CWU Eastern No5 home posting with Branch Recommendations for CWU National Elections
JOINT STATEMENT BETWEEN ROYAL MAIL AREA DISTRIBUTION AND THE CWU – PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS DIGITAL TACHOGRAPH CARD DOWNLOAD FREQUENCY
JOINT STATEMENT BETWEEN ROYAL MAIL AREA DISTRIBUTION AND THE CWU – PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS DIGITAL TACHOGRAPH CARD DOWNLOAD FREQUENCY
Branches and representatives will be aware of the Joint Statement between Royal Mail Logistics and the CWU – Professional Drivers Digital Tachograph Card Download Frequency, which was applicable in Network and received endorsement from the Postal Executive (LTB 318/19refers).
Following further discussions with the business it has now been agreed that the same arrangements in relation to tachograph download frequency will also be applied for Area Distribution Professional Drivers.
Therefore attached for your information is a further Joint Statement, endorsed by the Postal Executive, which deals specifically with the policy in Area Distribution.
Colleagues will note that the attached is identical to that agreed for the Logistics Network Professional Drivers, with the exception of the change of title and the Area Distribution Joint Working Group having responsibility for reviewing the activity.
The new policy will be introduced from 8th July 2019 and further communications will be sent out via Area Distribution comms and shared with the ADC’s to assist with the change of policy.
Any enquiries in relation to this LTB should be addressed to Davie Robertson, Assistant Secretary, email: dwyatt@cwu.org or shayman@cwu.org quoting reference number: 518.02.
Davie Robertson
Assistant Secretary
JS Professional Driver Digital Tachograph Download Fequency Area Distribution 01.07.19
RM/CWU Dog Awareness Week 2019 Monday 8 July to Saturday 13 July 2019:
RM/CWU Dog Awareness Week 2019 Monday 8 July to Saturday 13 July 2019:
To raise awareness and encourage responsible dog ownership, the Union and Royal Mail will jointly launch their sixth annual Dog Awareness Week on Monday 8th July 2019.
The number of dog attacks is still too high and every dog attack is one attack too many. The official number of dog attacks in the UK on postmen and women last year is 2,484, but unreported minor attacks take that up to 3,000 in our estimation. 2,484 represents a 9% increase on Royal Mail’s 2017/18 figures.
The number of dog attacks on postmen and women increases during summer holidays, when children and parents are at home and dogs are more likely to be out in the garden with the family.
Royal Mail Dog Awareness Week is supported by the Communications Workers Union and a wide range of organisations and animal charities including PDSA, the National Police Chief’s Council, and the National Dog Wardens Association.
A special Dog Awareness Week postmark will be applied to all stamped items from Monday 8th July to Friday 12th July.
3,000 Postmen and Women were attacked by Dogs in the UK last year, that’s 47 a week or 7 a day.
ASRs, Regional Health and Safety Forums, Branches and Regions are asked to fully support the week and work locally with Royal Mail and supporting organisations on the campaign.
The Following Press Statement Has Been Issued by Dave Joyce CWU National Health, Safety and Environment Officer:
CWU National Health, Safety and Environment Officer Dave Joyce said “The failure of Dog Owners to control their animals remains a major concern for postal workers and the public. The number of attacks has risen, with yearly hospital admissions for dog bites increasing by 80% over the last decade. Seven postal workers are attacked by dogs every working day of the year which is unacceptable and the whole idea of Dog Awareness Week is to highlight the problem and the repercussions for dog owners and the victims, many of whom are seriously injured.
83% of dog attacks on postal workers happened at the front door or in the front garden and that number is increasing as we deliver more online purchased parcels. We are appealing to all customers who are dog owners to work with us and think TWICE when the postman calls. Put the dog away in a secure room before opening the door to collect and sign for your delivery.
The vast majority of our customers and their dogs aren’t a problem but irresponsible and reckless dog owners are. Customers are always pleased to see the postman or postwoman arrive as they’re eager to take delivery of the goods they’ve ordered and paid for on the internet but thousands of them unfortunately don’t give a second thought to the postal worker’s safety by putting the dog in a safe, secure place.
