SPDO Project Update 15.06.18

Dear Colleagues,

As Branches will be aware activity is taking place with regard to proposed SPDO Closures, both POL driven and other factors.

Branches will also be aware that Mike Newport, Essex Amal and formerly the Co-Coordinator of the Outdoor Department SPDO Group, has been working on this project with Royal Mail for some time now on behalf of the outdoor department, by assisting branches and local reps alike. This is a reminder that if you do receive any proposals to relocate or close SPDOs, please can you contact Mike in order to provide the support and assistance necessary in this regard.

Mike’s e-mail address is as follows:

E: mike.newport@cwuessex.org

Any queries to the content of the above please contact the Outdoor Department reference 535.17, email address: outdoorsecretary@cwu.org.

Yours sincerely,

Mark Baulch

CWU Assistant Secretary

LTB 359.18 – SPDO Project Update 15.06.18

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RM/CWU Terms of Reference – Postbox Strategy 2 and Enhanced Mail Preparation (PBS2 & EMP)

Dear Colleagues,

As a result, discussions have been taking place with Royal Mail on a cross departmental basis in respect of all the elements within the agreement and the attached terms of reference have now been concluded and endorsed by the Postal Executive, in order to progress the activity linked to the Postbox Strategy and Enhanced Mail Preparation programmes. For clarity further discussions will continue relating to the future Collection initiatives paragraph and the introduction of the one hour reduction to the working week for the agreed October implementation date in line with the National agreement.

Discussions to date, have taken place against the background of falling levels of stamped letters in terms of postings through postboxes, which has seen a circa 24% decline since the initial PBS agreement in 2014. Therefore in order to deal with this factor ‘Post Box Strategy 2’ is a balanced proposition to maintain cost effective daily collections from all 115.3k existing postboxes, comprising:

 Extending the straight-line distance from low usage postboxes to alternative postboxes with 16:00 or later final collections from the current 0.5 mile to 1.0 mile. This will enable up to a further c.22k low usage postboxes to move to collection on delivery. (This will leave over 40k postboxes on dedicated collection routes with 16:00 or later final collections).

 Reviewing POL relief collections against posted volumes and ensuring thresholds are adhered to alongside consideration of Health & Safety and Mails Integrity.

 Continuing the installation of new postboxes in rural and new build areas not currently served by an existing postbox within 1⁄2 mile to improve access and make it easier and more convenient for customers in these areas to post their letters.

 Retaining the facility for customers in remote areas to hand their letters to their delivery postmen/women.

 Trial opportunities for new parcel collection points.

 All other collection arrangements, as agreed under Collections Best Practice and

Postbox Strategy, will remain unchanged.

Branches and Representatives will be aware that during the “Four Pillars” National Talks the Postal Executive adopted that Collections matters should be referred to the Pipeline/Future Design Strand. This became negotiating policy and following the ratification of the 2018 Guiding Principles Agreement, Branches and Representatives will be aware that issues associated with Collections were contained within Section 16.2.3.

In relation to existing agreements the table below identifies the associated impact of the proposal:

Existing Agreement

Changes under PBS2

Low Volume (under 50 items move to Collection on Delivery) on Monday to Saturday

No Change

Relief collections under 100 items in box removed

No Change

POL number of daily visits reviewed

No Change (Volumes threshold reviewed under Horizon data)

Final Pillar Box collection within 1/2 mile radius

Changed to 1 mile. Of the 21k boxes being proposed to move to COD, 6k of these are based on the 1⁄2 mile to 1 mile change.

Both parties have agreed that as Collections is an operation which impacts across all functions, it is essential that all information is shared and that all relevant functions (managers and CWU representatives) are involved and working together to deploy any changes in a joined up and coordinated way. Therefore cross-functional working groups will be established to ensure that each function is represented and fully involved in the planning and deployment process.

