PETERBOROUGH MAIL CENTRE
PROCESSING CHRISTMAS & NEW YEAR 2015/16 AGREEMENT
Section 1 WORKING TIME DIRECTIVE CHANGES
Royal Mail and the CWU jointly recognise the need for alterations in the Working Time Directive at Christmas and the following will apply.
1.1 CHRISTMAS PRESSURE PERIOD
Casuals have been planned to work in Processing Monday to Saturdays from 1400 the 23rd November to 0600 the 24th December. Therefore the Christmas pressure period will reflect the same time scale.
1.2 MAXIMUM GROSS HOURS WORKED
During the Christmas pressure period there will be a maximum gross working hour’s limit of 72 hours per week for weeks commencing 22nd and 29th of November and this then increases to 80 hours for the peak weeks of 6th and 13th of December. (Driving Regulations will remain in place).
1.3 WEEKLY REST BREAKS
During the Christmas pressure period the weekly rest break of twenty-four hours per week or forty-eight hours per fortnight will be suspended (Driving Regulations remain regarding the forty five hours continuous rest period).
1.4 DAILY REST BREAKS
During the Christmas pressure period the daily rest break of ten hours (10hrs) will not be relaxed for processing staff.
1.5 YOUNG WORKERS
During the Christmas pressure period Young Workers (defined as those less than eighteen years of age) shall be permitted to work up to twelve hours per day (with a minimum break of twelve hours per twenty four hours) and must have a twenty-four hour weekly break per week. They may not perform hours during the night period (2200-0600) unless they have been given the opportunity of a free health assessment before the Christmas pressure period begins.
Section 2 CHRISTMAS & NEW YEAR STAFFING AGREEMENT 2015/16
This agreement covers the Processing Function at the Peterborough Mail Centre – Christmas 2015 and New Year 2016 – between the CWU and Royal Mail.
2.1 Friday 25th December, Monday 28th December and Friday 1st January are the Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Years Day Bank Holidays. Saturday 26th December has been officially announced as a non service day. There will be no USO collections or deliveries on these days. Sunday 27th December, Saturday 2nd January and Sunday 3rd January are normal service days.
2.2 In order to comply with the USO, Sunday night start night shifts should normally resume at the scheduled time on Monday 28th December and Monday night start night shifts should normally resume at the scheduled time on Tuesday 29th December. All night shifts should resume at the scheduled time on Friday 1st January.
2.3 Local Christmas discussions/arrangements should ensure that agreed staffing arrangements are in place to meet these obligations in full, while balancing employee aspirations for time off on the Bank Holidays to avail this, discussions will consider a full range of resourcing options, including the realignment of conditioned hours across these weeks.
2.4 Staff who attend on the bank holidays within conditioned hours will receive the normal bank holiday premium for the hours worked.
2.5 Management and the CWU will look jointly at further Annual Leave slots being made available based around traffic forecasts. In particular the Night Shift on New Year’s Day Night where resourcing should be confirmed by Friday 11th December.
2.6 On Thursday’s 24th and 31st December the Full Time staff on the Late Shift and Twilight shift (18.00-02.00) will attend from 12.00 to 20.00. The Part Time staff on the Late Shift will attend their conditioned hours working back from 18.00 an example of this is an 18.00 to 22.00 will work 14.00 to 18.00. (conditioned hours shift allowance will not be affected) Staff who are unable to attend at these times for personal reasons must notify their line manager by Friday 11th December to enable alternative resourcing plans.
2.7 Part Time staff that temporarily change their contract to Full Time for Christmas will perform the additional hours around their current duty days and times unless there are exceptional circumstances required by either the business or the individual. Exceptional circumstances must be agreed by Royal Mail Management jointly with the CWU.
2.8 Part Time staff that temporarily change their contract to Full Time for Christmas will be given the opportunity to perform a minimum of four weeks change which will include the period of Christmas pressure as defined in 1.1 above.