There are tough court penalties and a criminal record for irresponsible dog owners including prison and unlimited fines so it’s in their best interest in more ways than one to make sure the dog doesn’t bite the postman/woman. One owner from Romford, Essex paid fines and costs of £9,000 after his dog injured a postwoman’s fingers as she put letters through the door. Another owner from Oxford was handed a 16-month suspended prison sentence and banned from owning dogs for life after his dog badly injured a postman’s hand.
Dog owners need to fully understand that their actions usually are the cause of a dog being dangerous and simple precautions can prevent the pain for everyone concerned. No matter what breed of dog is involved, the dog can present a substantial danger to postal workers.
Worryingly there continues to be a number of very serious Dog attacks on Postal Workers in both Royal Mail delivery and Parcelforce delivery this last year, some of which could easily have ended in fatalities if it wasn’t for the intervention of the owners and good Samaritans”.
I am calling upon all CWU Representatives to fully support and get involved with 2019 Dog Awareness Week.
Further LTBs, Dog Awareness Week materials and information will be issued in due course.
Yours sincerely
Dave Joyce
National Health, Safety & Environment Officer
19LTB400 RMCWU Dog Awareness Week 2019 Monday 8 July to Saturday 13 July 2019
KELLY MARY FAUVRELLE – CROYDON POSTWOMAN MURDERED AT THE WEEKEND
KELLY MARY FAUVRELLE – CROYDON POSTWOMAN MURDERED AT THE WEEKEND
I am writing to advise Branches of the tragic news that the story covered in the media at the weekend, of a pregnant woman who was horrifically murdered, was Kelly Mary Fauvrelle, a postwoman and CWU member from Croydon Delivery Office.
Kelly leaves behind a baby fighting for its life, a family utterly devastated and friends and colleagues at work who are in total shock.
The union will do everything possible to help Kelly’s family and our members during this period and we are liaising with the local Branch on this.
Yet another tragic loss of innocent life is sickening. It is clear that the gang culture and environment across the UK, but particularly in London, has reached a level where it just cannot go on. The CWU is calling for an immediate reversal of police cuts in London and the UK as an absolute priority; and we will link up with other organisations to pressure the government and the Mayor to act now.
The streets are no longer safe and this is not a world we should be handing over to our children and grandchildren.
Finally, in conjunction with the CWU Croydon and Sutton Amal Branch, we will set up later today an appeal fund to support the family and further details on this will be sent out in due course.
Any enquiries on the above LTB should be addressed to the gsoffice@cwu.org
Yours sincerely
Dave Ward
General Secretary
POST OFFICE: BEIS SELECT COMMITTEE INQUIRY – POST OFFICE NETWORK – MINISTER’S RESPONSE
POST OFFICE: BEIS SELECT COMMITTEE INQUIRY – POST OFFICE NETWORK – MINISTER’S RESPONSE
Further to LTB 305/19 dated 22nd May 2019. A further evidence hearing was held last week in relation to the BEIS Select Committee inquiry into the Post Office network. The second hearing was held specifically to hear evidence from the Minister, Kelly Tolhurst, who requested a delay to her oral evidence session rather than attending the first hearing held on 21st May which the Union attended along with the NFSP, Citizens Advice, WH Smith, the Association of Convenience Stores and the Post Office. The House of Commons transcript of this week’s Ministerial hearing is attached for your information.
The Minister was questioned at length by the Committee and the MPs in attendance on the franchising programme, SubPostmasters’ remuneration and Post Bank.
Of particular note was a question from Peter Kyle, Labour MP for Hove, who challenged the so-called public “consultations” surrounding Crown Office franchising a “sham”. Kelly Tolhurst responded by suggesting the whole consultation process was more about receiving feedback about the location change rather than whether the Crown should actually be franchised. She did however note that the Post Office should be clearer about what they were actually consulting on and agreed to ask the Post Office for more information before responding back to the committee.
