TERMS OF REFERENCE – PDA Pilot
Dear Colleague
Branches and Representatives will be aware of LTB’s 130/16 and 130/16a which were issued this week by Dave Joyce, which deal with the Health and Safety elements linked to the use and rollout of the PDA. The operational elements regarding the use of technology are being dealt with by the Outdoor Department to ensure the enhanced technology associated with the new PDA’s can be used positively.
As part of the Integrated Delivery Programme and in line with national agreements we are continuing to work with Royal Mail to maximise the use of technology, including PDA’s, with the intent of fully utilising factual data to increase our joint understanding of the delivery and collection operation. Royal Mail has made a commitment to invest £130 million on the purchase of new PDA’s in order to keep pace with the rapidly evolving technology being used in the wider postal industry and the changing market and customer expectations/requirements.
At Tuesdays statutory PEC meeting the Postal Executive agreed to support the test and piloting of the new PDA in a number of Delivery Offices which have been selected as being representative of the delivery and collection operation such as City/Urban, Rural (including SPDO’s) High engagement score and High Impact Delivery Offices, to ensure that the technical capability and usability is in place and that the training and workplace coach materials are fit for purpose.
Woodbridge DO has been undertaking initial system and user testing and following this a pilot will take place as follows:
 
Phase 1 of pilot deployment is scheduled for 14th March – which will comprise 4 Delivery Offices. Altens DO, Enfield DO, Docklands DO and Llandrindod Wells (including Rhayaddr SPDO),

 
The 2nd wave of pilot deployment is scheduled for 28th March – 2 weeks later and will comprise 4 Delivery Offices, 2 Associated SPDOs and a Collection site. Bath DO, Hinton Charterhouse SPDO, Formby DO, Clifton DO (NG), Gotham SPDO, Bangor (BT) DO and Edinburgh MC,

 
Subject to the pilot being successful it is anticipated that National deployment will commence on the 18th April and will be completed by the end of October 2016.
Training for all frontline OPG’s on the new PDA will be undertaken by Workplace Coaches utilising the units WTLL session prior to the respective pilot commencing. This will include full demonstrations on the new device and ongoing support for users.
Further discussions will continue to take place with Royal Mail regarding the full deployment plan and to understand whether there are any changes required to the technical process, software applications and training materials to assist with and support the full deployment.
In addition, talks will also continue to discuss and share the relevant information linked to further enhancements of the software which will be subject to phase 2 applications once full deployment has been completed and again this will be a matter which will be addressed by the Outdoor Department and placed before the Postal Executive prior to roll out.
Any enquiries to Bob Gibson’s Office, quoting reference 540
Email address: outdoorsecretary@cwu.org
Yours sincerely
 
Bob Gibson
CWU Assistant Secretary
Email Attachments – Click to download
· LTB 138/16 ROYAL MAIL & CWU NATIONALLY AGREED TERMS OF REFERENCE – PDA Pilot
· Attachment 1: Final Agreed PDA TOR March 2016

Urgent – Recruitment – Resourcing to Workload Delivery Offices
It has become apparent from reports to the department and via meetings that in a significant number of areas delivery Units are encountering problems with unagreed absorption and lapsing, the joint review of PT hours and resourcing/recruitment in general, and in all instances the actions of management are contrary to our national agreements, guidelines or joint statements. It is therefore necessary for the following actions to be invoked without delay.
In all instances where the processes contained within national agreements, guidelines and joint statements are not being followed the IR Framework should be brought into play without delay. Where management refuse to participate in the IR process then the ADR and CWU Divisional rep should be informed ASAP so that they may offer advice and/or intervene.
It is unfortunate that the CWU has to resort to such measures but it is blatantly obvious that national agreements are being ignored and our members are becoming increasingly frustrated at the lack of response from Royal Mail and action on their behalf from the union.
As a consequence of this disregard for national agreements there are units where PT contracts have been employed that have not been agreed or in most cases even discussed with the CWU. In instances like this disagreement should be registered ASAP with a view to reviewing without delay these contracts. This should also apply to existing PT members who are consistently working beyond their contracted hours so that their hours can be reviewed and contractual hours increased accordingly.
CWU Divisional representatives are being asked to ensure that this message is delivered in all delivery Units as of Monday 7th March 2016. Where management continue to ignore the request for reviews and a willingness to resolve these problems then Branches should request ballots for industrial action. There is no requirement to abide by agreed dispute resolution procedures when one party is refusing to abide by national agreements.
Any enquiries to Bob Gibson’s Office, quoting reference 210
Email address: outdoorsecretary@cwu.org
Yours sincerely     
Bob Gibson                            
Email Attachments – Click to download
· LTB 137/16 Urgent – Recruitment – Resourcing to Workload Delivery Offices

