Mail Centre Supernumerary / Surplus Issues Update – DRP

Branches and representatives will be aware of the extensive and prolonged discussions that have been taking place with Royal Mail senior management in an attempt to resolve the supernumerary / surplus issues in Mail Centres (LTBs 167/23 and 205/23 refer).

As highlighted previously, the CWU believe that the approach adopted by the company in respect of this issue represents a breach of the agreed MTSF processes and indeed the reaffirmed commitments in the Business Recovery Transformation and Growth (BRT&G) agreement to adhere to the MTSF agreement.

Numerous meetings have now taken place with the business in relation to the issues and while there has been some progress in some areas, this in the view of the CWU has not been sufficient to ensure that our affected members are protected, which is and will always be our primary objective.

Regrettably, despite the CWU submitting several proposals in an attempt to resolve the outstanding issues, the talks have reached an impasse and the business are indicating that they will move people via the use of their unagreed and unilaterally imposed redeployment pool process.

To add insult to injury, we have become aware that at a time when the business are continually raising the precarious financial status of the company and the need to resolve the surplus / supernumerary issues, an extortionate amount of money is being spent on agency staff at the Midlands Super Hub to process work. Despite the inability to process existing work at the MSH, we understand the business are still planning to migrate work from catchment area sites, which will clearly exacerbate the supernumerary / surplus issue further. We have made representation that no further work should be transferred until the current issues are resolved.

Given the above issues, the CWU have therefore had no other option but to advise Royal Mail that we are utilising the Dispute Resolution Process and a national disagreement now exists in relation to supernumerary / surplus issues and Section 3.1.3 of national BRT&G agreement.

The CWU are seeking meeting involving the GS, Acting DGSP, COO and Chief People Officer to resolve these issues as a matter of urgency.

Until such time as a resolution is achieved, Branches and Representatives should continue to refer matters to the IR Framework, where they believe that the terms of MTSF, the BRT&G agreement or the Section 2.5 Joint Statement have been breached. Representatives are also advised to register disagreements where replacement of our members on any given day is through the use of overtime, casuals and / or agency workers, managers performing work proper to CWU represented grades or where workplan failures are occurring.

In addition, Representatives should also support members affected by the business’ unagreed actions in submitting individual grievances based upon the above, as well as the following:

• Breach of the MTSF procedure on how surpluses are identified and should be managed;
• Impact upon them either on their private lives and / or medical situation / Equality Act;
• Unreasonable job offers, i.e. moving Shifts or work functions;
• Breach of the Royal Mail communications that stated employees not participating in a resign of the unagreed duty structure would be placed as supernumerary, as there were no stated consequences for this decision;
• Impact of unreasonable job offers in line with MTSF Appendix Considerations – individual cases section.

Members and Representatives are reminded that no employee can be subject to compulsory redundancy or forced to reduce their contract or grade. Additionally, our members under no circumstances should be compelled to apply for external jobs, if they wish to remain in Royal Mail employment. Any redeployment offers must be progressed in line with MTSF processes.

Branches are also advised that requests for Rule 13 ballots in relation to this issue will be progressed by the PE as a matter of urgency where breaches of the BRT&G and MTSF agreements are taking place.

Any enquiries in relation to this LTB should be addressed to Davie Robertson, Assistant Secretary, email: dwyatt@cwu.org quoting reference: 733.02.

Yours sincerely,

Davie Robertson
Assistant Secretary

LTB 227/23 – MC Supernumerary Surplus Update DRP 08.09.23

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OFCOM REVIEW OF THE UNIVERSAL SERVICE OBLIGATION

You will have seen the announcement this morning that the postal regulator, OFCOM have announced they are to undertake a review and subsequent consultation on the USO. The full details of the announcement can be read here https://www.ofcom.org.uk/news-centre/2023/ofcom-to-produce-potential-options-for-the-future-of-the-universal-postal-service

Royal Mail have responded here https://www.internationaldistributionsservices.com/en/press-centre/press-releases/royal-mail/royal-mail-statement-on-ofcom-looking-at-options-for-the-future-of-the-uso/

The OFCOM announcement has been expected for some time and the response from Royal Mail is entirely predictable.

Attached to this LTB is the CWU press release. We encourage Branches to share this with local media outlets and briefings to members.

The Business Recovery, Transformation and Growth Agreement commits both parties to exploring where they maybe opportunities to approach the regulator jointly and examine the potential for expanding the role of postal workers.