Disappointingly but predictably, when asked whether she would be happy with the Crown Offices being 100% franchised, the Minister said she believed the franchise system was working well. Obviously this position doesn’t bode well for our members’ jobs in the Crown network, hence the need to continue building upon the Save Our Post Office campaign.
Press Coverage – Save our Post Offices Campaign
The Daily Mail, which launched its Save our Local Post Offices campaign last month, followed up the previous high profile articles (which included a front page headline) with a further piece on the Post Office concentrating on the requirement for government to provide an ongoing subsidy to support rural Post Offices often described as the last shop in the village. The article, under the heading “Lifeline for 3,000 rural post offices” can be accessed by using the following link:
Additionally, a web article criticising much of the Minister’s evidence, particularly in relation to the Union and also the Labour party policy of establishing a Post Bank is attached for your information.
Next Steps
We await with interest to see the report from the BEIS Select Committee along with the recommendations. Hopefully this will be published prior to the parliamentary recess.
Further developments will be reported.
If you have any questions in relation to this LTB, please contact Lea Sheridan – lsheridan@cwu.org.
Yours sincerely
Andy Furey Terry Pullinger Dave Ward
Assistant Secretary Deputy General Secretary (P) General Secretary
LTB398-19 Post Office – BEIS Select Committee Inquiry – Post Office Network – Minister’s Response
Attachment 1 to LTB398-19 House of Commons Transcript
Attachment 2 to LTB398-19 – Web Article
JUSTICE4GRENFELL CAMPAIGN
JUSTICE4GRENFELL CAMPAIGN
As you will be aware, 14th June 2019 marked the two year anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire in which 72 people lost their lives. In the two years since the tragedy occurred, trade unions, and a number of CWU members in the London Region, have played an active role in supporting the local community.
One of the campaign groups that was established by the community in the wake of the fire is Justice4Grenfell (J4G), which has been working closely with and has been strongly supported by the FBU. J4G has organised the monthly silent walks that take place in Kensington on the 14th of every month and organised the march on 15th June which was publicised to CWU members in LTB 368/19.
J4G is campaigning to ensure the individuals and authorities that were responsible for the fire are properly held to account and has been a critical voice over the lack of prosecutions, the continued failure by the government to remove cladding or install sprinklers in other buildings, the number of people who have yet to be rehoused and the paucity of the local Council’s response. Together with public campaigning it is engaging with the Grenfell Inquiry which will enter its second stage at the end of this year.
We believe the work J4G is doing is hugely important and that the Grenfell disaster would never have happened if the voices of working class people had been listened to in the first place. The NEC has agreed to make a donation to support the work of Justice4Grenfell and we would also ask CWU branches to consider doing so themselves. More information on Justice4Grenfell can be found on its website https://justice4grenfell.org.
Any queries on the contents of this LTB should be addressed to gsoffice@cwu.org
Yours sincerely
Dave Ward
General Secretary
CWU MENTAL HEALTH STRATEGY – NATIONAL EVENT 17 OCTOBER 2019
CWU MENTAL HEALTH STRATEGY – NATIONAL EVENT 17TH OCTOBER 2019
All Branches will be aware, that in line with Conference policy, the union is developing a proactive agenda to tackle mental health issues in the workplace and society.
As part of this, it has been agreed to hold a major national event, the details of which are as follows:-
The Comedy Store
Arches 3 & 4 Deansgate Locks
Whitworth Street West
Manchester
M1 5LH
The event will cover a number of different and interactive sessions and one of these will be hosted by Ken Loach the film director and political activist.
More information on our plans for the whole event will be sent out in due course.
In the meantime, we would ask that Branches to diarise the date and advise all representatives who may be interested in attending.
Any enquiries on the above LTB should be addressed to the gsoffice@cwu.org.
