DEALING WITH COMPETITION AND GROWTH

Further to LTB 226/15, the purpose of this LTB is to update Branches prior to Annual Conference on how we are taking forward the key issues of competition and growth.

Competition

In our recent workplace pamphlet we explained that following the publication of the BIS Select Committee Report CWU would be launching a major campaign calling for a judicial review into the Regulator’s role, alongside new legislation to strengthen the USO, limit Direct Delivery competition and introduce fair employment standards across the postal sector.

The Postal Executive has now agreed that the campaign will be launched in May with a National Briefing and demonstration outside the Regulator’s London Headquarters. We hope to announce the date and venue for these activities at Annual Conference.

We can also advise that the Postal Executive has submitted an Emergency Motion to the Standing Orders Committee to ensure this subject receivesthe profile it deserves at Annual Conference.

Growth

Following the publication of our workplace pamphlet we continue to prioritise growth with the company and can confirm that the following has been agreed.

Regional Growth Forums – We will hold a series of six further Growth Forums at Regional level and all CWU Area Reps will be invited to attend. The aim is to conclude these before the end of May and CWU Divisional Reps are liaising with the appropriate Regional managers to bring this to fruition. The Regional events will build on work undertaken nationally and give our representatives the opportunity to put forward their ideas.

National Priorities for Growth – Arising from the National Growth Forum, CWU and Royal Mail have agreed to prioritise four specific projects as follows:-

• Developing and trialling the concept of ‘Royal Mail Local’.

• Pipeline opportunities.

• The further development of Enquiry offices.

• Warehousing.

The projects on Enquiry offices and Warehousing are about building on existing work that is being undertaken by the appropriate National Officers and Royal Mail managers. The further work on Royal Mail Local and pipeline opportunities are new projects and detailed work on these will commence following Annual Conference.

Summary

In recent months the Union has been discussing with our representatives the subjects covered in this LTB and this was followed with our workplace pamphlet designed to begin the process of engaging CWU members on the issues that will shape the future of the postal industry. It is now incumbent on all CWU Representatives to raise the profile ofthese subjects in the workplace and ensure the whole Union is focused on what we need to do to create our future.

Any enquiries on the above LTB should be addressed to the DGS (P) Department.

Yours sincerely

Dave Ward

Deputy General Secretary (P)

COMMUNICATION WORKERS UNION

URGENT INFORMATION FOR lMEMBERS

24/04/2015 0

Processing Report

Eastern No 5 Branch

Processing Report

Strategic Involvement (SI) Meeting

We discussed the importance of stopping diverting out 2c parcels to Mount Pleasant on Monday night/Tuesday morning. We are reducing the diversion from 75 York’s to 49 York’s next week and then we are not going to divert any bank holiday Monday week. We are resourcing and planning to secure that we do not fail the 2c on that week. It is important that we do not fail now that we will be entering negotiations about the Ipswich 2c we currently process which there has been a proposal to move 76% of it to Chelmsford in the Ipswich Mail Centre rationalisation project. We would not have a very good argument to keep the work if we keep diverting out to Mount Pleasant every week, so it has to stop and we are relying on everyone to help us make this a success.

We will prioritise working on a robust processing duty structure to bring stability to the operation.

Para: Ongoing.

Processing Duty Structure

I shall be released from week commencing 11th May to work with the Production Control Manager on creating a robust processing duty structure to give us stability going forward for the future. We shall be visiting all shifts to discuss their proposals with the shift manager and shift rep.

We will be arranging a meeting with Steve Wiseman who is the head of Royal Mails management team overseeing the Ipswich Mail Centre Rationalisation to give us a presentation on the effect their proposals may have on our Mail Centre.

Para: Ongoing

CWU Conference 2015

Next week the branch is sending a delegation to CWU Conference. The Branch editor will be posting daily updates on the Branches social network sites.

Dave Westbrook will be Area Processing Rep and Luke Smith will be the Branch Secretary.

Para: Ongoing

EJ Orviss

Area Processing Representative

Area.processing@cwue5.org

Date 24th April 2015

24/04/2015 0

The Women Chainmakers Festival 2015

The Women Chain-makers Festival celebrates the achievements of 800 women Chain-makers who fought to establish a minimum wage for their sectorin 1910. The women were successful in their struggle after holding a 10 week strike.

