ERRATA – Agenda Pad – CWU Retired Members Conference – 26^th October 2023

Branches would wish to know that the agenda for the CWU Retired Members Conference which is being held at CWU Headquarters on Thursday 26^thOctober 2023 has now been published on the website and can be accessed by opening the attachment or pasting the link into your browser:

Retired Members Agenda Pad 2023

Any enquiries regarding this LTB should be addressed to Angela Niven by telephoning 020 8971 7256 or by post to head office or by email to conferences@cwu.org

Yours sincerely,

A P Kearns
Senior Deputy General Secretary

23LTB241-Agenda-Pad-CWU-Retired-Members-Conference-26th-October-2023

RETIRED AGENDA OCTOBER 2023 – MOTIONS ONLY

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Agenda Pad – CWU Retired Members Conference – 27^th October 2023

Branches would wish to know that the agenda for the CWU Retired Members Conference which is being held at CWU Headquarters on Thursday 27^thOctober 2023 has now been published on the website and can be accessed by opening the attachment or pasting the link into your browser:

Click to access RETIRED-AGENDA-OCTOBER-2023.pdf

Any enquiries regarding this LTB should be addressed to Angela Niven by telephoning 020 8971 7256 or by post to head office or by email to conferences@cwu.org

Yours sincerely,

A P Kearns
Senior Deputy General Secretary

23LTB241 – Agenda Pad – CWU Retired Members Conference – 27th October 2023

RETIRED AGENDA OCTOBER 2023 – MOTIONS ONLY

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CAPITA TVL: BRISTOL & DARWEN PAY AGREEMENT 1^ST APRIL 2023

Further to LTB 196/23 dated 21^st July in relation to the pay agreement for Capita TVL Field members.  Branches are advised we have now completed all negotiations with Capita TVL and have concluded a pay agreement for our members working in Bristol and Darwen.  This agreement has been endorsed by the Postal Executive and the key features are as follows:

Employees Earning the Real Living Wage (RLW)

Capita Group is a Real Living Wage employer and as such applied the Living Wage Foundation’s recommendation for the RLW of £10.90 per hour from 1st April 2023.  This increased hourly pay rates by 8.24% (from £10.07 to £10.90).  In addition, these members will now receive:

• Compounded on the RLW increase is a further 2% pay increase on 1^st April’s pay rates, applicable from 1st October 2023, resulting in a new hourly pay rate of £11.12, providing for a total pay increase of 10.43% (£10.07 to £11.12).

Members Earning Above the RLW

• Every member earning above the RLW will receive a £1,450 (pro-rata for part-timers)fully consolidated and pensionable pay increase backdated to 1st April 2023.

Membership Ballot

We will now be conducting a consultative ballot of our TVL Bristol and Darwen members and assuming a positive outcome, the pay increases, along with arrears of pay where appropriate will be made with October salaries.  The ballot papers will be despatched today and the ballot closes on Monday 9^th October.

Further developments will be reported.

Yours sincerely

Andy Furey
A/Deputy General Secretary (Postal)

Attachment 1: 23LTB240 Capita TVL – Bristol & Darwen Pay Agreement 2023

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NATIONAL BRANCH BRIEFING – CWU FUTURE / RESTRUCTURING – 29^THSEPTEMBER 2023

As reported in LTB 236/23 a National Branch Briefing for all CWU Branches will take place on 29^th September 2023.

The briefing, as explained in LTB 236/23, is the start of a consultative process with branches in relation to the CWU’s future and the need for restructuring.  The main focus of this briefing will be to give the General Secretary and Senior Deputy General Secretary the opportunity to set out to Branches the background against which there is a need to restructure the CWU for the future and to set out how the NEC intend to move forward on these matters.

Since the publication of the above LTB we have been asked to provide clarification on who should be in attendance and we can confirm that this should be on the basis of 3 delegates per Branch, Senior Field Officials and Senior IR Representatives.

A final agenda will be circulated nearer the date.

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.

