Adverse Weather 

 Colleagues will recall that following the disruption caused by the adverse weather system “the Beast from the East” in early 2018, Conference adopted Emergency Motion 2 at Annual Conference, the terms of which are reproduced below for ease of reference.

 This Conference notes with concern the severe weather front known as ‘the beast from the east’ that occurred within the UK between 24 February and 4 March, and its effects on CWU members whilst travelling to and from work, and also on their health and safety whilst at work.

 Conference also notes with concern the various contradictory versions of Royal Mail Group’s policies on severe weather, together with their inconsistent application by the employer, that resulted in members being asked to make lost time good; take annual leave; or lose pay altogether during this period.

Conference further notes the inconsistency between CWU policy and Royal Mail policy on this issue, and therefore instructs the PEC to seek agreement with Royal Mail Group on a jointly agreed severe weather policy and guidelines.

 Any agreement shall include reference and guidance on the following issues prior to any potential loss of pay/making time good/taking annual leave:-

•  Any relevant red/amber/yellow weather warnings in place at the time, and their geography
• Decision making levels on attendance to and from work, and also the outdoor area in which each individual works
• The underlying principle that each case is taken on its own merits
• This agreement would also cover the recent issues with Royal Mail which has seen members being penalised

 This list is not exhaustive.

 Since Conference the Postal Executive have continued to pursue the terms of the Motion and to this end Bobby Weatherall, Postal Executive member has been leading on this on behalf of the DGS(P) Department.

The initial activity undertaken was to carry out a review in Scotland and Northern Ireland in order to identify where inconsistencies in the application of Royal Mail’s Adverse Weather Policy had been encountered by our members.  The joint review with the business involved holding meetings with workplace Representatives in affected locations as well as a jointly agreed CWU/RM questionnaire being distributed to Representatives and units who were affected by the severe weather encountered last year.

The information derived from the joint review exercise was reported to the Postal Executive.  The report also contained 7 jointly agreed recommendations that are listed below which will now be used to address where the application (or misapplication) of Royal Mail’s Adverse Weather Policy has been identified:

1. Should the occasion of this type of extreme weather occur again, Royal Mail, as a matter of priority, should issue guidance on how to apply the adverse             weather policy to all managers so that it is applied consistently. This      should           also include advice on, or reissue of, the Other Time Off policy.

2. If employees are unable to attend for reasons relating to school closures/care issues it is important that managers consider the employee’s circumstances     in line with the Other Time Off policy.

3. Ensure that no pay is deducted without the employee’s consent, preferably in writing.

4. For anyone who is not able to attend the workplace, a one to one conversation should be held on their return to explain the policy and agree       the appropriate solution dependent on the circumstances of the non-    attendance in line with the Adverse Weather Policy. The employee should be     entitled to accompaniment by a union rep if they wish at the one to ones.

5. Due to the specific information received about Edinburgh Mail Centre and their application of the policy, it is recommended that a review is undertaken        by the local People Business Partner to ensure that any misapplication is corrected.

6. If anyone believes that either the Adverse Weather Policy or Other Time Off policy has not been followed appropriately for their personal circumstances,    the normal process should be followed, i.e. they should raise their concern             informally with their line manager and if not satisfied with the response,        should follow the formal grievance policy.

7. Royal Mail and CWU should review the Adverse Weather Policy against the Government/Met Office/Police’s use of weather warnings (and in particular    ‘Red   Weather Warnings’), to ensure that it contains sufficient advice for            managers on how to manage the operation when the warnings are issued,       using the SHE team for advice.

Bobby has now written to the business to ensure the recommendations are acted upon and is currently seeking meeting dates to move this forward.  Once this process has been deployed and applied in the Scotland/Northern Ireland Division, it will then be extended to other parts of the UK who were affected by the severe weather encountered in early 2018.  Further updates on this aspect will be provided to the Committee in due course.