In addition the cross functional working groups will also ensure that consideration is given to other programmes/initiatives, i.e. PAD Revisions, Network Reviews and Delivery Revisions, to ensure that any changes to Collections are considered and aligned to other functional activity as part of the wider discussions/review on those programmes, including the introduction of the SWW.

The deployment of PBS2 & EMP will be completed in 4 phases over a two year period, commencing June 2018 and we have agreed that once an office has completed the revision activity for their respective unit, there will be no further full revision activity for a period of 12 months. It is however accepted there may be a requirement for BAU activity and this will be through the normal processes.

In relation to the agreed approach we have confirmed there will be an exceptions process to challenge postboxes which are believed to be incorrect in terms of the volumes and distance criteria. In addition we have also agreed that in regards to the Saturday operation this will be subject to a more detailed review/analysis to understand any impact on the duty structures, ensure the impact on people can be dealt with and that the mails collected on delivery are able to connect into the pipeline and the network services, and meet the Mail Centre despatch/specification. Where all the above is unable to be achieved without any reasonable adjustments then the postboxes concerned will remain on the existing dedicated collection duty.

We have also agreed there will be further discussions relating to the review of current arrangements to enhance efficient resourcing to workload and achieving the 1 hour reduction in the working week, plus reviewing the CHO units, EMP/UTR endstate and new products and services, which will be reviewed and subject to further TOR/Agreement by October 2018.

Both departments fully understand that these changes will be a challenging issue for our Branches and Representatives. However, it should be noted that we have committed Royal Mail within the agreement to deliver these programmes on all counts with the necessary safeguards along with flexibility in the planning and application, whilst fully taking into consideration any potential changes to attendance patterns/duty structures. As such both programmes will be progressed around a common sense and pragmatic approach and we are confident that the words provided in the agreement will enable our representatives to be fully involved in the deployment activity.

A Briefing of Divisional, Area Distribution and Area Delivery Representatives will be taking place tomorrow Wednesday 20th June at which the TOR will be formally launched before discussions commence in the first phase of units, to ensure all CWU Branches and Senior Officials have been briefed on the agreed terms of reference.

Mail Centre Area Distribution Collections: Davie Robertson, Assistant Secretary, e-mail: dwyatt@cwu.org or shayman@cwu.org quoting reference number: 721.03

Yours sincerely,

Mark Baulch Davie Robertson

CWU Assistant Secretary CWU Assistant Secretary

tor-rm-cwu-postbox-strategy-2-and-enhanced-mail-preparation-pbs2-emp.pdf

TERMS OF REFERENCE BETWEEN ROYAL MAIL AND THE CWU COVERING THE DEPLOYMENT PROGRAMME FOR PARCEL SORTING MACHINES WITHIN THE MAIL CENTRE/ RDC ESTATE

Dear Colleagues

Branches and representatives will be aware that trial activity in relation to the Parcel Sorting Machines commenced in 2016 at Swindon Mail Centre and was subsequently extended to include Home Counties North, Greenford and Chelmsford Mail Centres.

Following extensive activity at all of the trial sites in relation to the PSM’s, associated activity and additional equipment/process requirements, discussions have been taking place with the business to conclude a deployment agreement.

A Terms of Reference to enable deployment activity and engagement to take place has now been finalised and endorsed by your Postal Executive. A copy of the agreement is attached for your information.

Colleagues will note:

Ø That the attached agreement provides for full CWU IR, H&S and Engineering involvement in the deployment activity.

Ø A selection process has been concluded in respect of staffing and minimum staffing arrangements for various scenarios that have also been agreed, in order to ensure that the machine is adequately and safely manned at all times.

Ø All staff using the PSM will be fully trained on the operation of the PSM, the associated Standard Operating Procedure and SSOW, if no training has been given then they will not be able to carry out any roles on the machine.

Ø Any surplus created by the PSM will be managed in accordance with the relevant national agreement.

Ø The Parcel Automation Joint Working Group will continue to monitor and review the deployment activity to ensure that it is in line with the agreed framework. Any issues that cannot be resolved at local or Joint Working Group level will be escalated to the National Processing Group (NPG).

