Workers of the world unite; you have nothing to lose but your chains. Karl Marx.
Tuesday at 7:30pm – a vital live session with Davie Robertson for our parcelforce members. Please get the word out as far and wide as possible.
It will be live on our Facebook, YouTube and Twitter channels and also via this direct link https://youtu.be/v5y6NdROZLA
ROYAL MAIL GROUP: PAY AND CHANGE DISPUTES
As reported via Facebook Live last night, the Postal Executive has determined a new strategy to pursue our aims and objectives. We have always said the dispute was dynamic and would require us to be flexible to deal with any developments. Therefore, in view of the revised pay and change offer received from Royal Mail on Monday (attached), we have decided the best approach is to withdraw the national strike action scheduled for:
The Postal Executive has replaced the above with two 48 strikes around the key pressure periods of Black Friday and Cyber Monday as follows:
In addition, the Postal Executive will determine a programme of action up to Christmas.
Consultative Ballot of all Members to Reject the Pay & Change Offer
We will also be conducting a workplace consultative ballot of our members to support the rejection of the RMG pay and change offer, which covers Fleet and Parcelforce for Change but is silent on pay for these members. Arrangements are in progress to ensure Branches receive the ballot papers for distribution to members starting from early next week. This consultative ballot will close on Wednesday 16th November, which is the eve of Royal Mail Group’s half yearly financial results being announced to the markets.
To support the necessary membership engagement, we will be holding an on-line Zoom meeting with all Representatives on Monday 7thNovember at 6.30pm, in order to provide more details surrounding this crucial activity. Further details on the wider communications plan will be reported.
Vote of No Confidence in Simon Thompson, CEO
Coupled with the pay and change consultative ballot will be a further question on the ballot paper whereby we will be recommending members support a Vote of No Confidence in Simon Thompson, CEO. This is necessary due to the strategic direction he is taking the company in, which essentially is an all-out attack on our members’ jobs, pay, terms and conditions, including Compulsory Redundancies and Outsourcing. We believe there has been gross mismanagement of Royal Mail Group which will be declaring a loss for the first six months of the year, yet only in May declared a record profit of £758m and paid out £594m this year in the form of shareholder dividends and a share buy-back. The reality is, responsibility for RMG’s loss making lies at the door of the CEO and Royal Mail Group Board.
Our strength lies within the workplace and by engaging directly with our members. As the consultative ballots will be our main focus over the course of the next two weeks we will therefore be providing Reps with communication materials to support an effective membership engagement. It was the unanimous view of the Postal Executive that the strike action scheduled for 12th and 14th Novemberwould have been a distraction to delivering massive votes to support the rejection of the pay & change offer and the vote of no confidence and this is why we have withdrawn.
Acas Negotiations with Royal Mail Group
We are more committed than ever to resolving these disputes and have informed Royal Mail Group we remain available for meaningful negotiations at Acas. However, for progress to be made, it will require Royal Mail moving away from the unrealistic position contained within the pay & change proposal. The calling of the two 48 bouts of strike action is specifically designed to place pressure on Royal Mail to negotiate a solution for a holistic settlement that encompasses all of our members including Parcelforce and Fleet.
Major Shareholder Meeting
We have also decided to invite all major shareholders to a meeting to hear the Union’s view of this dispute. This will be based upon us putting forward the real reasons why Royal Mail Group faces serious challenges. We will also set out our views as to what we believe resolves the dispute, together with an alternative business plan that can build a successful future for the company and our members.
Yours sincerely,
Dave Ward
General Secretary
Andy Furey
Acting Deputy General Secretary (Postal)
LTB 431/22 – Royal Mail Group Pay and Change Disputes
Attachment: Stuart MacDonald to Dave Ward & Andy Furey – New Offer – 31 Oct
World Ventil8 Day – Theme ‘Improving Ventilation for a Healthier World’ – Free Webinar For Health and Safety Reps on Tuesday 8 November 2022 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM:
This is to notify CWU health and Safety Reps in particular and any CWU Rep with interest that the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) have launched ‘World Ventil8 Day’ with the theme of ‘Improving Ventilation for a Healthier World’ and they’ve announced a ‘World Ventil8 Day Live Webinar with various partners and academics involved on a panel of experts.
The Webinar is ‘free’ to attend and attendees will join a BESA compiled panel of experts. The Webinar will discuss how good ventilation can improve health, safety and wellbeing as well as protect buildings. The Webinar will share top ventilation tips and practical solutions to implement in workplaces, homes and schools. Some of the ‘key questions’ addressed will be:
BESA are supporting the global awareness campaign to promote the critical role building ventilation plays in improving health, safety, well-being, sleep and productivity alongside scientists, academics, engineering bodies and environmental activists.
