CWU Black Workers Conference – Motions 

Further to LTB 558/15 Branches are advised that the closing date for motions to the above conference will now close at midnight on Tuesday 15th September 2015.

 

Each Branch is entitled to submit one motion for consideration to be included on the agenda of the Conference. Motions should be submitted electronically to conferences@cwu.org using the template attached. Branches who do not have this facility may request paper motion forms by contacting Angela Niven on 020 8971 7256.

 

The Race Advisory Committee are entitled to submit up to three motions to the conference standing in their name.

 

Branches and the Advisory Committee are reminded that the Standing Orders Committee will not alter or amend any of the motions submitted therefore it is important that motions are checked before they are submitted.

 

Please note that all correspondence must be sent to conferences@cwu.org and no other personal email address.

 

Any enquiries regarding this LTB should be addressed to Angela Niven either by post to head office or by email to conferences@cwu.org

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

 

A P Kearns

Senior Deputy General Secretary

 

 

Light Commercial Vehicle Driver Behaviour Technology 

Further to LTB 555/15 that was distributed on Wednesday, the LTB contained an error regarding the date of the advance installation of the technology into 13k high mileage vehicles. The correct start date is Tuesday 1st September. I have attached the amended LTB below.

 

Sorry for any confusion caused.

 

Any enquiries to Bob Gibson’s Office, quoting reference 300

Email address: mstewart@cwu.org

 

Yours sincerely
Bob Gibson

CWU Assistant Secretary

Sunday Services – Enquiry Offices 

Further to LTB 528/15 Branches will wish to note that a further two meetings have taken place with Royal Mail where we have made significant progress and have reached a position where we believe we have a document that can be placed before the Postal Executive for ratification.

 

The intention is to place the document before the Postal Executive on Tuesday 8th September 2015, and the changes associated with the draft agreement will then be subject to local discussion with an expected deployment in January 2016.

 

In the meantime there should be no approaches from Royal Mail regarding Sunday opening, general opening times, and the introduction of new services. If this proves not to be the case it should be reported to your CWU Divisional Representative and/or the CWU Outdoor Department without delay for further guidance.

Any enquiries to Bob Gibson’s Office quoting reference 530. Email address: mstewart@cwu.org

Yours sincerely
Bob Gibson
COMMUNICATION WORKERS UNION 

URGENT INFORMATION FOR MEMBERS

CWU Assistant Secretary – Outdoor  

National D2D Discussions – Update 

Further to LTB 531/15 Branches will wish to know that two more meetings have taken place with Royal Mail to see if we can reach an agreement regarding trialling some different options for delivering D2D. Those discussions have become quite complex as there are apparently OFCOM, competition and financial implications involved.

 

A further meeting has been arranged for next week and we will see if we can move things forward satisfactorily.

 

As stated previously no agreement should be given to any proposal as outlined in LTB 531/15 until we have an agreed way forward at national level. Branches will be updated ASAP.

 

Any enquiries to Bob Gibson’s Office, quoting reference 230.03

Email address: mstewart@cwu.org

 

Yours sincerely
Bob Gibson
COMMUNICATION WORKERS UNION 

URGENT INFORMATION FOR MEMBERS

9

CWU Assistant Secretary

Recruitment – Resourcing to Workload – Annual Leave/Resourcing Guidelines – September Review 

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 that is contrary to any national agreement, guideline or joint statement. The “Royal Mail & CWU Nationally Agreed Guidelines Covering Annual Leave/Resourcing” (attached) details the process that should be followed by CWU Representatives and Royal Mail managers and where the processes contained within the guidelines are not being followed the IR Framework should be brought into play without delay.

 

Evidence suggests that Royal Mail are not adhering to national agreements, in particular the Job Security Resourcing and Managing Change agreement, Nationally Agreed Guidelines Covering Annual Leave/Resourcing, the Joint Statement Covering the Filling of Vacancies, and the recently agreed and circulated National Guidelines – Resourcing to Workload Programme, in affect the whole ethos of resourcing to workload fairly and efficiently.