Colleagues should note that at present a decision has been made in respect of where 13 of the PSM’s will be sited (this includes the aforementioned trial sites) based on traffic profiles and geographical spread. Further consideration is currently taking place in relation to the placement of the remaining 3 machines.

Any enquiries in relation to this LTB should be addressed to Davie Robertson, Assistant Secretary, e-mail: dwyatt@cwu.org or shayman@cwu.org quoting reference number: 732.01

Yours sincerely

Davie Robertson

Assistant Secretary

LTB 355-18 – TOR PSM Deployment – 19.06.18

Attachment 1 – TOR FOR THE DEPLOYMENT PROGRAMME FOR PSM WITHIN THE MAIL CENTRE – 19.06.18

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AGREEMENT BETWEEN ROYAL MAIL SPECIALIST SERVICES AND THE CWU REGARDING THE USE OF TECHNICAL PLANNING TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES BY RM RELAY IN THE NEW REVISIONS PROCESS FOR OPERATIONAL UNITS

Dear Colleagues

The Guiding Principles of Employment Security and Approach to Future Challenges Agreement commits both Royal Mail and the CWU to working together to positively transform business operations. Both parties continue to work to develop and establish improved, constructive working relationships and effective interfaces with the aim of agreeing shared objectives to take the business forward and at the same time protecting jobs and terms and conditions at all levels and across all functions within Royal Mail.

In line with the above commitments extensive activity, testing and analysis has been taking place over the last 18 months via the RMSS Joint Working Group to formalise an agreed, standardised and structured revision process for RMSS.

The JWG activity has proved extremely productive and for the first time ever a formal revision process, which incorporates the use of Paragon, will be used in RMSS. Discussions have therefore taken place and an agreement has been concluded to enable a process to be introduced.

A copy of the agreement providing full details of the process, which has been endorsed by the Postal Executive, is attached for your information.

Colleagues will note that the agreement provides a 10 step revision process which ensures agreement and ratification of the final duty structure.

The local CWU representative will have full involvement during the revision activity, which will be supplemented by CWU IE assistance where required. Equally, provision has been made in relation to a post implementation process at 6 weeks, which will fully include the local representative and CWU IE.

Confirmation is also provided that any adjustments to duties will be carried out in line with existing agreements.

An immense amount of effort has been invested by the department over a long period of time to strengthen our industrial relationship with RMSS. For a number of years we have also been attempting to commit RMSS to an agreed revision process that would be beneficial in relation to establishing resourcing requirements and providing an approach that is clear, transparent and fair for members.

We believe therefore that the attached agreement signifies a major achievement for the CWU, both in regard to improving relationships and providing a standardised approach to revision activity for RMSS going forward.

Any enquiries in relation to this LTB should be addressed to Davie Robertson, Assistant Secretary, e-mail: dwyatt@cwu.org or shayman@cwu.org quoting reference number: 218.22.

Yours sincerely

Davie Robertson

Assistant Secretary

18LTB358

Attachment 1 – RMSS Technical Planning Tools in New Revisions Process

TERMS OF REFERENCE BETWEEN ROYAL MAIL AND THE CWU COVERING A NEW COMMERCIAL INITIATIVE – METER BOXES TO ACCEPT PARCEL POSTINGS TRIAL

Dear Colleagues

Branches will be aware that the Agenda for Growth and Guiding Principles of Employment Security and Mutual Interest Approach to Future Challenges and Opportunities agreements commit both Royal Mail and the CWU to working together to positively transform business operations.

Parcels competition continues to increase with competitors expanding their networks and delivering enhanced customer services. Parcel posting customers are continually seeking expanding options for the ability to despatch items outside of the traditional collection or Post Office channels. Competitors have been seeking alternative access channels such as local garages, shops and railway stations as access points for parcel despatches.