The USO has been deliberately run down over a sustained period so that Royal Mail can create the environment for this debate to take place. The dismantling of the USO, destruction of quality of service and the ever-rising price of stamps is part of a strategy to accelerate letter decline. No responsible employer would take this approach.

The CWU is not against change. We have an extensive track record to prove this. We want this review to seek and take on board the views of our members who have witnessed first-hand the running down of the USO. We also want any outcome to be based not on potential shareholder profit but on the protection of the service, jobs, and the future of the company.

In the coming days and weeks, we will be launching an extensive engagement programme on the future of the USO with our own members. This will include live sessions, podcasts, workplace activity and reps’ briefings. We will also be meeting with and briefing politicians at all levels.

This debate is too important to leave to Royal Mail and OFCOM.

Yours sincerely

Dave Ward                                        Andy Furey
General Secretary                         A/Deputy General Secretary (Postal)

23LTB225 OFCOM REVIEW OF THE UNIVERSAL SERVICE OBLIGATION

CWU Ofcom press release

ROYAL MAIL: WORKING ARRANGEMENTS FOR OFFICE-BASED STAFF

On Friday 1^st September Royal Mail unilaterally published a ‘Team update’ to all office-based employees entitled “Working well together – new working arrangements for office-based staff”. A copy is attached to this LTB for your information.  This was signed by a number of very senior people in the company amongst whom were Martin Seidenberg the new CEO, Grant McPherson, Chief Operations Officer and Angela Noon, Chief Financial Officer.

The statement relates to transitioning to a new way of working within the admin functions of Royal Mail from September 2023.  This is based on an assumption of moving everyone to a hybrid model to include working in their contracted unit or site for three days per week.  This applies to those members working in all Central and Commercial functions and Customer Experience.

Similar briefings have also been distributed in each business unit and give the impression the CWU has been involved in this decision.  I have to be clear there has been no meaningful consultation with the Union regarding this matter.  This is extremely disappointing, especially given the joint commitment to rebuild relationships in the national Business Recovery, Transformation and Growth Agreement where the IR Framework is enshrined.  There are also recent joint statements relating to home working which this diktat overrides.

Home working was put into place through agreement to ensure the provision of services through the Covid pandemic.  For many companies, the working world has changed post Covid and we also know many of our members who work from home have had changes in their domestic arrangements which must be given consideration in any proposed changes.

It is evident the management briefing has caused much concern and anguish amongst members at all sites, especially as many have varying childcare, caring, domestic and travel arrangements which will need to be revised.  There should be an agreed joint process where these concerns can be highlighted with mutually acceptable solutions being jointly formulated.

I will be writing to management to express my concerns about the lack of consultation, the manner in which this has been communicated and to request an urgent meeting to discuss the whole matter.

A document will also be placed before the Postal Executive later this week to highlight these developments and enable consideration to be given to the next steps.

Further developments will be reported in due course.

Any queries in relation to this LTB should be directed to Lea Sheridan on 020 8971 7361 or lsheridan@cwu.org.

Yours sincerely

Andy Hopping
A/Assistant Secretary

23LTB224 Royal Mail – Working Arrangements for Office-Based Staff

Attachment 1 to 23LTB224

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Dear Colleagues,

OFCOM REVIEW OF THE UNIVERSAL SERVICE OBLIGATION

You will have seen the announcement this morning that the postal regulator, OFCOM have announced they are to undertake a review and subsequent consultation on the USO. The full details of the announcement can be read here https://www.ofcom.org.uk/news-centre/2023/ofcom-to-produce-potential-options-for-the-future-of-the-universal-postal-service

Royal Mail have responded here https://www.internationaldistributionsservices.com/en/press-centre/press-releases/royal-mail/royal-mail-statement-on-ofcom-looking-at-options-for-the-future-of-the-uso/

The OFCOM announcement has been expected for some time and the response from Royal Mail is entirely predictable.

Attached to this LTB is the CWU press release. We encourage Branches to share this with local media outlets and briefings to members.

The Business Recovery, Transformation and Growth Agreement commits both parties to exploring where they maybe opportunities to approach the regulator jointly and examine the potential for expanding the role of postal workers.

The USO has been deliberately run down over a sustained period so that Royal Mail can create the environment for this debate to take place. The dismantling of the USO, destruction of quality of service and the ever-rising price of stamps is part of a strategy to accelerate letter decline. No responsible employer would take this approach.