 

At a recent joint workshop concerns were raised by CWU Divisional Representatives regarding the time taken to recruit people into the job/filling vacancies, the number of casual/agency employees and PT employees being recruited, the number of managers still carrying out OPG work, and the potential impact of this on reliability and quality of service. This will be particularly exacerbated with the increased workload during the autumn. It is essential therefore that CWU Representatives fully utilise the nationally agreed September review to engage fully with Managers to ensure that the right staffing base is in place and that vacancies are filled to ensure that a reliable and substantive workforce is available to deal with the workload. The nationally agreed guidelines covering annual leave and resourcing contains the following statement “To enable this during September weekly resourcing meetings should be fully utilised and adapted with the intention of discussing and agreeing resourcing for the coming year based on your current AWD to create an annual plan. This exercise does not replace the mandatory weekly resourcing meetings which will continue to underpin resourcing throughout the year and at which the annual plan should be reviewed on an on-going basis.” Based on your current AWD – which is why it is important to ensure that you’re current AWD is not carrying vacancies.

Branches are also reminded that the irregularities regarding resourcing that are occurring now is not a new phenomenon as the Joint Statement covering the filling of vacancies agreed in 2007 was about addressing the same problem. The Joint Statement has not been renegotiated or superseded and was designed to address the fundamental problem of Royal Mail introducing reduced hours contracts in advance of any negotiation/consultation with the CWU, and locking the process into the IR Framework. That remains the case and where necessary disagreement should be invoked if this process is not followed.

 

To be able to provide a reliable pool of resource to deal with workload CWU Representatives and Royal Mail managers should be working from a sound staffing base and this means that vacancies should be filled in line with agreed TM1’s as recruitment is intrinsically linked to resourcing to workload fairly and efficiently, they cannot be divorced if resourcing is going to be done properly.

 

Royal Mail arbitrarily recruiting (mainly 25 Hour contracts) outside of the agreed resourcing process, i.e. weekly resourcing meetings, defeats the whole object of resourcing to workload. It also means that we are not recruiting to workload and providing a reliable staffing base. In reality it means Delivery Units are recruiting against an imposed financial target and a strategy of ongoing absorption and necessity to flex up which has the potential to significantly impact on the reliability of the service, the USO and quality of service, which is at odds with an agenda for growth. It is important therefore that CWU Representatives ensure that weekly resourcing meetings are taking place and the process is being followed. Where managers refuse to engage in these meetings or follow the agreed process the IR Framework should be used without delay.

 

Reviewing part time contracts should also form part of the September review, which should be done locally on a 6 monthly basis in any case. The local 6 monthly reviews are about making sure that part-time OPGs are being treated fairly, recognising the hours they perform on a regular basis and having this reflected in their terms and conditions. If this is not carried out many part-time employees will be taking annual leave or being on sick leave and facing a pay cut which is at odds with the principle and intent of the national agreement. The September review should also consider immediate solutions to remedy the ongoing use of managers to carry out work that is proper to the OPG grades and CWU Representatives should primarily push to employ substantive full time contracts against the obviously excessive workload or unfilled vacancies if managers have to perform OPG work.

 

It is important that all of our Delivery Representatives use this opportunity to address the problems that have been highlighted; the review should be used to ensure a fair allocation of our members annual leave is put in place as a priority and should be the start point for discussions, everything else should flow from this. CWU Representatives and Royal Mail managers should be striving to take uncertainty and inconsistency out of the system as far as possible and arrive at fair and sensible agreements on leave allocation across the year, providing our members with advanced notification on what leave they have been allocated and when they can take it across the year. Consideration should also be given to providing units with the opportunity for increased availability of leave allocation, particularly but not exclusively during the summer.

 

The existing national agreements, guidelines, agreed tools, procedures and processes in place to support resourcing should be fully utilised in this review and on an ongoing basis to support the process and assist in providing a balanced approach to year round leave allocation and resourcing.