It would be remiss of the Department not to place on record on behalf of the Postal Executive our thanks for the assistance and support provided to Bobby by the Divisional Representatives, Branches and CWU Representatives from the Scotland and Northern Ireland Division.

As part of the continuing activity in relation to adverse weather situations, the Postal Executive remain convinced that the best way forward is for there to be a joint agreement or statement in place, particularly in light of the pattern of extreme weather that has affected various parts of the UK over the past 12 months.  As well as the “Beast from the East”, we have encountered extreme heatwaves, near hurricane force winds, severe rainfall and flooding, all of which bring with them not only physical dangers to postal workers but also present members and their families with their own challenges.  Whether the spate of extreme weather in 2018 is a result of climate change or other atmospheric activity, the fact is these situations are on the increase and look likely to continue.

To this end the Union has exchanged correspondence with the business in an attempt to reach a joint agreement or statement that can help members, Representatives and local managers address the impact of adverse weather conditions in a more collaborative manner based on the facts of the situation within their locality.

Royal Mail’s initial response has unfortunately been somewhat negative stating that as their policy has been worked up with the CWU’s Health and Safety Department a joint statement is therefore not required.  Irrespective of this, it is the Union’s intention to continue to pursue an agreed position on adverse weather as the Postal Executive believe it is good business practice to have an agreement in place (rather than just a unilateral policy) which reflects the spirit and intent of the Four Pillars Agreement especially Section 4 “Royal Mail Group’s Commitment to its People”.

In the intervening period, while we continue with the activity in Scotland and Northern Ireland to pursue an agreed position with the company, the business will apply their current policy (copy attached), likewise the CWU will endure to ensure our members are fairly treated when this is applied and where necessary utilise the full terms of the IR Framework Agreement to make sure this is the case.

The business are fully aware of the Union’s position and have confirmed they have reissued the current Adverse Weather Policy to all Operational Managers so they can familiarise themselves with its content and process.  We do however want to assure colleagues that we are continuing to pursue a new and fully representative policy to cover all severe weather events our members may encounter including when ‘Red Alert’ warnings and advice are issued by the relevant authorities.

Further updates will be provided to Branches in due course.

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)

19LTB07119LTB071 Attachment 1 – Adverse Weather

Panel Session – CWU Women’s and LGBT Conferences 2019

Last week at the CWU Black Workers and Disability Conferences we held two very successful panel sessions, which allowed questions to be put to a panel including the General Secretary, the National Officer, NEC members and Advisory Committee members on Redesign and the Future of Equality in the CWU. As well as questions from the delegates present, the panel also encouraged Branches to submit questions in writing before the conferences.

We will be repeating the panel sessions at the Women’s and LGBT Conferences to be held in Liverpool next week. Should you have any questions for the panel please email them to the following email address fhussein@cwu.org or if you are in attendance please feel free to raise your question on the day.

We will also be taking the opportunity to explain in more detail how the new equality structures will work and how Regions will be responsible for setting up new Women’s, LGBT, BAME and Disability networks that are closer to Branches and workplaces, with the aim of maximising engagement on our Equality Agenda.

Any enquires on the above LTB should be addressed to Trish Lavelle tlavelle@cwu.org.

Yours sincerely

Trish Lavelle                                                                            Dave Ward

Assistant Secretary                                                              General Secretary

19LTB068

CWU Redesign Education, Learning and Training Strategy

In line with the relevant enabling motion passed by the Special Conference in November 2018 please find attached the CWU Redesign Strategy for Education, Learning and Training endorsed by the NEC at their meeting on 31  January 2019. 

In line with Special Conference policy the NEC will be submitting a motion to General Conference 2019 calling for the CWU to adopt this new comprehensive strategy to cover all aspects of our education, learning and training work going forward.

Any enquiries relating to this LTB should be relayed to lwakeman@cwu.org in the first instance.