The CWU is not against change. We have an extensive track record to prove this. We want this review to seek and take on board the views of our members who have witnessed first-hand the running down of the USO. We also want any outcome to be based not on potential shareholder profit but on the protection of the service, jobs, and the future of the company.

In the coming days and weeks, we will be launching an extensive engagement programme on the future of the USO with our own members. This will include live sessions, podcasts, workplace activity and reps’ briefings. We will also be meeting with and briefing politicians at all levels.

This debate is too important to leave to Royal Mail and OFCOM.

Yours sincerely

Dave Ward

Business Recovery, Transformation & Growth (BRT&G) Agreement – Paragraph 6.4 – Attendance Update

Further to LTB215/23, which published the Joint Statement on Attendance we can inform Branches, the first meeting of the Attendance Joint Working Group (JWG) will be held on Tuesday 5^th September.

As part of the joint statement, it was agreed we would renegotiate the Attendance Agreement to incorporate the recent changes.  The first meeting on this will be held on Wednesday 6^th September.

Royal Mail have told us they will not be sending out letters to members affected by the agreed change to the migration process, however, we have been informed the People Case Manager (PCM) system has been updated for those members affected by the agreed changes.

For clarity, the agreed migration arrangements are:

AR1s 

• For employees issued with an AR1 between 31 January 2023 and 30 April 2023, who haven’t had a period of sick absence prior to 1 August, they will be removed from the process. For those employees who have had one period of sick absence during this time, the review period will remain 6 months with the new standards (3 absences or 12 days) applying. This will be subject to a review of absences covered by the Equality Act.
• For employees issued with an AR1 from 1 May 2023 – this will remain in place with the new standards and extended timescales applying.

AR2s 

• For employees issued with an AR2 between 31 January 2023 and 30 April 2023, they will revert back to an AR1 from the date of the original issue with the new standards and extended timescales applying.
• For employees issued with an AR2 from 1 May 2023 – this will remain in place with the new standards and extended timescales applying.

Any enquiries should be sent to the PTCS Department via email to Samantha Nicholas at snicholas@cwu.org

Yours sincerely

Carl Maden
Assistant Secretary     

Attachment1: 23LTB223 – Business Recovery, Transformation & Growth (BRT&G) Agreement – Paragraph 6.4 – Attendance Update

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Joint Communication Covering The National Rollout Of Seasonal Variation – 4^th September 2023: RMG/CWU Business Recovery, Transformation And Growth Agreement – Appendix 1

Branches, Representatives, and members will recall that a number of LTBs (Letter To Branches) have recently been issued in terms of moving forward the commitments contained in the Business Transformation, Recovery and Growth Agreement in relation to Appendix 1, Seasonal Variation, the most recent being LTB 213/23 issued on 21^st August.

However, you will also be aware that over the course of last week, there had been widespread speculation that the planned changes under Seasonal Variation as outlined in these LTBs would be delayed until October and limited to 9 weeks.

To be clear, this speculation was started by Royal Mail who did initiate an approach to the CWU on possible options to delay the development of Seasonal Variation due to some concerns in regard to forecasted traffic levels over the next few weeks. However, following further talks, Royal Mail has moved away from this consideration as it has now been highlighted that any changes in the commencement date of Seasonal Variation at such short notice will generate a number of systems issues that in turn could impact on the accuracy of employee’s basic pay.

However, during this period of discussions both parties have agreed to the attached Joint Communication which reaffirms a number of key aspects of Seasonal Variation.

Clearly, this period of ongoing conjecture has not been a helpful development nor has the delay in issuing this Joint Communication. However, it is now hoped that this further clarification will end any remaining confusion in this regard, alongside reaffirming the wider aims and aspects of Seasonal Variation.

Any issues arising from the local application of Seasonal Variation should be raised via the IR Framework and any questions on the interpretation or application of the arrangements should be fast-tracked to the relevant ROD/CWU Divisional Reps as necessary.

Any queries to the content of the above please contact the Outdoor Department reference 532, email address: njones@cwu.org

Yours sincerely,

Mark Baulch
CWU Assistant Secretary

LTB 222.23 – RM CWU Joint Communication on the National Rollout of Seasonal Variation

RM CWU Joint Communication Covering Seasonal Variation National Rollout (Final 010923)

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BUSINESS RECOVERY, TRANSFORMATION & GROWTH AGREEMENT – SECTION 5

JOINT STATEMENT BETWEEN ROYAL MAIL GROUP AND THE CWU COVERING THE DEPLOYMENT OF PARCELFORCE RURAL PARCEL VOLUMES INTO ROYAL MAIL

Branches and representatives will be aware of the commitments contained in the Business Transformation, Recovery and Growth agreement: Section 5 – Establishing an Optimised Single Parcel Network for Larger Parcels and Section 1.6 of the Parcelforce Appendix 3, moving volume in geographical areas on to a single network (rural areas).