The purpose of the September review is about an accurate and reliable allocation of resource to workload that is then maintained throughout the year. It is about removing unexpected and unagreed absorption and/or excessive workload being placed upon our members. The need for our members to cover any absorption at short notice should be the exception, not the rule.

 

The national guidelines should be fully utilised as part of the September review to assist the local planning process and focus CWU Representatives and managers’ minds on agreeing an annual leave/resourcing plan, fully utilising the current AWD and reserves, local knowledge and traffic forecasts to support and enable local agreements to be put in place with the full involvement of the CWU.

 

It is acknowledged that traffic forecasting is not 100% reliable and forecasts should be used as a guide to support local plans.
Some pertinent extracts from the national guidelines are as follows:
• These guidelines do not affect or change any existing national agreements and all current agreements, guidelines and Joint Statements continue to hold the field.

• To jointly produce and agree a annual leave/ resourcing plan utilising all paid for hours, including overtime, that accurately aligns resource to workload in an efficient and fair and manageable way.

• Annual leave/ resourcing plans will not be based on any predetermined lapsing/absorption plans or budget targets.  

• To provide people with advanced notice of what work they will be expected to do on a daily and weekly basis over the forthcoming year and to provide additional annual leave opportunities over the summer period, including opportunities to ‘burn off’ any outstanding or carried over leave.

• To jointly identify genuine opportunities where it will be possible to absorb workload including any travelling time within the scheduled duty time and not take people past their scheduled finish time.

• Weekly resourcing meetings will take place and will review the agreed annual plan and make necessary adjustments to reflect any change in traffic against that forecasted and planned. These meetings will have adequate time afforded for the CWU Representative to actively participate.

• The Fairness, Dignity and Respect guidance should be referred to and put in place where necessary.

Any enquiries to Bob Gibson’s Office, quoting reference 210

Email address:

” mstewart@cwu.org

Yours sincerely​
Bob Gibson

CWU Assistant Secretary – Outdoor

 
COMMUNICATION WORKERS UNION 

URGENT INFORMATION FOR MEMBERS

 

            

Processing Report

Strategic Involvement (SI) Meeting
A report on the latest SI meeting is on display outside the shift manager’s office. There was further debate about briefing staff on the mail centre standards. The MCM has experienced occasions where some members of staff are not aware of the mail centre standards of which most are common sense and form part of national agreements. Therefore it has been agreed for the staff to be re-briefed on the mail centre standards set out below.
• Smoking is permitted during authorised breaks only.
• Soft drinks to be in a resealable container and sealed cups for tea and coffee are permitted in the work area. No drinks to be consumed whilst operating a machine.
• Lockers have been provided for all staff, and in order to comply with Mails Integrity, there should be no coats or bags on the operational floor.
• Use of mobile phones is restricted to managerial, business and emergency use only on the operational floor. Where emergency use of a phone is required, permission should be sought from the work area manager.
• Meal breaks and grace breaks are provided and these are the only authorised breaks that should be taken.
• All employees will be expected to sign on and be ready for work at the correct start time of duty.
• Please ensure that your photo ID is worn and visible at all times. Please advise your manager if your card is approaching its expiry date.
• Good housekeeping standards are key to providing excellent mail hygiene and avoiding accidents. Please leave all work areas in a clean and tidy state.
• One ear piece of headphones are allowed to be worn when sitting down E.g. Manual Letters and Large Letters.
However when transporting mail/equipment, walking the floor or operating machinery no ear phones to be worn.
• All accidents and near misses must be reported immediately.
• Any absences should be reported promptly to the Book Room by phone (01733 382700) before the start of your duty and informing them of the reason why. Please leave a contact number to enable managerial contact.
Para: Ongoing.