Yours sincerely
Dave Ward
General Secretary
396-19 CWU Mental Health Strategy National Event 17th October 2019
SAFE DRIVER CHECKS’ PROCESS – LICENCE CHECKS FOR LOGISTICS AND AREA DISTRIBUTION PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS
SAFE DRIVER CHECKS’ PROCESS – LICENCE CHECKS FOR LOGISTICS AND AREA DISTRIBUTION PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS
Branches and representatives will be aware that trial activity has been taking place at Swindon Distribution and Coventry VOC in line with the Joint Statement between Royal Mail and the CWU regarding the New ‘Safe Driver Checks’ Process for Logistics and Area Distribution Professional Drivers (LTB 192/19 refers).
The trial activity has been considered as very successful with the feedback received being that the process was easy for the drivers to complete, with the average time to complete the licence check greatly reduced to around 2 minutes.
It has therefore been jointly agreed that the process is suitable for further deployment to Logistics and Area Distribution units. Due to legal requirements it will however be necessary to commence collecting the required driver data and have this completed in August 2019, prior to the next licence checks in September.
Discussion has therefore taken place with the business in relation to concluding a Joint Statement for the new process, which has been endorsed by the Postal Executive, a copy of which is attached for your information.
In summary the required data for Professional Drivers (LGV and MGV 3.5t and above vehicles) will be collected using the following PDA process:
All drivers will receive their own individual PDA log ins – this will take approximately two weeks through IT, be led by the project team and communicated to the individual VOC’s.
Through June/July the VOC managers will ask drivers to complete the licence check process using the PDA ready for the data to be communicated to the DVLA in August in line with all other functions.
The licence checks will be conducted by managers and not ADC’s.
Where PDA’s are already available to the VOC’s on co-located sites, these will be made available to the VOC through local discussion.
Where we have VOC’s with no natural access to PDA’s the Special Events Team will organise PDA’s for the licence checks.
In addition to the Joint Statement also attached for information is supplementary information in relation to the Safe Driver Check process, which we hope will be of assistance to Branches and representatives in dealing with any enquiries that may be received:
Annex A – Safe Driver Checks NI – PDA Input
Annex B – Safe Driver Checks – PDA Input
Annex C – Safe Driver Checks FAQ’s
Any enquiries in relation to this LTB should be addressed to Davie Robertson, Assistant Secretary, email: dwyatt@cwu.org or shayman@cwu.orgquoting reference numbers: 202.09 & 502.02.
Yours sincerely
Katrina Quirke
Acting Assistant Secretary
Attachment 1 – JS Safe Driver Checks Logistics & Area Distribution 25.06.19
Attachment 2 – Annex A Safe Driver Checks PDA Input N.I. 24.06.19
Attachment 3 – Annex B Safe Driver Checks PDA Input Guide 24.06.19
Attachment 4 – Annex C Safe Driver Checks FAQ’s 24.06.19
TRADE UNION ACT – POLITICAL FUND NOTICE IN RELATION TO MEMBERS WHO JOINED THE CWU ON OR AFTER 1 MARCH 2018
TRADE UNION ACT – POLITICAL FUND NOTICE IN RELATION TO MEMBERS WHO JOINED THE CWU ON OR AFTER 1ST MARCH 2018
Under the Trade Union Act, the union is required to notify members who joined the CWU on or after 1stMarch 2018 of their right to give a withdrawal notice to paying the political levy.
As set out in the CWU rulebook, such notice may be given:
(a) by delivering the notice (either personally or by an authorised agent or by post) at the head office or a branch office of the union;
(b) by sending it via e-mail to the following email address: membership@cwu.org;
(c) by completing an electronic form provided by the union which sets out the notice and sending it to the union by electronic means with instructions by the union;
(d) by any other electronic means prescribed under the 1992 Act (as inserted by the 2016 Act).
Branches are asked to publicise this LTB to members who have joined the union on or after 1st March 2018.
Any queries on the contents of this LTB should be addressed to gsoffice@cwu.org
Yours sincerely,
Dave Ward – General Secretary
Tony Kearns – Deputy General Secretary
CWU Eastern No5 Branch 