As well as showcasing the range of ventilation solutions available to building owners and occupiers, ‘WorldVentil8Day’ will recognise the skilled people who implement the measures and strategies used to make buildings healthier and safer – highlighting the need for training and recruiting more skilled people to take on this growing global, challenging task.
BESA are planning a series of events and knowledge sharing about reducing ventilation, combatting exposure to air pollutants and infectious diseases and reducing mould and damp in buildings with ventilation solutions available to building owners and occupiers and implementing measures and strategies used to make buildings healthier and safer – highlighting the need for training and recruiting more skilled people to take on this growing global task.
BESA are a membership organisation formerly known as the Heating and Ventilating Contractors’ Association (HVCA). Now trading as BESA, their primary focus is to support and serve their members active in the design, installation, commissioning, maintenance, control and management of engineering systems and services in buildings. BESA takes an active interest in the building services and the wider construction industries, voicing their professional views and driving for initiatives that represent the best interests of those who work within the built environment. They safeguard industry skills in regard to delivering industry specific training. Representing the industry in gaining agreement from clients including insurers, councils and retailers to specify BESA accredited members in future tenders. Spearheading mental health awareness and championing the business case for diversity. They establish technical standards and best practice guides, develop and deliver industry specific training to represent best standards across the UK, provide accreditation schemes and promote good quality.
Address:
Building Engineering Services Association (BESA)
Rotherwick House
3 Thomas More St
St Katharine’s & Wapping
London E1W 1YZ
Tel: 020 7313 4900
Registration on-line is at this link: –https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/3133848259128007947
12:00pm GMT – Tuesday 8 November 2022
Yours sincerely
Dave Joyce
National Health, Safety & Environment Officer
Tonight at 7pm we will be live with Dave Ward and Andy Furey.
We don’t need to tell you how important this session is.
Please can every branch and rep do two things for us:
Can you please do everything possible to get every single member online at 7pm. Its on our Facebook, YouTube and Twitter accounts. Here is a direct link to share https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6hs-NOzVzU
We really need you in and amongst the comments backing the union. This is a huge session and your work on this will be vital.
See you at 7pm. Let’s make it massive
This is the background to the RMs insulting offer.
Below is a copy of the new offer that the business made earlier this afternoon. As you can see it’s an absolute insult to the CWU and the sacrifices that you’ve made, as for the pay offer of 7% over two years and a lump sum worth 2% (not consolidated) it’s pathetic against the current inflation rate running at over 10%. The extra 3.5% for this year will not be backdated. The 2% lump sum is only when you’ve agreed to changes in your workplace.
Even making a new offer the company can’t resist making it totally threat centred, If they are threatening 10.000 job losses why are they talking about recruiting? this should convince anyone that they see you as an expendable resource that ultimately will either become subservient or you’ll be replaced by a cheaper alternative.
Lastly, carry on supporting your union and don’t be bullied by an employer that wants to smash our terms, conditions and destroy your work life balance. 💥👊🏻💥
More reward for more change – A new two-year offer worth 9%
In the past six months, you and our customers have had to suffer eight days of costly strikes called by the CWU. Losses in Royal Mail have already reached £219 million – well over £1 million a day – in the first half of 2022-23. And now they’re mounting. Some analysts are suggesting Royal Mail could lose nearly £1 billion this year if CWU continues to take strike action.
We are losing customers. You are losing pay. And yet we’ve been trying for six months to get the CWU to discuss the changes we all know Royal Mail needs to compete and win in the market. As the strikes went on, we had no choice but to cut costs. We’ve already had to announce that we will need to reduce our workforce by about 10,000 full time equivalents (FTEs) by August 2023.
Now a declining workload and worsening finances mean we must make bigger changes. We will have to review the size of our network, our methods of sortation at all points of the journey, how we employ new people and how we procure and maintain our fleet.
That means a lot of change, and I want to make that very clear to you, by putting everything on the table. We are starting to employ new people on new terms and conditions. We will need to use more owner-drivers to deliver parcels in parts of our network. And as we’ve already explained, we need to tighten up how much we spend on things like overtime and reduce the level of absence. But at the same time, I want to make very clear how we’ve listened to you, and what we can offer to help us get the change we need to compete and win in the market.
Here’s the deal
This is what we have proposed to the CWU [1]:
7% salary increase over two years:
[1] Excludes PFSL, Parcelforce and Fleet which operate as separate bargaining units.