Royal Mail therefore recently approached the departments with a request to undertake a trial to expand current Meter Boxes to accept parcel postings to allow them to assess customer desire for this option, test commercial viability and to drive future strategy in relation to street furniture design.

Discussions have therefore been taking place with the business in relation to a Terms of Reference for the trial activity. An agreement has now been concluded and endorsed by the Postal Executive and a copy is attached for your information.

Colleagues will note that CWU representatives (including H&S reps) and employees will be fully involved at each deployment site to enable consistency and ongoing success. Any operational changes required to facilitate the trial arrangements will be progressed in line with the IR Framework.

The trial will commence in June 2018 and will last for a period of 3 months. The trial activity will take place within the LE and NN geographical areas and involve 30 Meter Boxes, over 7 days a week.

Prior to the introduction of initiatives linked to the deployment programme in the Collection and Delivery functions, CWU Divisional, Area and Local level Representatives will be fully briefed on the initiative and on their roles within the process.

All affected staff at participating sites will receive full training in the revised processes.

The CWU Nationally will be updated monthly on progress via the Strategic Involvement Meetings on issues relating to the project through the National Collection JWG.

Formal review of the trial will take place at National level and any further deployment of the initiative will be subject to discussion and National agreement.

Branches and representatives are requested to ensure that members are made aware of the contents of this LTB.

Any enquiries in relation to this LTB should be addressed to:

Mail Centre Collections: Davie Robertson, Assistant Secretary, quoting reference 721.03

Email Address: shayman@cwu.org

Or

Delivery Office & Collections: Mark Baulch, Assistant Secretary, quoting reference 532

Email address: outdoorsecretary@cwu.org

Yours sincerely

Davie Robertson – Assistant Secretary                        

Mark Baulch – Assistant Secretary         

TOR Meter Boxes to Accept Parcel Postings Trial

18LTB356

RM/CWU Resourcing & Quality Checklists – Collection Hubs

Dear Colleagues,

Following the ratification of the 2018 Guiding Principles Agreement, Branches will be aware that contained within Section 8 (Resourcing) it was agreed that both parties would produce a jointly agreed checklist to assess each Unit against the application of our National Agreements and Joint Statements.

In the quality section (Section 9) of the same agreement there is a commitment that RM/CWU would develop a jointly agreed checklist to assess current performance against standards and ensure that all scheduled mail is being cleared on a daily basis. The purpose of this exercise is to build confidence that we are compliant with all our agreements and joint statements. Where it is agreed there is non-compliance, an agreed action plan will be worked up locally as a priority.

Following a period of discussion on this topic, we have now agreed the content of both checklists for Collection Units/Hubs and we are now in the process of building a solution that will allow units to complete these checklists using an online platform. Subject to the online solution being developed, to timescale, then our intention is to launch these two checklists as one combined exercise on week commencing 25th June 2018.

In line with the commitment within the Guiding Principles Agreement, both the unit manager and local CWU rep will complete this exercise together as a part of the weekly resourcing meeting. It is essential that the local CWU representative is provided sufficient release time to jointly complete this exercise with their respective Collections manager. Where a Unit has no CWU representative, the appropriate Area Representative will complete this exercise with the respective Collections Manager.

Units will have a maximum of three weeks to complete this exercise and all returns must be completed online no later than Monday 16th July 2018.

Local Managers and CWU Reps will have the ability to answer questions on a yes/no basis individually to indicate whether the unit in their opinion is compliant to the standard set out in the question. If either party believes that the unit is not compliant, to the standard, then agreed action/s to achieve compliance will be agreed as a priority and these should be captured against the question in the online checklist. Failure to agree an action plan will be progressed and resolved by means of the IR Framework. Once all the questions in the checklist are complete then the names of manager and CWU Rep should also be entered before final submission is made.

The completed online checklists will be made available to the Area Reps and Area Collection Managers both where compliance has been agreed and where non-compliant remedy action plans are being worked up. Where at unit level a joint action plan has not been completed this will be discussed at area/divisional strategic involvement meetings to seek support for the unit to complete the action plan.

