EUREST (EX QUADRANT) PAY CLAIM 2021 – BALLOT RESULT

Reproduced below for the information of Branches is the result of the above ballot which has been received from Tony Kearns, Senior Deputy General Secretary:Ballot Papers Issued228Votes for Acceptance  80Votes Against   3Spoils   0

The ballot has therefore resulted in a return of 36% with approximately 96% voting in favour of the agreement.

Branches are requested to ensure that members are made aware of the result of this ballot.

The department has informed Eurest of the result and we understand that arrangements are being put in place for the increased rates of pay and any backdated monies to be paid to members in their April 2021 salaries.

Any enquiries in relation to this LTB should be addressed to Davie Robertson, Assistant Secretary, email: dwyatt@cwu.orgquoting reference number: 301.10.

Yours sincerely

Davie Robertson

Assistant Secretary

LTB 169/21 – Eurest (ex Quadrant) Pay Claim 2021 – Ballot Result

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RECENT CWU POLITICAL INTERVENTION – HARTLEPOOL POLL

You may have seen that the Union recently made a high-profile political intervention relating to the Hartlepool by-election due to be held in May.  This intervention was about much more than the current Labour leadership and this LTB is intended to offer a brief overview of why the poll was commissioned and the role that it plays as part of our wider political strategy.

Representatives and members who attended the CWU Engagement Event last year, will be aware of the importance that we placed on the need for the trade union movement to assert its own agenda and lead the way in reconnecting with the working-class communities that Labour lost in the 2019 general election.  It is widely accepted amongst political analysts/commentators that reversing this trend – which has been decades in the making – will require a fresh approach and some serious self-reflection across the Labour movement.

This point is at the heart of our political strategy and the independent Survation poll we commissioned in Hartlepool was designed to take this work forward in three key areas. 

Firstly, to see what voters in the so-called ‘Red Wall’ were thinking about key policies that support our own members’ jobs and that connect the CWU industrial and political agendas.

Secondly, it was designed to strengthen the call for trade unions to come together with our own distinct agenda and build support for the New Deal for Workers campaign.

Thirdly, it was to help assess where people in this ‘Red Wall’ seat are with Labour since the leadership change and a year of the challenges we have all faced from the pandemic.  National polls have shown that Labour is losing support across the country, with the public complaining that they do not know what the Party stands for. We are hearing this reflected from members who are becoming disillusioned with Labour.  This isn’t about disaffiliation from the Party – it is about making serious interventions that can help them change course towards a better strategy that connects with working people.

We wish to make clear that the Hartlepool constituency poll was independently undertaken through a high-profile national polling company, namely Survation. The poll was conducted by telephone and weighted to match the demographics of the seat itself, with a representative sample providing a valid polling result that reflected the constituency. The lead for the Tories of 7% has been reflected in recent national polls that show a similar lead for the Party over Labour. More recent polling has actually shown the Tory lead to be greater than this, including up to 14% in the latest national YouGov poll.

Our intervention received widespread national and regional coverage, with the call for the trade union movement to play a leading political role receiving newspaper and broadcast coverage across the country.

The full results of the poll and the text of the Times article that I produced to accompany the results are attached to this LTB.  We want this information out there so that we can have a serious engagement with Branches about the political strategy of our union. 

Alongside our work on developing a renewed political focus, we are keen to meet and engage with Branches, representatives and members on all the issues covered in this LTB and we welcome any Branch contacting my office through me or our National Political Lead, Liam Young, to arrange these meetings. 

We are also looking to set up a national political event in the near future where we will be able to discuss these issues in depth with some key guest speakers who can elaborate on all these subjects.  This work also ties in with the New Deal for Worker’s campaign and how we see the union expanding its influence in our Regions and local communities and we will update you on this in due course.

Any enquiries on the above LTB should be addressed to the GS Office – lyoung@cwu.org.

Yours sincerely

Dave Ward

General Secretary

LTB 168/21 – RECENT CWU POLITICAL INTERVENTION – HARTLEPOOL POLL

GS ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN THE TIME TO ACCOMPANY THE HARTLEPOOL POLL

CWU Hartlepool Constituency Poll Summary Document

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CWU Virtual Special Rules Revision Conference 2021 – Observers

As discussed at the mock conference on Tuesday 20^th April branches need to register on zoom to be able to access the conference on Saturday 24^th April.