Yours sincerely,Dave Ward

General Secretary

Tony Kearns

Senior Deputy General Secretary

LTB 239/23

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TRANSITIONAL ATTENDANCE REVIEW MEETINGS

 Branches and members will be aware as part of the changes to the Attendance Agreement in the Business Recovery, Transformation & Growth (BRT&G) Agreement, from 1^st August 2023, attendance reviews will be discussed at the return to work (RTW) meeting and the manager will decide whether the absence will be counted towards the attendance review.

We have been discussing with Royal Mail how we deal with absences which occurred prior to 1^st August 2023.  Any member who has an attendance review meeting which includes any absence prior to 1^st August, will be invited to a transitional attendance review meeting.  This is necessary as not all absences during the last 12 months will have been validated i.e. counted or not counted towards the Attendance Standards. Therefore, an attendance review notification could include these non validated absences.

The process to be used will be the same process prior to the transition.  Members will be sent a letter, inviting them to a transitional attendance review meeting to discuss these absences. For clarity, you will be entitled to CWU Representation at these meetings.  Line Managers have been informed of the above process.

Following the meeting, your line manager should confirm in writing whether these absences will count towards the Attendance Standards.

Any enquiries to this LTB please contact: The PTCS Department reference 312, email address: khay@cwu.org.

Yours sincerely,

Carl Maden

Assistant Secretary

LTB 238/23

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CWU 2-Day Equality Event – Registration Reminder!

Further to LTB188/23, we are writing to remind Branches and Regions to register for the 2-day Equality Event due to take place on 27^th and 28^th September at the Albert Hall Conference Centre, North Circus Street, Nottingham, NG1 5AA.

The programme for the 2 days will include a diverse agenda of music, spoken word performances and speakers including a keynote session with our General Secretary Dave Ward and RMT General Secretary, Mick Lynch on the vital campaign against Ticket Office closures.

Branches can register by emailing the Equality, Education and Development department at equality&education@cwu.org If you have accessibility requirements, please contact the department ASAP.

For ease of reference, I have attached LTB 188/23 for further information. Any queries on this LTB should be directed to the email above.

I look forward to seeing you at the event.

Yours sincerely,

Kate Hudson
Head of Equality, Education & Development

LTB 237/23 – CWU 2-Day Equality Event – Registration Reminder

LTB 188/23 – 2-Day National Equality Event

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Royal Mail Group – Unagreed Trust Survey 2023

Branches and Representatives will recall the previous ‘Big Trust’ survey was jointly compiled and promoted during 2021 and the early part of 2022.

Following the endorsement of the Pathway to Change Agreement and as part of the joint work to improve culture, it made sense to jointly promote the previous survey during 2021 and the beginning of 2022 with the joint activity resulting in an industry leading participation rate of 69% with over 91,000 people taking part.

This previous joint activity effectively came to an end when the survey produced a trust score of 68%, resulting in the previous CEO reneging on his promise not to make management bonus payments unless the ‘trust score’ hit 70 or above.  The national disputes then commenced meaning joint activity was inappropriate in any event.

It has now come to our attention RMG have unilaterally launched a further ‘Trust’ survey.  To be clear and despite previous arrangements, on this occasion there has been no consultation with the Union about the timing or content of this questionnaire and as we haven’t been asked to be involved we cannot support or promote the 2023 Trust Survey.

This ‘go it alone mentality’ is outwith with the principles of the Business Recovery, Transformation and Growth Agreement and this survey has been started at a time when the concentration of RMG should be focused on treating people fairly in the workplace and abiding by the terms of our agreements.

I have written to the Chief People Officer to express my concerns regarding the lack of consultation and involvement of the Union over this matter that flies in the face of improving industrial and employee relations.

Further developments will be reported in due course.

Yours sincerely,

Andy Furey

A/Deputy General Secretary (Postal)

23LTB235

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BUSINESS RECOVERY, TRANSFORMATION AND GROWTH AGREEMENT – LUMP SUM PAYMENTS

Further to the membership communication attached to LTB152/23, Branches and members are advised the additional lump sum payment as part of the BRT&G Agreement has now been confirmed.

We had previously reported this payment would be at least £900 and we can now announce the final amount will be £1,007.

This means, including the £500 lump sum, our members in Royal Mail and Parcelforce will be receiving a total of £1,507 (pro-rata for part-timers).

