Eastern No5 at CWU protest in London
Royal Mail – Panther Easyflex Trainer Style Footwear Trials
Royal Mail – Panther Easyflex Trainer Style Footwear Trials
To: All Branches
Dear Colleagues,
Royal Mail Assets are currently undertaking a number of trials of new footwear types as discussed with the Health, Safety and Environment Department and the Postal Department.
One of the trials involves the “Panther Easyflex” (photograph of the trainer attached) within the Delivery workforce.
The “Panther Easyflex” trainer has been available for the last 3 months to front-line walking delivery staff to trial and Royal Mail need to gauge user feedback on these shoes from members as their feedback will be key in the decision making as to whether this footwear product becomes a standard Royal Mail catalogue item in the future.
In discussions with RM Assets, I have suggested that our ASRs would be able to assist with the evaluation of trial footwear and feedback from members due to footwear being a key delivery Health, Safety and Wellbeing issue which ASRs monitor and raise issues on behalf of both individuals and groups of members who have complaints or replacement problems and hence the reason for this LTB and the communications you may receive directly from the Royal Mail National Uniform & Print Manager, Sam Dixon.
Attached is a Picture of the Panther Easyflex Trainer along with an excel spreadsheet which shows everyone who has placed an order for the Easyflex Trainers and the ASR’s name has been added to each postcode area (column D), also attached is a letter for each colleague that has a link to the Survey Monkey.
Royal Mail’s suppliers “Dimensions” have advised that as of yesterday only 78 user feedback responses to the survey for the “Panther Easyflex” trainers had been received out of 13,000 pairs that have been despatched.
Would you kindly visit each unit in your ASR constituency to distribute copies of the letter to those members involved or involve your WSRS to encourage completion of the feedback forms as it’s important we get improved, fit for purpose footwear made available to members and thereby get more members wearing officially provided, safe, healthy shoes and boots.
The closing date for the feedback is fast approaching and the Health, Safety and Environment Department has requested firstly, an extension to the feedback/survey closing date to the end
of the month in order to get a better response and secondly, the option of a paper survey response, rather than just the online option. A good feedback level will be important in making an informed decision as to whether Royal Mail goes ahead and makes the Panther Easyflex a standard catalogue item .
All your support is greatly appreciated.
CWU ASRs and Royal Mail Managers can check uniform policies and processes on the Royal Mail Assets intranet pages: https://intranet.royalmailgroup.com/OperationsModernisation/Pages/uniformoverview.aspx
Yours sincerely
Dave Joyce
National Health, Safety & Environment Officer
17LTB561 Royal Mail – Panther Easyflex Trainer Style Footwear Trials
Panther Easyflex Trial feedback
CWU ASRs/RMG SHE Team National FFG – European H&S Week Joint SHE Event, Phoenix Centre, Mount Pleasant, London – Monday 16th October 2017
CWU ASRs/RMG SHE Team National FFG – European H&S Week Joint SHE Event, Phoenix Centre, Mount Pleasant, London – Monday 16th October 2017
To: All Branches with Members in RMG
Dear Colleagues,
As part of European Health & Safety Week, supported by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, a Joint RM/CWU SHE Event took place on 16/10/17 at the Phoenix Centre, RM Mount Peasant. It was followed by the Allan St. John Holt Memorial Health & Safety Lecture. LTB 548/17 refers.
The event was attended by CWU ASRs as well as Dr Shaun Davis, Global Director of Safety, Health, Wellbeing & Sustainability and members of the RMG SHE Team. Attached to this LTB for information is the Agenda, as well as the slides from the day.
Yours sincerely
Dave Joyce
National Health, Safety & Environment Officer
Slides from 16th October part 1
Slides from 16th October part 2
Slides from 16th October part 3
Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) – 10th Anniversary Event – 15th November 2017, NEC Birmingham
Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) – 10th Anniversary Event – 15th November 2017, NEC Birmingham
To: All Branches
Dear Colleagues,
This year marks the 10th anniversary of Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) being launched across England. In the last ten years MHFA England has delivered MHFA training to over 200,000 people in England – an amazing milestone! To celebrate this milestone, MHFA England is holding an event on Wednesday November 15th at the National Conference Centre (NCC) in Birmingham.
With over 500 delegates attending, the day will be filled with informative and celebratory presentation talks, workshops and exhibitions from a range of organisations working in mental health to commemorate the work MHFA England has achieved in the last decade.