Processing Duty Structure
Management have rejected the CWU’s counter proposals for a processing revision. Negotiations will remain ongoing with the possible outcome of reviews in work areas and shifts that are not resourced appropriately. This will also give us the opportunity to identify the effect the loss of the percentage of Ipswich 2c we will lose from this week to Chelmsford under the mail centre rationalisation agreement will have on the 2c traffic we handle.
Para: Ongoing

Temporary Increase of Contracts
It has been agreed that 10 successful applicants will be offered the recently advertised 24 hour temporary change of contracts starting from 7th September and 2 starting from the 21st September 12 in total.
It has been also been agreed that 10 successful applicants will be offered the recently advertised 39 hour night shift temporary change of contracts starting from the 14th September and 1 possibly starting at the end of September 11 in total.
The successful applicants will be receiving a letter from Management in the next couple of days.
Para: To be noted.

Parcel Sort Machine
Negotiations are ongoing around the movement of the CFC machines and possibly iLSM No 4 to create more space for the parcel sort machine to be put in place.
Para: Ongoing.

CWU National Briefing
A meeting was held this week when it was announced the mail centre will be deploying two nationally agreed York movers (Tugs) into the operation. The meeting was to discuss risk assessments and planned routes the Tug will use when deployed. There are a number of issues to resolve before a deployment date is agreed.
Para: Ongoing.

Flip Flops
We are still waiting for joint CWU/Royal Mail National Joint Statement/Terms of Reference for the flip flops before we are allowed to deploy them.
Para: Ongoing.

New Conduct Code
It has now been agreed that the training sessions for CWU representatives will be joint sessions with Royal Mail Managers conducted by joint Royal Mail/CWU tutors.
Para: Ongoing.

EJ Orviss
Area Processing Representative
Area.processing@cwue5.org
Date 28th August 2015

  CWU Assistant Secretary (Postal)  
Further to LTB 502/15 dated 30th July 2015.

 
Nominations for the above position closed at 14:00 on 28th August 2015.

 
Please find below a list of accepted nominations and respective nominating branches.

 
 
Carl Maden London South West Postal (*Ballot Required)

 
Nominating Branches

 
Central Counties & Thames Valley

Lancs & Cumbria

Cornwall Amal

London 7

Croydon & Sutton Amal

London Postal Engineering

Darwen Capita

London Regional Motor Transport

Derbyshire

London South West Postal

East Midlands

Meridian

Great Western

North West No. 1

Guernsey

Portsmouth & District

Gwent Amal

South East London Postal & Counters

Jersey

South West Wales Amal

 

 
Davie Robertson Glasgow & District (*Ballot Required)

 
Nominating Branches

 
Bournemouth & Dorset Amal

Nottingham & District Amal

Bradford & District Amal

Orkney

Bristol & District Amal

Plymouth & East Cornwall Amal

Cleveland Amal

Scotland MT

Clyde Valley Amal

Scotland No. 2

Doncaster & District

Scotland No. 5

Eastern No. 3

South & East Thames Amal

Eastern No. 5 

South East No. 5

Essex Amal

South East Wales Amal

Glasgow & District Amal

South Midlands Postal

Highland Amal

South Wales

Hull & East Riding Amal

South West No. 7

Kent Invicta

South Yorkshire & District Amal

Kingston Area

Southdowns, Weald & Rother

Leeds No. 1 Amal

Suffolk Amal

London Parcels & Stations Amal

Wessex South Central

Mount Pleasant International

Western Counties

North Lancs & Cumbria

Wolverhampton & District Amal

North West Central Amal

Worcester & Hereford

Northern Home Counties Postal

York & District Amal

Northern Ireland West

 
 
 
The timetable for the above ballot is as follows: 

 
Ballot Papers despatched: 10th September 2015 

Ballot Closes: 6th October 2015 

 
Any enquiries regarding the above should be directed to the Senior Deputy General Secretary’s Department for the attention of Peter Metcalfe on 020 8971 7368 or email pmetcalfe@cwu.org.