Yours sincerely,

Trish Lavelle
Assistant Secretary
Education and Equal Opportunities

19LTB 067 – CWU Redesign Education Learning and Training Strategy

Attachment 2 – Redesign ELT Strategy

Attachment 3 – Appendix 1

Attachment 4 – Appendix 2

Attachment 5 – Appendix 3

Royal Mail Property Facilities and Solution: Changes to Senior Leadership Team

We attach for the information of Branches a communication issued by Martin Gafsen Group Director of Property and Facilities Solutions concerning changes to the senior leadership team, issued last week.

The changes to the senior management team have no immediate effect on CWU represented grades. It is understood that the integration of management of Hard FM (engineering) and Soft FM (cleaning) will be extended to regional level as part of these changes but there will be no immediate changes to the direct management of CWU represented grades.

Any enquiries regarding the content of this LTB should be addressed to the PTCS Department, quoting reference number 320: email khawkins@cwu.org or to the Outdoor Department quoting reference 120: email address: outdoorsecretary@cwu.org.

Yours Sincerely,

Ray Ellis – Assistant Secretary                                    

Mark Baulch – Assistant Secretary          

Attachment 1 – 19LTB059 – Royal Mail Property Facilities and Solution – Changes to Senior Leadership Team

Attachment 2 – Royal Mail Comms

View Online

BT PENSION SCHEME: MEMBER NOMINATED DIRECTOR

Further to LTB 638/2018 the process to fill the Member Nominated Director vacancy has now been completed.

The Selection Panel, comprising representatives from the CWU, Prospect and the National Federation of Occupational Pensioners, interviewed shortlisted candidates and agreed to nominate Andy Kerr to fill the vacancy.

Andy is the Deputy General Secretary (T&FS) at the CWU and has a wide variety of pension experience, having overseen two major sets of BT pension negotiations and serving as a trustee of different schemes for over 20 years.

The appointment takes place with effect from the 1^stMarch 2019.

Further information about the roles of the Member Nominated Directors can be found at www.btpensions.net

Yours sincerely

Nigel Cotgrove

Assistant Secretary

064.2019

Royal Mail Uniform Supplier Contract Tendering Process 

Dear Colleagues,

The Union has been made aware during discussions that Royal Mail has put the general uniform supplier contract (currently with the company Dimensions) out to tender.

As a result of further consultation and an exchange of emails (which have been shared with the relevant CWU Departments), Royal Mail has confirmed the following additional points in relation to this tendering process and the CWU’s wider and ongoing involvement:

• The tendering process will cover the whole of the Royal Mail Group including the current uniform suppliers for Parcelforce and Royal Mail Property & Facilities Solutions.
• Any new uniform supplier will need to be able to offer a ‘like-for like’ uniform range in terms of current uniform items including those subject to ongoing trials. However, the tendering process will also consider new uniform options and designs going forward which would be rolled out via a soft launch and in line with current stock ranges depleting.
• The CWU will be consulted directly once a shortlist of 3 bidders has been established. However, this consultation will take place after the 3 shortlisted potential suppliers (expected to be identified in February this year) have held three national roadshow events (North/Central/South) to share their concepts/designs with predominately multifunctional frontline operatives.

Whilst further clarification and details will be sought from Royal Mail by the Outdoor Department on the tendering process and possible impact to the current uniform range at the appropriate meetings, it is clear that this tendering process and its longer term implication will require cross-departmental involvement as it is a Royal Mail Group wide activity.

As such and in order to support the cross-departmental approach, the following PE colleagues will be involved in this uniform tendering process on behalf of the listed Departments:

• Mick Kavanagh and Darren Glebocki – Outdoor Department
• Katrina Quirke – Processing, Logistics, Parcelforce, International, Quadrant Department
• Alan Tate – Postal Technical & Central Services Department

Any enquires in relation to this LTB should be directed to the Outdoor Department, reference 500, email address: outdoorsecretary@cwu.org.