An online solution has been concluded to enable this activity which is available via the following hyperlink:

https://portal.royalmailgroup.com/sites/A1974/SitePages/NewHome.aspx

Colleagues should note that the above hyperlink is a RM Intranet site.

Any queries in relation to the content of this LTB should be addressed to:

Collections in Deliveries & MPU’s: Mark Baulch, Assistant Secretary,

e-mail: outdoorsecretary@cwu.org quoting reference: 532

or

Mail Centre Area Distribution Collections: Davie Robertson, Assistant Secretary,

e-mail: dwyatt@cwu.org or shayman@cwu.org quoting reference number: 722.01

Yours sincerely

Mark Baulch – Assistant Secretary

Davie Robertson – Assistant Secretary

LTB 357.18 – RM CWU Resourcing and Quality Checklists – Collection Hubs

Joint Statement – RM CWU Collections Checklists – 19.06.18

RM_CWU Collection Quality Checklist 31st May 2018 Final

RM_CWU Collections Resourcing Checklist 31st May 2018 Final

Motion 9 Industrial Training

Motion 9 carried at this year’s Annual Conference instructed the Postal Executive to seek nominations from Branches for CWU Representatives to deliver local based industrial training to CWU Representatives.

The full terms of the motion are reproduced below:

This Conference agrees that the more industrial training we can get for our Reps on national agreements is in the best interests of our members. Therefore the Postal Executive is instructed to look for nominations via a LTB for CWU Reps across the country to deliver local based training to CWU Reps on:-

• The Conduct Agreement.

• The Attendance Procedure.

• The Industrial Relations Framework, CWU and joint training.

• Any delivery based training such as Mod 1 and Mod 2 Revision training, IWT training.

• Any proposed resourcing training as and when it is developed both joint and CWU.

This list is not exhaustive.

The nominated people would be expected to have experience in the subject they would like to deliver and would have to detail their experience within their application. The successful nominations would initially be given Train the Trainer sessions on the relevant training that they have opted to deliver with a view of expanding presentational skills as required.

CWU HQ via the DGS(P) and Education Department would keep up to date records of the CWU trainers and the relevant training they have volunteered to deliver and update the records via further nominations/skills/subjects as and when people leave or when there are any necessary changes.

The Postal Executive is instructed accordingly.

In light of the Motion, the Department is writing to all Branches to seek their nominations for Representatives to facilitate and deliver industrial training and provide an opportunity to further develop their skills in the future. As the Motion makes clear, the nominated people must have experience in the subject they would like to deliver and detail this as part of their application.

Branches are therefore requested to forward the names of their proposed nominees by completing the pro-forma provided (please print off and use more copies of the pro-forma as required). The completed forms should include the individual’s contact details, the subjects they wish to deliver and their nominating Branch. Could Branches please complete and return the pro-forma(s) by no later than Friday 6th July 2018.

Any enquiries in relation to the content of this LTB should be addressed to the DGS(P) Department.

Yours sincerely,

Terry Pullinger

Deputy General Secretary (Postal)

18LTB344 – Motion 9 Industrial Training

Attachment 1 to LTB 344.18 – Proforma

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ELECTION OF NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVE POSITIONS – 2018

• CWU Young Workers Committee 2018

Further to LTB 315/18 dated 11th May 2018, please find below ballot results for the above named Delegations which closed on Friday 15th June 2018.

CWU YOUNG WORKERS COMMITTEE – POSTAL CONSTITUENCY

NORTHERN IRELAND REGION

Gary McCrum

Northern Ireland East15,022 Matt McMaster

Northern Ireland Combined69,624*ElectedCWU YOUNG WORKERS COMMITTEE – TELECOM & FINANCIAL SERVICES CONSTITUENCY

NORTH WEST REGION

Erin Brett

Mersey26,159*ElectedDaniel Lewis

Bootle Financial Services15,034 Stephen McCarthy

Greater Mersey & South West Lancs895

SOUTH EAST REGION

Georgina Ford

Portsmouth West Sussex & IOW18,382 Connor McCann

Meridian19,101*ElectedLiam Reed

South East Central5,647

The branch analysis for the above ballot results are attached to this LTB.

