Additional Deployment of Parcel Sorting Machines (PSM’s) in Mail Centres

Branches and representatives will be aware that LTB 355/2018 (copy attached for ease of reference) conveyed deployment arrangements in relation to the planned 16 Parcel Automation Machines (PSM’s). Currently 10 PSM’s are operational, with the remaining 6 at various stages of build and installation.

For the information of Branches, the business had previously indicated that consideration was also being given to the deployment of an additional 5 PSM’s across the Mail Centre estate but a final decision in this regard had been put on hold at Board level.

The business have now informed the department that following the submission of a revised comprehensive Business Case, authorisation has been given by the RM Investment Committee for an additional 4 PSM’s to be deployed at some of the existing PSM sites with the largest parcel volumes.

The business position is that the additional PSM’s, together with improvements and upgrades to the current PSM’s to reduce the present level of rejects also funded within the latest Business Case, will enhance revenue protection and support parcel volume growth.

The business has therefore advised the department that this additional phase will involve the deployment of a second PSM at the following Mail Centres:

 SMMC 

 HCN 

 Bristol 

 Jubilee 

As with the previous phases of the PSM deployment program the final decision on where to deploy PSM’s has sat solely with the business. On the basis of that decision at the end of this phase of the project, 16 plants would be equipped with automation to process parcels with 4 having 2 machines, equating to a total of 20 machines.

Given that the decision for the first time involved the deployment of multiple machines at some sites, the department had sought clarity in relation to the rationale and business case behind the deployment of the additional machines at existing PSM sites, prior to communicating with Branches. However, we have been made aware that CWU representatives at the four sites have now been approached and advised of the decision. Of great concern is that it appears that there may have been suggestions to representatives at some sites, that the business case includes proposals to concentrate parcel workload at the four sites in receipt of a second machine.

Representations have therefore been made at National level and assurances have been received from the Royal Mail Project Team that the business case for the deployment of the additional machines does not include or rely on proposals on the movement of parcel workload from other Mail Centres. The department will be seeking formal confirmation of this as a matter of urgency.

The Parcel Automation Joint Working Group is due to meet following Annual Conference and the department will seek full clarification on the rationale, time line and operational impacts of this additional deployment phase. Any issues that cannot be resolved at the Joint Working Group level will be escalated to the National Processing Group (NPG).

The department is aware that various rumours have been circulating on the location of any additional machines and that the business was considering a number of options. This news may therefore be disappointing to those Mail Centres who had hoped to be the recipient of a PSM in the current phase.

In addition the business has confirmed that they will continue to review and develop solutions to enable the deployment of Parcel Automation at all Mail Centre sites. The policy of the department on all future Parcel Automation is to secure solutions which enhance the ability to grow parcel volumes while protecting all of our current processing sites.

The Group will continue to monitor and review the ongoing PSM deployment activity to ensure that it is fully in line with the agreed framework (attached).

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: 732.01.

Davie Robertson

Assistant Secretary

19LTB267

Attachment 1 – 18LTB355

Report on the CWU Annual Conference 2019 – Health, Safety & Environment Department & Equalities & Education Department Joint Fringe Meeting – Monday 29th April 2019: “MENTAL HEALTH: TIME TO CHANGE” – Guest Speaker Jonathan Ashworth MP Labour Shadow secretary of State for Health

Over two hundred (249 in total) Communication Workers Union Conference delegates packed into the Tregonwall Hall for the Health, Safety and Environment department and Equalities & Education department Joint Fringe Meeting at the CWU’s Annual Conference in Bournemouth on Monday 29th April 2019. This was the largest attendance recorded at a CWU Conference Fringe meeting.

Opening the meeting, CWU NEC Health, Safety and Environment Committee Chair Shelley Banbury introduced CWU Health Safety and Environment National Officer Dave Joyce and Jon Ashworth MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Health.

Jon Ashworth MP is a Labour and Co-operative Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament for Leicester South since 2011, and is the current Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.

Jon recently said “This NHS crisis also extends to mental health provision, which for too long has remained the Cinderella service of the NHS – undervalued and underfunded.  That’s why Labour will substantially increase spending on mental health and deliver a world-class mental health service.”

Shelley also introduced Steve Jones who is chair of the CWU Mental Health Strategy Group. Steve said he had met Jon at Labour Party conference after he spoke in the mental health debate and was impressed when Jon said he will “not just talk about this, we will do it”. Steve then showed the new CWU video detailing personal experiences and accounts of CWU members of their own mental ill-health, called “It’s time to talk”. This was well-received.

Dave Joyce then spoke about the CWU and the Union’s Mental Health Strategy and he referred to the Government commissioned Stephenson/Farmer report which stated that 300,000 people with mental health issues had lost their jobs. Dave said it was a good report with positive recommendations which the Tory Government accepted but had done nothing to implement since it was published 18 Months ago.

Jon Ashworth thanked the CWU for the kind invitation who he said are one of the great trade unions affiliated to the Labour Party and he praised the work of Steve Jones on Mental Health and General Secretary Dave Ward for his leadership. Jon congratulated CWU members for their propositions, campaigning and for speaking out on the Mental Health issue.