Or to Davie Robertson, Assistant Secretary, email: dwyatt@cwu.org or shayman@cwu.org quoting reference number: 005.

Or to the PTCS Department, quoting reference number 320: email khawkins@cwu.org.

Yours sincerely,

Mark Baulch – Assistant Secretary 

Davie Robertson – Assistant Secretary 

Ray Ellis – Assistant Secretary 

LTB 063.19 – Royal Mail Uniform Supplier Contract Tendering Process

TUPE of Apprentices from BT plc to BT Fleet Solutions

The CWU have been advised that apprentices recruited since October 2017 within Wholesale & Ventures, now BT Enterprise, were held centrally as Early Talent within HR. This has now been reviewed and the apprentices are to be moved into the part of the business they are working in and they are being assigned to their local OUC as detailed in the attached letter.

For 37 apprentices in BT Fleet, this will result on a change of legal employment entity from BT plc to BT Fleet Ltd and therefore the transfer will be conducted under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations (TUPE). The CWU are working closely with BT to ensure a simple and easy transition and the attached initial FAQ document has been produced to aid the process and will grow should further questions be submitted.

The apprentices in BT Fleet Solutions were hired across two roles, Level 3 light vehicle maintenance technician and Level 3 Customer Service. The technicians are spread across the country and the customer service agents are based at Aquarius the headquarters office.

It has been confirmed that this will be a change of legal employer only and there will be no change to terms and conditions and existing policies will continue to apply. There will also be no organisational changes as they will remain in the same locations, working with the same teams and with the same manager as they are currently. There is only one change, a small improvement in that the potential for overtime becomes available.

The attached communication is being sent out to each apprentice at lunchtime on 30 January 2019 and their managers are to be briefed in due course. The transfer of employer entity will take place on 01 March 2019.

Any enquiries on the content of this briefing can be sent to this office on: ldefontaine@cwu.org.

Yours sincerely,

Brendan O’Brien

Assistant Secretary

LTB 062.2019

LTB 062.2019a LTB 062.2019b LTB 062.2019c

Tailored Review of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE)’ Report Published

A new review, entitled the ‘Tailored Review of The HSE’ (The Smart Review), commissioned by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) has called on the organisation to “up their game on safety inspections and prosecutions”. It also challenges many of the changes that were forced on the HSE by the Tory/Lib.Dem Coalition and Conservative Governments, making a total of 27 Recommendations.

The review, carried out by Sarah Smart (Chair of the Audit Committee at The Pensions Regulator), is generally positive about the HSE. However, it makes quite a number of recommendations that will reassure a lot of those who have been concerned over the direction that the HSE was going after 2010.

In 2010 the Tory/Lib.Dem Government instructed the HSE to stop all proactive safety inspections in the vast majority of sectors, terming them ‘Low or Medium Risk’ industries. From that point the HSE could only inspect workplaces after a complaint or a report of an incident. Local Councils were later ordered by the Government to do the same as it pursued its so called deregulatory agenda, removing ‘burdens on business’ with its ‘light-touch’ enforcement approach. As a result, HSE and Local Authority workplace inspections fell dramatically and Inspector staff numbers were slashed. This decline was highest in the local authority inspected sector where the number of pro-active inspections fell by 97 per cent between 2010 and 2016, and the overall number of inspections and other interventions fell by 65 per cent. Because of the fall in inspections, both prosecutions and enforcement activity fell as well.

The TUC, CWU and all UK Trade Unions campaigned and argued strongly that the move away from proactive inspections and enforcing authority staff cuts was a political move and not one based on evidence. The Unions also pointed out that the HSE approach to inspections was far more likely to find breaches of safety, where serious injuries have to be reported, rather than health. Proactive inspections continue to expose a material breach rate of 45-50 per cent, demonstrating the value of this form of intervention in removing risks from the workplace.