Section 3 CHRISTMAS PRE-SCHEDULED OVERTIME
3.1 In order to cope with the increased traffic volumes over the Christmas pressure period, it is anticipated that there will be a need to employ casual staff to handle both first and second class mail throughout late November and all of December 2015. In order to fully utilise the skills and knowledge of existing staff, it is agreed that all Pre-Scheduled offers to work additional hours will be taken up, and so the following process has been agreed.
3.2 Staff volunteering for weekday hours Monday to Saturdays from 1400 the 23rd November to 0600 the 24th December using the Pre-Scheduled volunteer sheets will be allocated the hours that they have volunteered for, providing the Working Time Directive changes in section 1 above, are not compromised.
3.3 Sunday hours will be allocated on a weekly basis once traffic forecasts are available, and will be resourced using the usual aggregate methods in the event that there is not a full uptake.
3.4 All pre-scheduled overtime will be paid at Scheduled Attendance (SA) rates for all pre-scheduled overtime signed up for during the Christmas pressure period ( the dates and timescales in 1.1 above).
3.4.1 Part timers who perform pre-scheduled overtime up to thirty nine hours will still be entitled to a paid meal relief as they do not attract SA/Overtime paid rate until they have worked 39 hours.
3.4.2 A paid meal relief will not be granted where an SA payment is made (except for Sunday attendances) in line with National Agreements.
3.5 In the event that the Peterborough Outhouse is used to process work deemed proper for the Peterborough Mail Centre during the weeks commencing 2nd, 9th, and 16th of November there will be a full uptake of Processing overtime paid at overtime rates at Peterborough Mail Centre for the appropriate shift.
3.6 In the event that the Peterborough Outhouse is used to process work deemed proper for the Peterborough Mail Centre on Sundays 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th November and 6th, 13th and 20th December there will be a full uptake of Processing overtime paid at SA rates at the Peterborough Mail Centre.
3.7 Catch overtime is not guaranteed during the Christmas pressure period even though Christmas planning casual staff will be in the building. If additional casual staff are required during the Christmas pressure period then there will be a full uptake of catch overtime in line with local agreements.
3.8 Providing resourcing is secure at the Mail Centre staff can volunteer for duty or additional earnings opportunities at the Outhouse.
Section 4 PETERBOROUGH MAIL CENTRE OVERTIME FAILURE PENALTIES CHRISTMAS 2015
4.1 A failure to perform pre-scheduled or catch overtime after confirmation of attendance without meeting one of the accepted criteria below will result in the locally agreed banning process being issued against the individual.
4.1.1 Immediate exceptional circumstances
4.1.2 Pre-scheduled handed back with at least 6 hours notice.
4.1.3 Agreed on the day by the Shift Manager, where there is no adverse quality of service implications.
4.1.4 Catch overtime that is turned down at initial contact or contact cannot be made.
4.2 Bans will be issued and recorded by the Resourcing Unit using the Hours Monitoring Tool. The weekly resourcing meetings will ensure that all bans are enforced.
4.3 An individual under a ban will not be able to perform overtime in Processing, Distribution, Logistics or Deliveries during the period of the ban. The respective Resourcing Units will be responsible for notifying the parent unit. The CWU and Management will jointly monitor and carry out random checks on the various functions/business units to ensure compliance.
4.4 Any ban will come into force during the Christmas pressure period. This may result in multiple failures taking place within that period. Therefore bans will be allocated as written in the current locally agreed overtime agreement, which are:
4.4.1 1 Failure = Written Warning
4.4.2 2 Failures = 1 Week Ban
4.5 The written warning will be handed out by the Resourcing Unit during the week following the failure.
4.6 An appeal if raised will be heard by the Resourcing Manager. At the appeal, due consideration will be given to any personal circumstances and the individual’s previous record within this Agreement.
4.7 CWU and Management will robustly monitor ALL overtime failures.
The 2015 Royal Mail and CWU locally agreed Processing Christmas Agreement
M Fovargue Ernie Orviss
Royal Mail Christmas Manager CWU Area Processing Rep
16th October 2015
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