ROYAL MAIL DISPUTES PAY AND CHANGE: CANCELLATION OF STRIKE ACTION
Following a legal challenge by Royal Mail to the functional strike action, Branches and Representatives are advised the Postal Executive yesterday took the pragmatic decision to withdraw the following two periods of strike action:
Royal Mail Group have been formally notified the strike action has been withdrawn. Whilst this represents yet another attack on the democratic decisions of our members surrounding industrial action, the national strike action still goes ahead as follows:
There is now two weeks before the next strike action. This allows for a concentrated period of negotiations at ACAS where both parties should focus on resolving these disputes. We are meeting at ACAS today and have informed Royal Mail our negotiators are prepared for intensive talks to take place over the next ten days. Royal Mail has also confirmed they will commit to do likewise.
The Postal Executive will be meeting this week to consider a further programme of strike action for the remainder of November and up to Christmas. Any decisions on this will be relayed to Branches and Representatives in due course.
Yours sincerely
Dave Ward Andy Furey
General Secretary Acting Deputy General Secretary (Postal)
22LTB428 – Royal Mail Disputes Pay and Change – Cancellation of Strike Action
Royal Mail and Parcelforce (Including Fleet and Engineering etc.) Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) – Protective Clothing and Footwear Provision and Supply Issues:
The Health, Safety and Environment Department has continued to receive enquiries regarding the provision and supply of those items of protective clothing and footwear which fall within the Royal Mail and Parcelforce uniform ranges and the specific Technical Services Grades ranges that fall under the Personal Protective Equipment at Work (PPE) Regulations 1992 (as amended 2002). (Note: Regulation 2(1) in these Regulations determines that ‘personal protective equipment (PPE)’ means all equipment (including clothing affording protection against the weather) which is intended to be worn or held by a person at work and which protects him/her against one or more risks to his/her health or safety, and any addition or accessory designed to meet that objective.)
Unfortunately, and sadly, some ill-chosen, misplaced an odd comments made by Royal Mail CEO Simon Thompson on the company’s garbage ‘Workplace Social Media Facebook Website’ has been a cause for concern amongst CWU reps and members generally, particularly in relation to Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and particularly for the delivery workforce members working outdoors as the winter months approach bringing potential extremes of low temperatures, cold and wet weather. This has led to a number of complaints and enquiries being received at the CWU/HQ Health, Safety and Environment Department.
Following discussions with the Royal Mail Group Head of Assets and National Uniform Manager, we have been assured that despite any issues that may arise in relation to the supply chain, transitioning from the old to new uniform range or uniform reviews etc., the supply of PPE items will continue to be provided as normal and there should be no issues for the workforce in obtaining PPE items such as stormproof jackets, high-Viz garments, waterproof leggings and safety footwear etc. These items are part of the BAU (Business As Usual) process and not part of the new uniform rollout. There may be a few sizes showing as out of stock on the Uniform Portal, however there is a message advising that the order should be placed and it will be fulfilled with an alternative, equivalent, similar specification, ‘off the shelf’ product.
Note:
Under Section 2(1) of the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) at Work Regulations 1992 (as amended), ‘personal protective equipment’ means all equipment (including clothing affording protection against the weather) which is intended to be worn or held by a person at work and which protects him/her against one or more risks to his/her health or safety, and any addition or accessory designed to meet that objective. Under Section 9 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, no charge can be made to the worker for the provision of PPE which is used only at work. Section 9 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 states: “No employer shall levy or permit to be levied on any employee of his any charge in respect of anything done or provided in pursuance of any specific requirement of the relevant statutory provisions”. Section 9 applies to these regulations because they impose a ‘specific requirement’ – i.e., to provide PPE.
Yours sincerely
Dave Joyce
National Health, Safety & Environment Officer
Important update session for members to watch on catch up.
Facebook https://fb.watch/gueD7jAaOY/
YouTube https://youtu.be/R51csYZUTbg
Twitter https://twitter.com/cwunews/status/1586704465037361152?s=46&t=Z-Z347vjrBG_f0E1pJHczQ
Hi everyone. We know it’s a Sunday but there will be an urgent CWU meeting for all Royal Mail Group members live today at 1pm on the CWU Facebook, YouTube and Twitter channels.
Please do everything you can to get the word out to members.
Direct link to watch it here https://youtu.be/R51csYZUTbg
See you at 1.
2022 Dispute Relating to Royal Mail Group Breaking the “Pathway to Change” and Associated National Agreements and Protections for CWU Represented Grades Employed by Royal Mail Group Consisting of Royal Mail, Parcelforce and Fleet
The CWU’s Postal Executive met today, Friday 28th October 2022 and have determined there is a need for further strike action, which we have notified the company of. The strike will cover:
Any enquiries in relation to the content of this LTB should be addressed to the DGS(P) Department.
Yours sincerely, Yours sincerely,
Andy Furey Dave Ward
Acting Deputy General Secretary (Postal) General Secretary
CWU Eastern No5 Branch 