The deadline to do this is Wednesday 21^st April by midnight. Conference packs have been sent to the delegates via email for those that have registered. The Zoom registration link is within the conference pack If you have not received your pack please contact hmoffat@cwu.org

On the day observers can view the conference via the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/c/CWULive

Any enquiries on this LTB should be directed to Angela Niven on 020 8971 7256 or email eventsregistration@cwu.org

Yours sincerely,

Tony Kearns
Senior Deputy General Secretary

21LTB167 – CWU Special Rules Revision Conference – Observers

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Facebook https://fb.watch/4_S-JpEMFp/

Twitter https://twitter.com/cwunews/status/1384560303883517954?s=21

YouTube https://youtu.be/hmlobwbGuag

CWUandProud

CWU Virtual Rules Revision Conference 2021 – Standing Order Report

Please find attached the following:

• General Conference SOC Report Supplementary No.1

Any queries regarding this Letter to Branches should be addressed to Angela Niven on conferences@cwu.org

Yours sincerely,

Tony Kearns

Senior Deputy General Secretary

LTB 166/21 – CWU Virtual Special Rules Revision Conference – Standing Orders Report

Attachment – VSRR SOR 1

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ELECTION OF NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVE POSITIONS – 2021/2022

• CWU Young Workers Committee (Vacant Positions) 

Further to LTB 125/21 dated 25^th March 2021, at the close of nominations the following have been received:

CWU YOUNG WORKERS COMMITTEE – POSTAL CONSTITUENCYMIDLAND REGIONNatalie PageWolverhampton District Amal Branch*ELECTEDNORTH WEST REGIONLaura MarshallNorth Lancs & Cumbria Branch*ELECTEDSCOTLAND REGIONJohn CarsonGlasgow & District Amal Branch*ELECTEDSOUTH EAST  REGIONBecca HuftonKent Invicta Branch*ELECTEDSOUTH WEST REGIONNo Nominations ReceivedWALES REGIONMatthew JonesNorth Wales & The Marches Branch*ELECTEDLONDON REGIONLucy WoodRomford Amal Branch*ELECTED

CWU YOUNG WORKERS COMMITTEE – TELECOM & FINANCIAL SERVICES CONSTITUENCYEASTERN REGIONNo Nominations ReceivedMIDLAND REGIONNo Nominations ReceivedSOUTH WEST REGIONNo Nominations Received

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

LTB 165/21

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Assistance Request for St Vincent and the Grenadines

As you know the activities at the La Soufriere volcano in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines have become a matter of serious concern and that the Prime Minister issued an evacuation order for people living around the area of the volcano.  That order affected in excess of 20,000 people.  In less than 24 hours more than 2,000 people entered shelters provided by the Government.  This number will inevitably increase.  These shelters are schools, churches, community centres and hotels. 

The evacuation process will increase depending on the intensity of the volcanic eruption. 

Three cruise ships from Royal Caribbean and two from Carnival have offered their assistance for evacuation.  The ships started to arrive last night and will continue to do so.  Assistance have been offered to take persons, if the need arise, by several countries of CARICOM.

The resources of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines are very limited and any assistance you can give will be greatly appreciated

Thank you for your interest in our small nation and for your usual co-operation.

The bank details for the official charity we are working with are given below:

NAME OF BANK              Wise Bank
56 Shoreditch High Street
London
E1 6JJ

ACCOUNT NAME            UK – SVG Friendship Trust
ACCOUNT NUMBER       67153523
SORT CODE:                     23-14-70
REFERENCE:                     VOLCANO

IBAN (to receive GBP from UK only) GB20 TRWI 2314 7067 1535 23#

Alternatively, there is a website which you may use to contribute

GoFundMe – https://gofund.me/90dbdc94

The High Commission for St Vincent and the Grenadines is with working closely with the UK-SVG Friendship Trust and SVGDRIP-UK

POST OFFICE: FORMAL SUBMISSION OF PAY CLAIM – 1ST APRIL 2021

Following our Post Office members’ 97% Yes vote in favour of the one year pay agreement from 1^st April 2020 (refer to LTB 139/21), the Postal Executive has now formally endorsed this year’s pay claim letter. The pay claim, covering all Post Office members, is for a single year from 1^st April 2021 and has a number of key elements as follows:

• 3% pay increase to basic pensionable pay flowing through to all elements of pay-bill
• A one hour reduction in the working week from 35 to 34 hours net
• Improvements to Employer Contributions to the DC pension scheme and a proposal to set up a Working Group with the aim of establishing a CDC pension scheme for the future (in line with conference policy)
• Harmonisation of annual leave entitlements.

A balanced package of benefits would make for a better settlement and will be more attractive to our members than just a standard pay increase, hence the inclusion of the various elements above.

Next Steps

In order to make early progress, we have offered Post Office management a number of meeting dates in late April as our aspiration on behalf of our members is to reach an early settlement if possible.

Branches are urged to bring this LTB to the attention of our Post Office members. Further developments will be reported.