Jon said that we have to make mental health a priority for a Labour Government and he also mentioned the relevance of Workers Memorial Day to Mental Health. He spoke about his personal experiences in his family with alcohol dependence and how he had run the London marathon on Sunday 28 April (the day before the fringe meeting) to raise £5,000 for a charity dealing with this issue.

Jon went on to talk about the crisis in the NHS caused by austerity policies of the Tory Government. “We’ve lost thousands of Mental Health nurses and hospital beds and have the lowest number of child psychiatrists in Europe. A quarter of children with Mental Health conditions are turned away because of austerity imposed on the NHS and children are sent hundreds of miles to receive treatment.”

Jon said “there were 16 million people living in poverty, 5,000 sleeping on the streets so it was no surprise that Mental Health problems are increasing.”

Jon added “Labour would end Tory privatisation of the NHS and would bring outsourced contracts back in-house.”

He went on to add “we need a proper NHS in line with Nye Bevan’s vision when he set it up.  The creation of the NHS was about equality and his commitment was to tackle inequalities. He said that Mental Health will be a priority issue for the next Labour Government and spoke about the level of mental health issues affecting young people that needs to be tackled as well as Mental Health at Work.”

The CWU General Secretary Dave ward then spoke and praised Jon’s contributions and he asked delegates to watch Jon’s podcasts where he relates personal experiences. The GS said that “we need Labour in power to improve the life chances of working people and a radical approach was never more needed than now. The rise in inequality needs challenging and we need to get Labour elected.”

Shelley then opened the meeting up to questions.

Question 1: A motion at Conference called for a joined up strategy on Mental Health but no mention of “Time to Talk” and Royal Mail managers lacked knowledge about the Royal Mail strategy.

Answer:  Dave Joyce said “There was an agreed 5-year strategy in Royal Mail, CWU was responsible for pressing the employer to bring that about and instrumental in influencing the direction of it and the Union continues to work with Royal Mail on this Mental Health Strategy. He referred to the agreement reached with Royal Mail to train 5,500 physical First Aiders (CWU Members) in Mental Health First Aid plus agreement to train 130 CWU Area Health and Safety Reps on Mental Health First Aid, plus the setting up of 100 plus Mental Health Trained Ambassadors (most being CWU Reps and Members) and he added that 9,000 managers had so far been trained as part of a ‘Mandatory’ Training Programme. Dave then went on to give an update progress report on the CWU Mental Health Strategy which included  a planned national event in Manchester later this year, discussions with leading Mental Health Charities to establish working support partnerships with Mental Health experts, developing a CWU Reps National Mental Health First Aid Training Programme, Training CWU/HQ staff, setting up a programme to train CWU MHFA trainers, working with CWU Communications to set up a dedicated CWU Mental Health web page with information, help, assistance and resources, developing a communications strategy to maximise penetration of the campaign and reach out to CWU Reps and Members nationwide, and there would shortly be a first ever training course for employees of the CWU at HQ, training the people who take calls from members and Reps seeking help.

Question 2:  Labour need to invest on a joint strategy with education which needs to be in the Labour Party manifesto.

Answer:  Jon said there would be more investment in schools on this.

Question 3:  Is anything in place to thwart Trump’s state visit to the UK.

Answer: Jon said we shouldn’t be rolling out the red carpet for Trump and the NHS must not be put up for sale to the USA.

Question 4: Jon must not just make promises and speak fine words but must do something when Labour gets into power. These are real issues and affect our own families and colleagues.

Question 5: A personal friend was found hanged in his garage; there were no funds available for people who have Mental Health conditions who use sign language. Need to look at disabilities that contribute to Mental Health.

Answer to 4 and 5:

These contributions bring home the issues we face on Mental Health, the status quo is not an option and the NHS is Health and Wellbeing.

Jon’s parting message was that he “Will do his very best and Labour will invest. We have seen what Mental Health problems do to a person and we are going to make Mental Health a priority and we will do all we can to turn this around”.

Shelley Banbury thanked Jon Ashworth for attending and for his inspiring and informative talk to the CWU Health and Safety and Equal Opportunity Joint Fringe meeting.

Jon Ashworth received a standing ovation for his speech from the delegates in attendance.

The Chair closed the meeting by thanking everyone for attending.

Yours sincerely

Dave Joyce
National Health, Safety & Environment Officer

19LTB265 Report on the CWU Annual Conference 2019 – HS&E & Equalities & Education Department Joint Fringe Meeting

Election of National Representative Positions – 2019

• Postal Standing Orders Committee
• Telecoms & Financial Services Standing Orders Committee

The NEC has agreed the election arrangements for the National positions listed above.   Accordingly please find enclosed the regulations and nomination forms.

