact/travel outside of the workplace to source external food outlets.

A message has also been circulated by Emma Best, Operations Director Quadrant, to managers and employees today to provide support and explain and the changed process that is being adopted (Annex B). Branches are advised that the department has sought additional clarification from Quadrant in relation to pay issues and the following has been confirmed:

 A commitment to ensuring that any employee who needs to self-isolate or is covered by a sick note for up to 14 days will receive full pay.

 Sick absence beyond 14 days will attract full contractual terms.

In addition to the above the following has also been confirmed:

 Should additional time off be required for any other issues, such as caring for children or other family members, individuals will be asked to take any outstanding annual leave they have, or in exceptional circumstances they will be allowed to bring forward some of next year’s annual leave to assist in remaining on full pay.

 All Managers have been provided with a copy of the key worker letter to support with child care and individuals should ask managers for a copy where required.

We would ask that all of our Quadrant and RMG members are made aware of this LTB and attachments.

The department would stress the importance to all CWU members and RMG employees of adhering to the revised catering service arrangements that have been communicated.

We would also request that individuals refrain from sitting together in communal dining areas, maintain 2m social distancing and use cashless transactions in Quadrant facilities wherever possible. We all need to work together to enable the continued provision of catering facilities, while also providing the maximum protections for RMG members and their catering colleagues.

Any enquiries in relation to this LTB should be addressed to Davie Robertson, Assistant Secretary, email: dwyatt@cwu.org quoting reference: 014.14

Yours sincerely

Davie Robertson 

Assistant Secretary

20LTB153

ANNEX A

Annex B

CWU LIVE

As part of our overall communications strategy we have today launched a new blog on the CWU

website.

CWU Live can be found via the link www.cwu.org/live

In this blog we will draw together news and views from across the CWU and wider trade union

movement. You will probably have come across similar pages on BBC News and The Guardian.

We believe it will have particular relevance at this point as we look to update our reps and

members as regularly as possible on the Coronavirus crisis.

We would also welcome contributions from branches and CWU officials if you believe we should

share something of interest. If you have any ideas please email them to April O’Neill aoneill@cwu.org

Any enquiries in relation to this LTB should be directed to Marcia Murray mmurray@cwu.org

Kind regards

Chris Webb

Head of Communications, Engagement and Media

LTB 150:20 – CWU LIVE

We have today launched CWU LIVE – a section on our website where we will live blog the latest news for members on workplace issues, the wider movement and of course the coronavirus crisis

cwu.org/live

Royal Mail have sent the communication below to all managers. It is vital this is shared as widely a possible. Every single local rep must engage with local managers tomorrow morning.

We will update you tomorrow following our meeting with the company.

………

Our priorities in light of coronavirus are clear. They are:

1. Protect our people – health comes first
2. Protect our country
3. Protect our company
   In light of coronavirus we have made some temporary changes to our operational processes to increase social distancing and continue to support our ‘health comes first’ principle. Government advice is that, wherever possible, people should stay two metres apart in order to manage the risk of exposure to the virus. This builds upon a number of measures we’ve already put in place in the operation.
   
4. New ways of working in delivery
   
   Delivery office managers should ensure that the following changes are put in place:
5. One person, one van rule. There should be only one person in a Royal Mail vehicle at any one time. This could be implemented in a number of ways. For example, completing walks on foot in a starburst approach from the office, using a remote start option or changing shift patterns to allow dual use of vehicles
6. Arrange indoor and outdoor operations to adhere to the two metre social distancing guidelines
7. Cease WTLL sessions, and implement small touchpoint huddles adhering to social distancing rules
8. Everyone should wash their hands when coming in to and leaving the office, as well as at regular times during the day

Operations managers will arrange conference calls with delivery office managers first thing ‪tomorrow morning‬ to go through these changes in more detail. Different processes will be needed in different offices. Local solutions and collaborative working are key. There will not be a one size fits all solution. On these calls, we will work through any other detailed options to increase social distancing. 
 
Please discuss these with your operations manager, your CWU rep and your wider team to see what will work for your unit. The list is not prescriptive or exhaustive. If you have other ideas that are safe and can be deployed then please feed them back through your line manager.
 
Please brief your teams in small huddles, observing social distancing guidance – not WTLL sessions – at the earliest opportunity.
 

2. New ways of working in processing
    
   In processing, the following changes are being put in place:
3. Standard ways of working are being revised to ensure that, wherever possible, people stay two metres apart
4. Processes have been reviewed to minimise passing of work between colleagues
5. Cleaning of PDAs will be required when handing over between colleagues 
6. Good hand hygiene must be maintained to minimise the risk of any infection

Detailed standard operating procedures will be provided to assist best practice in work areas. Further information will be cascaded through the line tomorrow. 
 

3. New ways of working in distribution
    
   In distribution, the following changes are being put in place:
4. Social distancing protocols will be put in place in the traffic offices for handover of keys and instructions to drivers
5. PPE must not be shared between individuals
6. Ensure all tools, such as PDAs, are cleaned after use
7. Face to face handovers need to be completed two metres apart, wherever possible

Detailed standard operating procedures will be provided to assist best practice in work areas. Further information will be cascaded through the line tomorrow.

Keep up to date with wider changes

The situation regarding the spread of the coronavirus is fast-moving. The safety, health and wellbeing of our employees, members of the public and the communities in which we operate is paramount.