Yours sincerely

Andy Furey

Assistant Secretary

LTB 164/21 – Post Office – Formal Submission of Pay Claim – 1st April 2021

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RM/CWU Joint Communication – Covid-19 Delivery of T24 Test Kits & Sunday Delivery Developments Update

Branches will be aware of the above contained within LTB 091/21 issued on March 3^rd which provided a detailed Joint Statement regarding COVID19 Test Kits and Sunday Delivery Developments, including the introduction of commercial Sunday Direct Injection contracts.

Since then numerous discussions have taken place with Royal Mail regarding what both Departments felt was information that had been circulated by Royal Mail which was not in line with the Joint Statement.  In particular concerns were raised in relation to the later arrivals into Hubs, the reduced number of Hubs and the number of Hubs needing to deliver beyond 7pmas an exception.  In addition, the number of new contracts coming on line, the forecasted volumes and the fall to ground, have meant the resourcing numbers for each Hub need to be reviewed.

Discussions with the Royal Mail managerial team dealing directly with the Sunday contracts proved extremely difficult.  Both Departments raised significant concerns that the business was reverting to previous thinking around a later, cheaper pipeline which was driving an unacceptable operational model based on the Monday to Saturday LAT Network, that was never designed to handle high volumes of traffic.  The CWU position throughout these discussions was that the business should invest upstream to ensure that items move through the pipeline earlier and reach Delivery Hubs in time to meet the operational specification described in the March Joint Statement.

Concurrently it was clear that despite the range of resourcing options included in the March Joint Statement, which is designed to recognise the voluntary nature of resourcing for Sunday Deliveries and promoting inventive duty structures, the business was actively seeking to recruit new staff to cover the work.  This issue had led to discussions between the DGSP and Matthew Newman, HR Director.

As a result of the impasse on both issues, it was agreed the matter would be escalated to the Main Negotiating Group and measures were being taken for that to be progressed.

However, Royal Mail has considered the points put forward by the CWU and as a result they have revised their position in relation to the upstream operation and additional investment to support the principles agreed within the Joint Statement.

Further discussions have taken place this week and have now concluded with the attached Joint Communication which details a number of high level changes to the operational plan being agreed, which are as follows:

• To support the Sunday Delivery products a 03:30 despatch network will be put in place from each of the English RDC sites from Sunday, 25th April.  This network will provide a single service on each route and introduce a total of 56 Network Road Services between RDCs.

• Inward Mail Centre’s will move to a 1-hour processing window from the final arrivals to ensure items are dispatched by Distribution Services as soon as possible to each of the planned Sunday Delivery Hubs in order to advance the commencement for deliveries.

• The revised provisional plans outline circa 349 Sunday Parcel Hubs, of which 313 Hubs are planned to deliver once over the ground and 36 Hubs are planned to deliver twice over the ground.  In addition, due to the introduction of new additional road services, 258 (74%) of Hubs now have a start time before 12:00 and 36 (10%) of Hubs have a potential finish time after 19:00.

• Each Inward Mail Centre will now have a new arrival profile which will need to be reviewed by the Local JWG to understand what the impact means for the catchment area, the total number of Hubs which are needed and also whether local knowledge means further measures can be introduced; for example, direct services to neighbouring Mail Centres to support earlier arrivals into distant Mail Centres.

• Recommit to the parameters of the Resourcing Menu of Options agreed as outlined within the Joint Statement and these remain in place.  The Local JWG are encouraged to find solutions to mitigate and eradicate any requirement for the use of Agency/Casual resource.

On the final point regarding Sunday Resourcing we have made it clear to Royal Mail that all of the principles hold the field and if for example a unit agrees the need for external resource on Sundays that duty structure and hours would have been agreed as part of the resourcing meetings or revision proposals.  In addition, we have made it clear that we also have examples of when innovative duty patterns have been vetoed by managers locally and therefore the Joint Communication also enforces this point and that any issues in relation to the interpretation or application and deployment will be raised with the signatories for resolution at National Level.

As such both departments are now confident that the attached Joint Communication fully supports the previous Joint Statement and will allow the Local JWG’s to meet and review all of the operational plans and ensure we continue to win growth and provide the best possible attendance patterns for our members.

Both departments would like to place on record thanks to Tony Bouch, PEC member, for his ongoing work in these talks and the support and guidance provided to the local JWG’s in dealing with the Sunday Delivery issues.

Any queries to the content of the above please contact: Deliveries: Outdoor Department email address: njones@cwu.org, quoting reference: 600 or

Processing/Area Distribution: Davie Robertson, Assistant Secretary email: shayman@cwu.org, quoting reference: 014.14

Mark Baulch                                                               

Assistant Secretary

Davie Robertson

Assistant Secretary

LTB 163/21 – Covid 19 Delivery of T24 Test Kits Sunday Delivery

Attachment – Joint Communication

Annex A – JS Sunday Delivery

Annex B – Copy of IMC Arrivals

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