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

18LTB352 – Ballot Result for Young Workers Committees

Ballot Returns Young Workers

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FREE TICKETS TO LABOUR LIVE THIS SATURDAY

The chart topping Clean Bandit are the latest big act to be announced for Labour Live in London this Saturday.

CWU members can get up to 6 FREE tickets by simply visiting https://action.labour.org.uk/page/content/labour-live-main/ and adding the discount code LLDT-CWU

These tickets are on a first come, first serve basis.

The event is from 12-20:30 and will see a mixture of music, comedy and politics.

For a full list of all the acts please visit labour.live

PARCELFORCE – ‘FOUR PILLARS’ AGREEMENT – Joint Statement National Agreement Deployment

Dear Colleagues

Branches and representatives are informed that discussions have been taking place with Parcelforce in line with the commitments contained in Appendix B of the Agreement between Royal Mail Group and the Communication Workers Union Regarding Guiding Principles of Employment Security and a Mutual Interest Approach to Future Challenges and Opportunities.

A Joint Statement – National Agreement Deployment has now been concluded, which provides an update in regard to discussions relating to Resourcing in PFW Depots, has been endorsed by the Postal Executive and is attached for your information.

Colleagues will be aware from the debate on Motion 40 at Postal Conference 2018 that the matter of the resourcing mix in Parcelforce is a live issue. The 2003 document commonly referred to as the “Mixed Resourcing” agreement defines that 25% of Collection & Delivery Routes may be resourced by means other than directly employed staff. Policing of this agreement has meant that periodically we have had to “reset the clock” on the resourcing mix, the last time in late 2016.

Since 2016 however, there appeared to have been a drift towards a greater level of external resource through the use of Owner Driver “Assists” and C&D Couriers. The department therefore instigated a joint review of the current resourcing mix, utilising the Resourcing in Line with Current Agreements section of the PFW Annex. The review, undertaken by the Table of Success REX Joint Working Group, established that the resourcing mix excluding agency usage was at around 70/30.

The establishment of this figure has enabled an agreement to be reached with the business to commence a recruitment exercise to increase of the number of directly employed routes by 160. Detail of how these new jobs will be resourced is included in the Joint Statement. Branches and representatives will note however that unlike 2016 there will be no additional Owner Driver recruitment taking place as part of this increase and that the commitment to re-establish the agreed resourcing ratios in relation to C&D operations has been reaffirmed.

Significantly we have also for the first time achieved explicit wording which details that all external resourcing options are included in the 25% external quota and that where Owner Driver Assists or Couriers remain they will be included in the calculation, which has always been the CWU position.

Additionally we have achieved wording that the recruitment exercise will look to offer permanent employment to current Owner Driver Assists, in an attempt to provide real opportunity to individuals who may currently be regarded as the least secure.

Agreement has also been reached in respect of the Table of Success Resourcing Joint Working Group undertaking an ongoing review of all categories of flexible resource and both parties have agreed that it is important to continue to bring any remaining use of agency/courier resource into line with the spirit and intent of the Agenda for Growth and Stability Agreement and to meet the agreed resourcing model.

A National Table of Success event has recently taken place where both parties reviewed all Joint Working Group activities and discussed the detail of the programme of works arising from the National agreement. Joint lead roles and accountabilities have been agreed that will ensure we deliver together on all elements of the agreement.

Branches and representatives are requested to ensure that our PFW members are made aware of the contents of this LTB and the attached Joint Statement.

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: 102.02.

Yours sincerely

Davie Robertson

Assistant Secretary

LTB341-18 – Parcelforce Four Pillars Agreement – JS National Agreement Deployment

Attachment 1 – JS National Agreement Deployment