 
Yours sincerely

 
 
Tony Kearns

Senior Deputy General Secretary

CWU Digital Photography Competition 2015 
The CWU is again running a digital photography competition as part of our informal learning project. This competition is open to all CWU members and their families and as people return from their holidays with cameras it seems timely to issues a reminder. 
Our Learning Reps have enabled hundreds of our members to undertake Digital Photography and Photoshop courses. The opportunities offered by mobile and Smart phones mean that many of our members have a digital camera in their pocket to record the world around them. 
This is an exciting opportunity for our members to share their skills and abilities and I encourage members and their families to take part. If you want to brush up on your skills or learning more about digital photography before you enter we have a new digital photography course on http://www.cwu.org/leftclick or contact your local Union Learning Rep. 
The overall winner of the competition will win a £200 gift voucher. 
The winning entries will be judged to be the most visually appealing interpretations of the brief, capturing on camera the spirit of the chosen theme and their overall impact and composition. Digital manipulation is acceptable but not necessary. To assist our judges please add a short explanation of how and why the photo was taken. 
You can enter up to one photo in each of the following categories

1. Human

2. Natural World

3. Decisions

4. My Heritage 

Entries should be sent via email to learn@cwu.org by midnight on the 1st November 2015. Entrants must supply their name, email address and branch. We regret that we are unable to accept postal entries. 
Promotional posters for both the competition and the course are attached, as are full terms and conditions of the competition. If you have any queries please contact smassen@cwu.org
Download the attachments at the top of the page.  
Best wishes,
 
Trish Lavelle

Head of Education and Training

CWU Black Workers Conference – Saturday 17th October 2015 

The CWU Black Workers Conference will be held on Saturday 17th October 2015 at the Grand Central Hotel, Victoria Suite, 99 Gordon Street, Glasgow G1 3SL.

Delegates/Observers

Branches are entitled to send two delegates to the Conference but branches have no restriction on the number of observers that can attend.

 

Branches are asked to register delegates and observers using the online registration process. Most branches should be familiar with the system now but anyone that has any difficulties please contact conferences@cwu.org  

 

The link to access this is http://conference.cwu.org

Motions

Each Branch is entitled to submit one motion for consideration to be included on the agenda of the Conference. Motions should be submitted electronically to conferences@cwu.org using the template attached. Branches who do not have this facility may request paper motion forms by contacting Angela Niven on 020 8971 7256.

 

The Race Advisory Committee are entitled to submit up to three motions to the conference standing in their name.

 

Motion forms must be returned by midnight on Tuesday 8th September 2015. All sections of the form must be completed.

 

Branches and the Advisory Committee are reminded that the Standing Orders Committee will not alter or amend any of the motions submitted therefore it is important that motions are checked before they are submitted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As with previous Equality Conferences, the agenda will be structured in such a way as to maximise debate and participation by delegates. There will be two sections to the agenda, one for motions which are eligible for consideration for submission to General Conference, and one for motions that in the view of the Standing Orders Committee would not be admissible to the General Conference agenda.

 

Branches will be aware that with the carriage of Composite Rule Amendment 126 at General Conference 2013, the Black Workers Conference has the entitlement under the rules of the union to submit two motions to stand in the name of the conference to General Conference and one motion to the Postal Group and Telecoms Industry Conferences. It is therefore important that if branches wish their motions to be considered for General Conference they must contain policy that is capable of being discharged by the NEC, as opposed to either of the Industrial Executives.

 

As with previous Equality Conferences, the motions for submission to the General Conference, Postal Group and Telecoms Industry agenda will be decided from amongst those motions adopted at the Conference. A ballot to select the motions will be held at the Conference and further information will be contained within the conference standing orders.

 

Please note that all correspondence must be sent to conferences@cwu.org and no other personal email address.

 

Any enquiries regarding this LTB should be addressed to Angela Niven either by post to head office or by email to conferences@cwu.org

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

 

A P Kearns

Senior Deputy General Secretary