The strike was led by trade unionist Mary Macarthur who founded the National Federation of Women Workers and later stood for parliament as a Labour candidate.

Organised by the Midlands TUC and supported by Sandwell Council the family friendly street festival will feature market stalls, fun fair rides, speeches, street theatre, music and debates.

This year’s festival will be on Sunday the 17thv ofJuly on Cradley Heath High Street, Cradley Heath, B64 5HJ.

Please find attached a flyer advertising the event.

Any further enquiries regarding this LTB should be addressed to the General Secretary’s Office at gsoffice@cwu.org quoting the reference GS13.5/LTB271/15.

Yours sincerely

W HAYES

General Secretary

23/04/2015 0

The firefighter letter.

22/04/2015 0

CWU ACCOUNTS 2014 – QUESTIONS TO THE ACCOUNTS

CWU ACCOUNTS 2014 – QUESTIONS TO THE ACCOUNTS

LTB 207/15 CWU Accounts 2015 dated 8^th April 2015 stated as follows:

“Branches are now invited to submit questions on this set of accounts. Questions must be addressed to the Senior Deputy General Secretary and received by no later than 14:00 on the 21st April 2015.”

At the closing time and date the following questions had been submitted by both the North/North West London Branch and the South East London Postal and Counters Branch.

Page 28 Note L:

We have noticed the cost of Regional Representation (Regional Officers) has increased from £457,031 (2013) to £565,510 (2014), which is an increase of £108,479. We have noticed that the Divisional Reps costs have reduced year on year by £3217, from £374,552 (2013) to £371,335 (2014).

Question: Why are the Regional Officers costs so different to that of the Divisional Reps costs?

We ask this as there are only 10 Regional Secretaries yet there are 18 Divisional Reps. Could you explain this and also give a breakdown on the Regional Officers costs?

Page 29 Note Q:

Question: Could you please explain and breakdown the Professional & Financial charges for the Superannuation Schemes administration costs which have increased from £229,267 (2013) to £308,686 (2014).

Question 1: Regional Officers/Divisional Reps Costs

The £108k year on year increase for Regional Officers is due to a £62k increase in special leave payments arising out of CWU General Conference policy regarding the funding of Regional Secretaries.

A £35k one off payment agreed by the NEC in 2009 to fit out premises in Northern Ireland, the cost of which was not actually incurred until 2014.

Finally, £20k accounted against London Region expenses as an £8k one off payment for loss of earnings to a former London Regional Secretary and £11k Regional Secretary Election costs.

The £3k decrease in Divisional costs is accounted for as follows:

£11k decrease in Scotland/N Ireland Division.

£4k decrease in the SE Division.

A £7k increase Romec Div Reps structure.

Finally a £7k increase Midland Divisional costs.

Regional costs (excluding the special leave and other payments detailed above) for 2014 are as follows:

Reg. – Eastern	13,694.07
Reg. – London	91,564.12
Reg. – Midland	17,169.71
Reg. – North East	26,978.45
Reg. – Northern Ireland	12,604.28
Reg. – North West	12,919.17
Reg. – South East	7,058.67
Reg. – South West	16,149.48
Reg. – Scotland	11,659.88
Reg. – Wales	9,962.95

Question 2 Professional and Financial Charges Superannuation Schemes

The breakdown for the increase in this cost for the year on year variance is due to a £72k credit against the NCUSSS scheme in 2013. For the 2012 year end an accrual was entered for £72k for an Aon Hewitt invoice that had been received, but not yet posted into the accounts.

On review it was found that this cost was not due to be paid by the CWU but was to be paid by the scheme directly, this left a credit of £72k sitting in 2013 with no invoice to counteract it.

If you take out the £72k credit in 2013 it revises the year on year difference to a £7k increase, which is a more realistic variance. But for accounting purposes the item has to be recorded as shown in the accounts.

Any enquiries regarding this Letter to Branches should be addressed to the Senior Deputy General Secretary Department on telephone number 020 8971 723, or email address sdgs@cwu.org.