This latest report calls on the HSE to address these points. It asks for inspection and enforcement to be based on evidence of the best outcomes and there is a recommendation that the HSE maximise the impact of interventions on workplace health which means focusing ever-strained HSE resources on what works to remove risks. Equally welcome is the proposal that the HSE should consider taking on more challenging prosecutions. This would include areas that the HSE has shied away from in the past decade, such as work-related stress.

The report also looks at the composition of the HSE Board. The requirement for three worker seats and three employer seats has been under threat for several years. Firstly the Government increased the number of additional seats from three to six, which diluted the balance on the board and reduced the worker/employer voice, and then the Government started refusing to appoint trade unionist nominations to the board. At one point they even appointed an employer to fill one of the worker representative seats on the board and refused to appoint trade union nominations to the board supported by the TUC, CWU and UK Trade Unions. Only after a huge, high profile campaign did the Government eventually back off but then it delayed advertising a Workers Representative HSE Board Seat for 2 years.

The Smart review is very clear on this issue, as was an earlier review, four years previously (The Triennial Review of the Health and Safety Executive Report – Temple Report). It states “The tripartite structure of the HSE board should be retained”. It also asks the Government to explore “collaborative solutions” to avoid the situation we had whereby a board seat was vacant for 2 years because the Government simply could not bring itself to appoint the TUC, Trade Unions supported candidate.

Another area that the review looked at was the growing pressure on the HSE to take on more ‘Commercial Work’. This has been a major demand from the Government and, so far has widely been seen as a failure, with the HSE being forced to chase private work which had little, if any benefit to either the organisation, or health and safety in the UK in general. The report makes a number of important recommendations that it is worth quoting:

• “Recommendation 5: The tripartite structure of the HSE Board should be retained (Involving Trade Union Seats). The Department should lead in exploring collaborative solutions to avoid a recurrence of the recent delays in filling vacancies for certain non-executive director roles.
• “Recommendation 12: The HSE Board should examine how it receives assurance over the quality of HSE’s regulatory activity, including through the establishment of a dedicated team, and consider how it oversees the quality of local authority health and safety regulatory activity.”
• “Recommendation 16: HSE should continue to develop and enhance its interventions to maximise its impact on work-related ill-health.”
• “Recommendation 17: HSE should review its risk appetite in prosecutions and consider taking on more challenging prosecutions, in line with existing prosecution and enforcement guidance, when there is benefit in doing so.”
• “Recommendation 18: HSE should continue to develop ways to facilitate local authority input into the development of relevant policy and regulation.”
• “Recommendation 24: HSE should clarify the purpose of its commercial strategy and ambitions, to ensure that projects undertaken align and complement HSE’s core business”
• “Recommendation 25: HSE should ensure that the success of commercial activity is measured by its contribution, rather than by income.”

These Recommendations support the views campaigned on by the TUC, CWU and others in recent years during which time the HSE and Local Authority Health and Safety Regulation and Enforcement have come under attack by the Government. The Recommendations are a very strong reminder to the current Government that the HSE is there for a reason, which is to protect and improve the health and safety of workers and the public by enforcing Health and Safety Laws – and it is NOT a commercial organisation chasing profits.

The HSE Workforce will also welcome the proposals on staff engagement, communications and diversity which are issues that the HSE workforce Trade Unions have been campaigning on for many years.