This informative event is about thanking MHFA instructors, MH First Aiders and the friends and supporters of MHFA for helping to raise awareness and spread the word about Mental Health First Aid across England and internationally over the past ten years which includes the CWU Health, Safety and Environment Department who have been invited to the event.
The day will be presented by ITV news presenter Sameena Ali-Khan and will begin with keynote speeches from MHFA England CEO, Poppy Jaman, and from inspirational mental health campaigners Jonny Benjamin and Neil Laybourn who will be sharing their unique story.
This will be followed by an awards ceremony where they will recognise the achievements of MHFA instructors over the last ten years.
There will be an exhibition space with leading mental health organisations, including MHFA, ‘MIND’, Action for Happiness, Department Store for the Mind, Royal British Legion and many more.
There will be a Q&A session where attendees can put their questions to the Board of Directors of MHFA England. The purpose of this LTB is that MHFA have informed us that there are a limited number of tickets still remaining for MH First Aiders and friends and supporter organisations of MHFA to attend the event.
If any CWU MH First Aider would like to attend please email Jordan Simcock, MHFA Events Administrator, on events@mhfaengland.org with your details as soon as possible as places are limited (the MHFA communication arrived today).
The event is free to attend and will include a complimentary lunch. Remaining places are strictly limited and will be allocated on a first come first served basis.
Yours sincerely
Dave Joyce
National Health, Safety & Environment Officer
SHOW RACISM THE RED CARD – “WEAR RED DAY” ON FRIDAY 20th OCTOBER 2017
SHOW RACISM THE RED CARD – “WEAR RED DAY” ON FRIDAY 20th OCTOBER 2017
The CWU has been a longstanding supporter of Show Racism the Red Card (SRtRC) and our links with the organisation has been an integral part of our wider strategy to combat racism in the workplace and in society.
We are delighted to take up the campaign again and join other trade unions in promoting ‘Wear Red Day’, which is taking place this Friday 20th October 2017. We would like to remind everyone of the support we need from all our representatives to make “Wear Red Day” a huge success.
So – this Friday we are asking everyone in the CWU to wear Red.
The aim of this specific campaign is to take the message of anti-racism directly into schools and colleges. In addition to the importance of educating children and young people on anti-racism, SRtRC need vital funds to help them continue their excellent work. I would be grateful if Branches could consider making a donation to this fantastic project. Further information on how you can do this is attached to this letter.
Show Racism the Red Card is hoping for mass publicity on the day and the CWU will be helping to create a ‘twitter storm’ where people supporting the campaign will be invited to share their pictures using the #WRD17 – and wearing their red tops.
The CWU is committed to continuing our work in challenging racism both in the workplace and in wider society and your support across the country is very much appreciated.
Any further enquiries regarding this LTB should be directed to gsoffice@cwu.org
Yours sincerely
Dave Ward
General Secretary
40 Years of Trade Union Safety Representatives
40 Years of Trade Union Safety Representatives
To: All Branches
Dear Colleagues,
It’s 40 years since trade union health and safety representatives had a legal right under the 1977 SRSC Regulations to improve health and safety in the workplace.
The TUC and all UK Trade Unions have decided mark this important anniversary and celebrate the difference Safety Reps have made to workplaces up and down the country.
The Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977 is the primary piece of regulation covering union health and safety representatives and is, along with the parent act, the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, one of the most important pieces of legislation for unions working on health and safety. It has also had a huge effect in saving lives and preventing injury and illness.
It’s often forgotten that union health and safety representatives are volunteers doing the job because we want to actually make a difference in the workplace so UK Unions, including the CWU, will use the occasion to celebrate the massive difference Union Safety Reps have made.
The TUC intends to use the 40th anniversary of the regulations to celebrate our Union Health and Safety Representatives. The TUC will be running a campaign which will launch on Wednesday 25thOctober 2017, (National Inspection Day) and finish on Workers’ Memorial Day on 28th April 2018.
Although much of the campaign will be grounded in celebrating the past successes of Union Safety Representatives, it will also focus on the future, making the case for Union involvement in health and safety over the coming 40 years.
We know that Unions make a huge difference as has been shown in TUC publication “The Union Effect”. However the TUC has appealed to Unions to help with compiling case studies of how Safety Reps have successfully used the 1977 Safety Reps Regulations as Health and Safety Reps in the workplace to make a difference over the past 40 years. They intend to compile 40 case studies shared between all the Unions and I can inform Branches that a number of CWU Safety Rep case studies have been selected from those submitted to be included in this compilation.