Yours sincerely

Tony Kearns

Senior Deputy General Secretary

21/04/2015 0

March Income/ExpenditureBalances correct at close of business 31st March 2015

March Income/Expenditure

Balances correct at close of business 31st March 2015

Branch Rebate	£7,482.91	Affiliations	£50.00
Other Income	£297.44	Postage	£92.60
+ Opening Balance	£45,144.11	Other Expense	£209.95
		Phones/Internet/Ink	£523.89
		Central Billing	£525.42
		Reps Expenses	£1,066.26
		Conference Costs	£3,644.00
		Death Grant Benefit	£3,932.00

Total

£52,924.46

Total

£10,044.12

Balance

£42,880.34

March saw an overspend of Branch finances of £2,263.77. As you can see, the Conference costs are the reason for this. As Conference is an annual event this will continue to be the case each year.

The Other Expenses were as follows; £146.00 monthly transfer to the Benevolent Fund, £47.46 on the Mail Centre condolence book and £16.49 for a copy of the documentary ‘Still The Enemy Within’. Members can request to borrow the DVD for a maximum of 7 days free of charge although any donations will be gratefully received and passed over to charity.

20/04/2015 0

March Rebate Breakdown

Reference	Details	Credit	Debit
Rebate – New	17 New Members	£120.36
Rebate – Current	1,856 Members	£6,857.97
Rebate – Retired	279 Members	£366.99
Death Grant Returns	2 Returns	£1,490.00
Other	See Below	£115.93
CWU HQ Deduction	Honoraria		£1,274.36
CWU HQ Deduction	Postage		£10.36
CWU HQ Deduction	Defence Fund		£73.45
CWU HQ Deduction	Regional Committee		£73.45
CWU HQ Deduction	Womens Committee		£18.36
CWU HQ Deduction	Learning Committee		£18.36

Totals

£8,951.25

£1,468.34

Net Rebate

£7,482.91

Credit of £115.93 for Other payment is a refund of travel for the Area Safety Rep attending a meeting at CWU HQ.

20/04/2015 0

This Is Fucking Vandalism, London’s History And Culture Are Being Destroyed In The Name Of Greed

the void

Around 150 people joined a protest outside The Black Cap public house in Camden yesterday after it closed suddenly and without warning last week. The long running LGBT venue opened in the 1960s, surviving throughout the days when gay people faced prosecution. Now it is falling victim to rampant gentrification that respects neither culture or history and seeks only to make as much money as possible for greedy property developers.

Speaking at the protest drag artist Titti La Camp, a former performer at the pub, said 10 gay venues had closed in central London since the current Tory government weren’t elected. In an all too familiar story, those trying to save The Black Cap believe it is likely to be converted into yet more luxury flats that nobody local can afford.

A few hundred yards away a large part of Camden Market is currently a building site, awaiting being converted…

View original post 795 more words

19/04/2015 0

TTIP Day of Dissent and Flashmob

TTIP Day of Dissent and Flashmob

TTIP (the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) will be the biggest transfer of power from people to corporations in a generation. TTIP is threatening our social, health and environmental protections as it seeks to bring in deregulation, privatisation and a huge increase in investor rights through the controversial, investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism. The ISDS will establish corporate courts for US companies to sue European states for the loss of future profits.

The 18^th of April has been chosen as a global day of action with events taking place against TTIP across the UK, you can look for events near you here.

In London there is ‘Day of Dissent: Democracy Vs TTIP’ a participatory assembly on TTIP, this will be followed by a series of creative actions to highlight the threat TTIP poses to the NHS, food and environmental protection. The event will be taking place on Shepherd’s Bush Common from 12:00. More information on can be found here.

In Manchester there will be a ‘flashmob’ (a flashmob is a public gathering which appears to occur spontaneously with the participants performing a seemingly random act a TTIP example can be seen here) focused on the threat of food contamination from TTIP. A briefing will take place immediately before the action. The briefing will take place at ‘Greenfish’ (46-50 Oldham Street, Manchester, M4 1LE) at 12:00, with the flashmob in the City Centre taking place at 13:00. It will be finished by 13:30. More information can be found here

Any further enquiries regarding this LTB should be addressed to the General Secretary’s Office at gsoffice@cwu.org quoting the reference GS15.2/LTB 253/15.

Yours sincerely

W HAYES

General Secretary