TRADE UNION BILL UPDATE
The purpose of this LTB is to provide Branches with an update about recent developments on the Trade Union Bill.
The Bill has now completed its Committee stage in the House of Lords and its Report stage will take place over two days on 16th and 21st March. The Committee stage in the House of Lords is generally used to establish where there may be a consensus on making amendments to the Bill.
As a result of the week of protest and action from 8th-14th February and the lobbying being undertaken by the CWU and other unions, the government has come under pressure over a number of elements of the Bill. Because of this, during the Committee stage it indicated that it will consider accepting amendments on the following points in order to get the Bill through:
Allowing the use of electronic voting in some union ballots – it is not yet clear whether this could include industrial action ballots;

Keeping a one-week notice period for industrial action (instead of increasing this to a fortnight);

Extending the time limit being proposed for industrial action (the Bill would currently impose a limit of four months from the date of the ballot); and

Giving devolved governments in Scotland and Wales control over check-off and facility time in public services (preventing the UK government from scrapping these).

While these changes have not yet been confirmed and the Bill would still be a significant attack on trade unions, it should be recognised that these would be important amendments on these issues.
Alongside the Committee stage in the main House of Lords, a smaller Select Committee was established to examine the political clauses of the Bill in more detail – the government had attempted to avoid this additional scrutiny. This Committee published its report on 2nd March and has made three significant recommendations to the whole House:
That the proposed ‘opt-in’ for unions’ political funds, should apply to new members only (and not all members as the government wants);

That unions should have 12 months to implement this (not three months as the government is proposing); and 

That members should not be required to ‘opt-in’ again every five years, which the Bill would currently require.

Although these are currently only recommendations to the House of Lords, it is clear that the government is coming under significant pressure over its attack on unions’ political funding.
Amendments that would give effect to all of the above points are likely to be debated when the Bill is before the House of Lords on 16th and 21st March and the Bill will subsequently need to be approved by the House of Commons. It is therefore important for Branches to continue to campaign and lobby Conservative MPs to make clear the strength of opposition to what the government is doing.
CWU ROLE IN TUC PROTEST WEEK
The above developments are a direct result of the campaigning efforts of trade unions during the TUC’s heartunions week from 8th-14th February and in particular on the day of protest on 11th February. The CWU had a significant level of engagement in this across all of our constituencies and thousands of members used the #CWUandProud hashtag online and many areas undertook recruitment and other campaign activities including public meetings, street stalls, leafleting, rallies and publicity stunts.
It is clear that the CWU played a leading role in publicising opposition to the Bill, which has been recognised across the movement, and I would like to thank all regions, branches, representatives and members who took part. For those branches that have not already seen this, on the 11th February we also projected an image highlighting the campaign onto the Houses of Parliament. Photos of this are attached to this LTB.
Branches will be kept up to date with further developments on the Bill and any queries on the contents of this LTB should be addressed to gsoffice@cwu.org
Yours Sincerely,
 
Dave Ward

Royal Mail Group Safety Health and Environment (SHE) Team Deployment Plan 2016
For the information and attention of Royal Mail Group CWU Health and Safety Reps, please find attached a copy of the 2016 Royal Mail Group Safety Health and Environment (SHE) Team Deployment Plan, which includes new and revitalised or updated Safety Standards, Engagement Campaigns and SHE Activities.
For Quarter 1:- 

SHE Initiatives & Communications for Operational Impact are;

Dog Awareness, Fire, Sun Safety, Action on Stroke, Men’s Health Week.
SHE Management System Build work is to be on;
First Aid Risk Assessment, Programmes Review, Assets Selection and Assessment, Occupational Health Standards, BHRA Review, Water Systems Review, Serious & Fatal Incident Reporting and Investigation Review.
See attached Excel file spreadsheet of the full SHE Plan for the year, covering all four quarters.
ASRs will be fully involved and consulted on the Plan Elements.
Yours sincerely
Dave Joyce

National Health, Safety & Environment Officer
Email Attachments – Click to download
· LTB135/16 Royal Mail Group Safety Health and Environment (SHE) Team Deployment Plan 2016
· SHE Deployment Plan 2016-17