The Timetable is as follows:

Nominations open                      8 May 2019
Nominations close                      22 May 2019 (14:00)
Despatch ballot papers              29 May 2019
Ballot closes                                 12 June 2019 (14:00)

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,

Tony Kearns
Senior Deputy General Secretary

19LTB276

SOC Regulations 2019

Nomination Forms SOC 2019

Candidates Biograhical & Consent Form

Election of CWU Nominee for Election to the Labour Party NEC – 2019

Please find below the timetable for the 2019 election of the CWU nominee for election to the Labour Party NEC:

Nominations open:                         8 May 2019
Nominations close:                         22 May 2019 (14:00)
Despatch ballot papers:                 29 May 2019
Ballot closes:                                    12 June 2019 (14:00)

Accordingly please find attached the election regulations, nomination form and candidates consent and biographical detail form.

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,

Tony Kearns
Senior Deputy General Secretary

19LTB274

LP NEC Regulations 2019

LP NEC Nomination Form 2019

LP NEC Consent & Bio Form 2019

Annual Conference 2019 – Decisions

Please find attached copies of the decisions taken during Annual Conference 2019.

Any enquiries regarding this Letter to Branches should be addressed to Angela Niven or sent to conferences@cwu.org

Yours sincerely

Tony Kearns

Senior Deputy General Secretary

19LTB273 – Annual Conference 2019 – Decisions

1. General Conference – Sunday 28.4.19

2. Rules Revision Conference – Monday 29.4.19

3. TFS Conference – Tuesday 30.4.19

5. TFS Conference – Wednesday 1.5.19

7. TFS Conference – Thursday 2.5.19

4. Postal Conference – Tuesday 30.4.19

6. Postal Conference – Wednesday 1.5.19

8 Postal Conference – Thursday 2 5 19

BT Fined £30,000 For ‘Shoddy’ Unsafe Road Repair Work That Put Lives At Risk In Newdigate, Surrey

BT has been fined £30,000 for unsafe road repairs in ‎Trig St, Newdigate, Surrey that could have had “fatal consequences”.

Cables were laid in a section of the road that were “so shoddy” that lives were put at risk, according to Surrey County Council.

The road was not resurfaced and gravel was left strewn across the road near a sharp bend, according to the judgement at Brighton Magistrates’ Court on March 26.

Sub-contractors had laid cables beneath the country lane on June 14, 2018. No cones, barriers or temporary traffic lights were left in place and the worker in charge was in his last day of employment. He left the site when supplies ran out without telling anyone, and no checks on the work were carried out by BT supervisors or their contractors the court was told.

The road was subsequently repaired properly after the county council was alerted by local residents. ‎The BT contractor responsible ‘Vasmard Ltd’, has since gone into liquidation.

The Court was told that the road was left in a condition that could have had fatal consequences.

Key points from the District Judge’s judgement:

• A section of the busy Trig Street, Newdigate, was not resurfaced and gravel was left strewn across the road near a sharp bend.
• The sub-contractor had laid cables beneath the road on June 14 last year but no cones, barriers or temporary traffic lights were left in place.
• The worker in charge was in his last day of employment and he left the site when supplies ran out without telling anyone.
• The road was repaired following complaints by residents to the Council.
• The contractor has since gone into liquidation.

A Surrey County Council spokesperson said “We try to work in partnership with companies, ‎but in this case BT’s contractor’s repairs were so shoddy and dangerous that lives were put at risk we were left with no option but to act on behalf of residents.‎”

An Openreach spokesman said: “The safety of the public is our number one priority whenever we are carrying out work of this nature and it is very clear that, on this occasion, the repairs carried out were not up to our normally high standards. Thankfully no harm was caused and the road was returned to a safe and acceptable standard as soon as possible.  We have since parted company with the contractor that carried out this work on our behalf and have put in place a raft of new preventative measures including further training for our supervisors to prevent this from happening again.”

As well as the £30,000 fine, BT was ordered to pay prosecution costs of £5,816 plus a victim surcharge of £120 after pleading guilty at Guildford Magistrates’ Court on January 6 to the offence under the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991.

It is believed to be one of the largest fines handed out in England and Wales for poor repairs after a road has been dug up.‎

Yours sincerely

Dave Joyce
National Health, Safety & Environment Officer

19LTB270 BT fined £30,000 for ‘shoddy’ unsafe road repair work that put lives at risk in Newdigate, Surrey

CWU Diversity Calendar 

We are pleased to confirm that the CWU’s Diversity Calendar will be ready for collection from the Equality, Learning and Development Department’s Stall during the week of Annual Conference. In addition to the calendars we would be grateful if delegates and visitors attending our stall can take a moment to fill in a brief monitoring questionnaire, primarily focusing on disability and LGBT+ elements.

Lastly, Equality Officers attending Conference will be pleased to note that we have a number of quality metal badges specifically for Equality Officers on the stall. The badges will be free but we would be grateful for a suggested donation of £1 per badge with proceeds being used towards our next trip to assist Refugees in Northern France.

We look forward to meeting you all next week.

Any queries on this LTB should be directed to Fevzi Hussein, Policy Assistant fhussein@cwu.org in the first instance.

Yours sincerely

Trish Lavelle
Assistant Secretary

19LTB260