The Report makes 27 Recommendations:-

• Recommendation 1: HSE and the joint DWP and DHSC (Department of Health and Social Care) Work and Health Unit should review their collaboration and agree a Memorandum of Understanding.
• Recommendation 2: In line with the Cabinet Office’s ‘Partnerships with arm’s length bodies: code of good practice’, the Department should review its partnership arrangements with HSE to provide greater clarity, ensure that they are proportionate and provide direct engagement between the centre of DWP and HSE. The Department should work with HSE to update the Framework Document to reflect this.
• Recommendation 3: The Department’s Permanent Secretary and the HSE Chair should meet three or four times per year, and the Department and the HSE Chief Executive should maintain regular engagement.
• Recommendation 4: The Department should review HSE’s budget delegations to ensure that the requirements for departmental approval are proportionate and recognise HSE’s size and maturity.
• Recommendation 5: The tripartite structure of the HSE Board should be retained. The Department should lead in exploring collaborative solutions to avoid a recurrence of the recent delays in filling vacancies for certain non-executive director roles.
• Recommendation 6: The HSE and ONR Boards should agree when it is appropriate to end the reciprocal board membership arrangement.
• Recommendation 7: The HSE Board should consider whether there are opportunities to reduce the number of attendees at HSE Board meetings, in line with best practice, while maintaining the necessary skills and effectiveness of the Board.
• Recommendation 8: HSE should develop a skills matrix for the HSE Board and conduct an annual skills review to identify any gaps against this.
• Recommendation 9: The Department should ensure that future appointments to the HSE Board aim to fill any identified skills gaps and increase diversity on the Board, and continue to aim to stagger appointment terms.
• Recommendation 10: The HSE Board should continue to review open Board meetings, to ensure that each meeting has clear objectives and an appropriate format to support this.
• Recommendation 11: The HSE Management Board should conduct a review of its own effectiveness, as well as the structure of the Management Board and Extended Management Board, to ensure that these are as effective and efficient as possible.
• Recommendation 12: The HSE Board should examine how it receives assurance over the quality of HSE’s regulatory activity, including through the establishment of a dedicated team, and consider how it oversees the quality of local authority health and safety regulatory activity.
• Recommendation 13: HSE should ensure that both externally and internally facing objectives are published, publicly reported against and included in performance tracking, as well as considering the benefit of a multi-year corporate plan.
• Recommendation 14: Using the insight work and building on the successful Business Intelligence tool, HSE should refresh its performance information, with appropriately challenging targets, and a focus on outcomes. HSE should discuss with other regulators to share best practice on effective outcome – based measurements of regulatory performance.
• Recommendation 15: HSE and the Department should work together to clarify responsibilities for horizon-scanning and increase the prominence of this work.
• Recommendation 16: HSE should continue to develop and enhance its interventions to maximise its impact on work-related ill-health.
• Recommendation 17: HSE should review its risk appetite in prosecutions and consider taking on more challenging prosecutions, in line with existing prosecution and enforcement guidance, when there is benefit in doing so.
• Recommendation 18: HSE should continue to develop ways to facilitate local authority input into the development of relevant policy and regulation.
• Recommendation 19: HSE should continue to work with the Cabinet Office, in line with the recommendations of the Regulatory Futures Review, to consider enabling local authorities to recover the costs of some of their enforcement activities.
• Recommendation 23: HSE should explore opportunities for expansion of the use of cost recovery in certain sectors, building on the lessons learned from Fee for Intervention to ensure clear objectives.
• Recommendation 24: HSE should clarify the purpose of its commercial strategy and ambitions, to ensure that projects undertaken align with, and complement, HSE’s core business.
• Recommendation 25: HSE should ensure that the success of commercial activity is measured by its contribution, rather than by income.
• Recommendation 26: Cabinet Office and HM Treasury should consider the potential impact of uncertain cost recovery income on budgets and HSE should work with the Department, HM Treasury and Cabinet Office to clarify the position of commercial and Fee for Intervention income in the budgeting process
• Recommendation 27: HSE should consider how best to achieve further efficiencies over the next five years, with a particular focus on continuing to drive down estates costs, targeting regulatory activity and the use of digital services.

A copy of the 40 page Report ‘Tailored Review of the Health and Safety’ known as the ‘Smart Review’ is attached for your information and reference.

Yours sincerely

Dave Joyce
National Health, Safety & Environment Officer

19LTB061 Tailored Review of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Report Published

HSE-Tailored-Review-Nov 2018