Finally, we can also confirm these payments will be made on Friday 29^thSeptember to both weekly and monthly paid members.

Yours sincerely

Dave Ward – General Secretary                            

Andy Furey – A/Deputy General Secretary (Postal)

23LTB234 – BRT and G AGREEMENT – LUMP SUM PAYMENTS

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Annual Leave Carry over RM policy – Use it or Lose it

 Branches will be aware that the CWU and Royal Mail have been engaging on the issue of carry over leave since 2017 with a view to ensuring leave cards are accurate and our members get every opportunity possible to take their leave.

During the recent dispute we were made aware that managers were being advised that the carry over system would be formalised electronically on PSP. This has meant that managers have had to go onto PSP to authorise the carryover of leave in excess of 5 days. Reps and members will be aware that our agreements allow for up to 5 days carry over without management agreement and that in excess of 5 days must be authorised. We have for many years had a situation where carry over leave has just carried over and no real discussions or authorisation processes have applied until 2023.

We were approached recently by management as they intended to invoke a further system whereby employees who have carry over leave currently above the 5 days will be given a defined period to use that leave or lose it. This will apply to all grades across RMG.

We have registered our opposition many times to this approach which has changed the business position in making it far easier for our members to take their carry over entitlement in a reasonable period.

We have also managed to get Royal Mail to agree to exceptions to this policy that will go some way to protecting our members, nevertheless there is still a risk that our members may find themselves in a situation where their carry over contractual leave is removed.

Management have continually expressed the position that it is not about employees losing their leave but it is about employees taking their leave. We have no opposition to our members being able to take their full annual leave entitlement; however, we are opposed to the forced removal.

As part of our representations we have stated that, if employees have their annual leave removed and management cannot evidence that the employee has chosen not to take their leave by all means possible or that management have refused employees being able to use their leave, that this will result in grievances and potentially breach of contract claims to an Employment Tribunal. Management acknowledge this position however they are not permitting managers to make an exception for carry over leave caused by operational requirements. This approach is a potentially positive position as it will force managers to give the leave or face grievances against them personally.

Both parties have committed to a monthly meeting where we will discuss how leave discussions are progressing where leave sits and any problem offices identified.

In terms of the numbers of employees with carry over leave this can be broken down as follows;

Operations, Central Functions including Parcel Force, RMPFS, HR International etc.

 Up to 5 days 67,518, These are agreement compliant and unaffected by this approach.

1. More than 5 days to 15 days 22,684 Who will fall into the end of August 2024 category
2. More than 15 days to 50 days 5086. These employees will fall into the category of end of August 2025

The final group which are more extreme leave carry over levels are 10-40+ weeks carry over and this number sits at 301.

The individuals/groupings as detailed above will be required to use their leave in this period of time or through discussions and circumstances with their line manager to agree an exception within the 3 categories.

The Members and representatives should be aware that annual leave is used in the following ways when leave is taken:

1. Any blocks of leave taken are deducted from the carry over leave entitlement first
2. Further Leave taken is deducted from the Purchased leave entitlement
3. Remaining leave taken is then removed from the renewed annual leave entitlement.

This means that if an employee has the maximum of 3 weeks carry over leave from 2023 into 2024, the said employee will have 5 months to use those 3 weeks. This should be achievable, due to the pecking order. Those in excess of this will have 17 months between April 2024 and August 2025 to use their leave.

We intend to monitor this closely and a spreadsheet exists which details by unit the number of employees in each group and the amount of leave. The intention is to share to relevant divisional and territorial reps for them to ensure we engage properly to achieve the following:

1. Members are afforded the leave;
2. Resourcing arrangements are in place to cover the workload; and
3. Support members where managers are not behaving correctly through use of the Grievance procedure and where appropriate legal processes.

Finally, to ensure that we look at improvements to the annual leave systems and processes/agreements it is the intention to relaunch the Annual leave JWG.

Yours sincerely,

Andy Furey

A/Deputy General Secretary (Postal)

23LTB233 – Annual Leave Carry over RM policy – Use it or Lose it.docx

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