Over the next few months the TUC will be publishing different material that can show members and employers the real difference that Unions and their Safety Reps make.
Further reports will be published in due course.
Yours sincerely
Dave Joyce
National Health, Safety & Environment Officer
17LTB557 40 Years of Trade Union Safety Representatives
40 Years Of Safety Reps Poster
Royal Mail Group Environment Management – Waste Report July-August 2017
Royal Mail Group Environment Management – Waste Report July-August 2017
To: All Branches
Dear Colleagues,
Please see attached the Royal Mail Environment Management Reports on Waste Management and Waste Data Trends. The reports provide a summary of the waste streams indicating that general waste to landfill has increased, and diverted general waste has decreased, for the third month in a row. Paper door-to-door and cardboard has seen a consistent downward trend since winter 2016-17. Apart from a spike in metal between March and May 2017, other waste streams are fluctuating within what RME tell us are expected limits. Efforts continue to reduce waste to landfill and increase diverted waste and recycling.
The scale of RM operations means the organisation will inevitably have a significant environmental impact. Royal Mail’s stated policy is that sustainable management of natural resources is a commercial imperative as well as an environmental one. Reducing Royal Mail Group’s environmental impact is a key part of their ongoing business transformation with environmental considerations a fundamental part of how Royal Mail does business, through influencing people’s behaviour, aiming for continuous improvements across sites and operations and identifying and addressing environmental issues resulting from the business’s activities.
The RMG environmental strategy focuses on the following four aims:
• Energy: reducing energy use in fleet and property to cut greenhouse gas emissions;
• Waste: minimising the amount of waste created and diverting more waste from landfill;
• Water: reducing demand for water and the amount of water that is lost or wasted on RMG premises; and
• Customers and suppliers: working with customers and suppliers to address Royal Mail’s environmental impacts.
Environment Management and Governance
The RMG Environment Governance Board (EGB) is made up of senior leaders from business areas with material environmental impacts. The EGB approves RM’s environment strategy, reviews plans and drives performance. This includes leading the integration of the Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) management system. The RMG environment management system is aligned to the ISO14001 model for environmental management. Currently, 14 of the largest Royal Mail sites are individually accredited to ISO14001, as are all of the Parcelforce Worldwide sites and all GLS sites.
Yours sincerely
Dave Joyce
National Health, Safety & Environment Officer
17LTB555 Royal Mail Group Environment Management – Waste Report July-August 2017
Royal Mail Waste Report – August 2017
Four Pillars Bulletin No20 No Justice- No Peace
BULLETIN #20 Friday 13th October 2017 NO JUSTICE – NO PEACE The massive YES vote in our ballot was a shock to Royal Mail Group and all external opinion formers. It demonstrates a huge vote of no-confidence in the way our business is being run and the way RMG treat their employees. The sheer size of the union’s mandate and solidarity has forced them to run to the High Court to seek an injunction to stop our planned strike and force us into external mediation. This was a cynical misinterpretation of our agreement and a desperate last throw of a redundant management leadership who failed miserably to honour and deliver our agreement in full. Clearly if they desired external mediation it should have been proposed before our ballot but given the laws of our land and the establishment in this country are Anti-Trade Union the ruling was no surprise. However, it was evident that even the Judge was impressed with the ballot result and expressed an opinion that you would only request or force external mediation if you believed it would make a difference. But it will not – unless management significantly change their position and do the right agreement with this union. So there is huge pressure on RMG now, there will be pressure from customers and shareholders to resolve this dispute and there is the massive pressure of knowing that our ballot is still live and intact and that notice will be given for further industrial action if an agreement is not reached. The business have to listen to the voice of CWU members, they have to acknowledge that the culture in the workplace has to change. Our members will not accept a continuation in the way they are being treated and spoken to in the workplace. This dispute and our ballot is about changing the direction and attitude of management, it’s about your job, standard of living and pension security and it’s about protecting this great public service – it is not about strike action for the sake of it. We understand that feelings are running extremely high and that people would have found a two day strike protest therapeutic, but hold on to the anger and determination to change things because industrial action could very much still happen. However, we remain committed to achieving the best agreement for you. We have never been in a stronger position in these negotiations as we are now and if management fail to change their position in the mediation process then further strike action will be called. YOU PICKED THE RIGHT SIDE THIS DISPUTE IS FAR FROM OVER, WE WILL CONTINUE CAMPAIGNING KEEP VOICING YOUR SUPPORT AND WE WILL WIN.
CWU Eastern No5 Branch 