A personal message from Dave Baigent:
As the Labour Party Candidate for Police and Crime Commissioner I aim to set the county alight by winning this election. However, I can only do it with your support. I am seeking to hold street stalls across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough every day between now and the election. However, I need at least one person to help me – so if you have a free couple of hours please get in touch 07802 495 329 dave@davebaigent.com @dave4CambsPCC and we can arrange a day and time.
The role of Police and Crime Commissioner is to set policing priorities and agree the budget. I am campaigning to provide the People with a police service that they want and against Tory Politicians who have cut and privatised the Police each year since 2010.
A wider explanation of my vision can be found http://www.davebaigent.com/vision.html including my aims to improve the police, when in 2001 I wrote the two Public Service Degrees at Anglia Ruskin University and became a Principal Lecturer on Policing Leadership, Management, Culture and Equality. These degrees, which aim at students who want to join uniformed public services (primarily the police), are now offered at Cambridge, Peterborough and Harlow.
My number one priority as Commissioner will be to give the people of Peterborough and Cambridge the type of police service that they want through a completely new approach to community policing. This will be done by me bringing senior police officers to meet with the community and for them to jointly agree their policing priorities. Then in turn the agreed police/public priorities would become my priorities. And of course my priorities then become the police’s priorities.
Maintaining and improving the police/public relationship will be at the core of everything that I do as Commissioner.
This is an often-made claim, but these are not just words. I am a can do person, hard working, practical and trustworthy. Abilities that alongside my life skills will help me to bring about a police service that reflects its community, is accountable to residents, and speaks/listens to them.
That is exactly what I do when I campaign – I get out and talk to people in their communities and I listen to them – that is how you build trust.
Not a Career Politician but the People’s Commissioner – Firefighter for over 30 years – Studied for a first degree / PhD in Sociology – Wrote ARU’s Public Service Degree – Then a principal lecturer on Policing – Now a Cambridge City Councillor and standing to be The People’s Commissioner.
More than willing to come and talk to any wider group about my vision.

Dave4 Police and Crime Commissioner

My number one priority as Commissioner will be to give the people of Peterborough and Cambridge the type of police service that they want. One way to do this is by improving police/public relations through a new approach to community policing.
davebaigent.com

Resourcing, Recruitment and Professional Manpower Planning/Legally Binding Agreement
You will recall that in November 2015 the situation locally in respect of the business not adhering (in our opinion) to our National Agreements regarding the above had become so dire that it was necessary for a national intervention and the negotiation of a Joint Statement to guide and refocus the field (LTB 715/15 refers).
Unfortunately it is with great frustration that once again we are required to intervene due to management’s failure to apply our agreements at local level. This has now reached epidemic proportions with the consequences of managers performing OPG work, excessive use of agency and casuals, excessive levels of overtime, part timers being asked to regularly perform hours above their conditioned hours (despite not being offered increased contracts in line with our agreement), an apparent national block on any full time recruitment, the cessation of temporary contracts, regardless of need, and offers of un-agreed voluntary redundancies etc threatening industrial stability.
Against that backdrop the Postal Executive has for the first time taken the very serious step of registering a national Point of Principle, in line with Schedule 3 Disputes Resolution Procedures of the legally binding agreement, and in particular Section 3 Achieving National Agreement 3.1 Point of Principle.
This is new territory for us and it is with great regret that we’ve had to take this action but it is naive to believe that industrial stability will be maintained if agreements reached nationally are not applied in the workplace locally.
Clearly this Point of Principle is not about renegotiating our National Agreements but rather the business’ failure to deploy those National Agreements and enforce them at local level. Our on-going dialogue will be about how we jointly correct that situation and restore confidence in our procedures.
Notwithstanding the position being taken nationally, Local, Area and Divisional Representatives should continue to challenge any activity which is considered inconsistent with our National Agreements via the IR Framework.
Attached to this LTB is a letter sent to Mike Newby on this issue which is self-explanatory.
Branches should ensure that this LTB is given the widest possible circulation and that it is brought to the attention of local Representatives.
Any enquiries in relation to the content of this LTB should be addressed to the DGSP Department.
Yours sincerely,     

    
Terry Pullinger     

Deputy General Secretary (Postal) 
 
Email Attachments – Click to download
LTB 132/16 Resourcing, Recruitment and Professional Manpower Planning/Legally Binding Agreement

Attachment 1 22.02.16 Letter to Mike Newby – Resourcing in Royal Mail

RE: Future of Romec
Further to LTB 120/16 Branches and Representatives will wish to be aware that Romec has issued letters (attached) to staff welcoming the recent CWU results endorsing the agreement on Future Provision of FM services to Royal Mail and providing an update on discussions with Cofely on full transfer of ownership to Royal Mail Group.
The union was consulted prior to the letters being issued.
Any enquires for Engineers and Admin grades should be addressed to PTCS department, quoting reference PTC/RE/SN/335. 

Email address: djeffery@cwu.org
Any enquires for Cleaning grades should be addressed to the Outdoor department quoting reference 120.
Email address: outdoorsecretary@cwu.org
Yours sincerely
 

Ray Ellis Bob Gibson                     
Assistant Secretary Assistant Secretary
Email Attachments – Click to download
LTB 133/16 – Future of Romec

Attachment 1 – Letter to Romec Members