In this regard agreed trial activity has taken place involving the movement of rural parcel traffic from PFW Leeds LD to Skipton DO for delivery to support assessment for a potential future Optimised Single Parcel Network.  Further to a successful outcome of the abovementioned trial, Royal Mail now wish to assess the potential for a further 41 Delivery Offices to deliver PFW items, with the aim to move these volumes before the 2023 peak period.

Discussions have therefore taken place with the business and a Joint Statement has been concluded and endorsed by the Postal Executive to enable the activity to take place, a copy of which is attached for your information.

To make deployment more manageable and to enable any operational or people issues to be addressed during the planning period, the activity is being planned in 5 Waves.  The attached Joint Statement provides detail of the 41 RM Delivery Offices and related PFW local depots involved.

There will be a ‘means test’ performed at the Delivery Offices involved in the activity to ensure that they have the capability to undertake the PFW work to the required standards.  Details of the elements covered are contained in the attached Joint Statement.  Colleagues will note that it has been accepted that it is likely that the ‘means test’ will identify that not all of the 41 Delivery Offices will be suitable to perform the PFW work.  Where this is the case then further National discussions will take place to review or agree alternative Delivery Offices within the catchment area.

CWU representatives will be fully involved in the activity with appropriate Union release time provided to ensure meaningful involvement.  The activity will be further supported by the CWU Area Delivery Representative and Area H&S Representative and Parcelforce Regional Organiser.

Each Delivery Office and local Depot can be deployed independently.  No deployment will commence earlier than w/c 4^th September 2023 and all 5 waves will be targeted to be completed by the end of October 2023.

Any impact on PFW and RM employees will be kept to a minimum wherever possible and will be managed in line with National agreements.  PFW Drivers displaced as a result of the transfer of work to Royal Mail will migrate to vacant alternative substantive C&D routes, or routes covered by Owner Drivers or external resource.  All headcount reduction will be achieved in line with paragraph 3.1.9 of the Job Security section of the Business Recovery, Transformation and Growth Agreement.  Full cognisance will be taken of current earning levels that the affected individuals have signed for, as part of recent Parcelforce revision activity.  Best efforts will be made to match individuals against an alternative C&D duty of equivalent duty hours.

Adjustments will be made to affected Royal Mail Delivery duties to ensure that the PFW workload can be accommodated within current structures, while retaining manageable workload.

The RM Delivery Offices and PFW Local Depots will need to ensure that the solution developed is focussed on delivering QofS for PFW parcels.  RM DO’s will receive the relevant WIPWH (Weighted Items Per Work Hour) workload values relating to delivery and collection of PFW volumes.

PFW Depot, Regional Distribution and Mail Centre will coordinate, support and distribute parcels to the Delivery Office efficiently including the handling, loading, unloading of Yorks and non-Yorkable items.

The usual provisions have been made in respect of H&S responsibilities.

A PIR will take place following the deployment of all 5 Waves.  However, if any major issues are flagged up during or after the deployment, all parties are committed to resolving them in a timely manner, rather than waiting for the PIR to take any corrective action required.

The outputs and learning points from the PIR will inform National discussions on the next phase of deployments into another 54 Delivery Offices, which have been identified for the transfer of rural workload.  Planning work will progress in parallel with the first phase of transfers so that agreed deployment can commence in January 2024 for completion by the end of March 2024.  Joint activity will also review opportunities to migrate Royal Mail large parcel workload into Parcelforce, where this delivers economic and operational benefits.

Arrangements are currently being finalised for a virtual joint launch meeting to take place with the representatives at the sites involved in the activity and an invite to participate will be sent to those individuals in due course.

Any enquiries in relation to this LTB should be addressed to:

PFW & MCs and Distribution: Davie Robertson, Assistant Secretary, email: dwyatt@cwu.org quoting reference: 054.13.

Delivery Offices: Mark Baulch, Assistant Secretary, email: njones@cwu.org quoting reference: 580.

Yours sincerely,

Davie Robertson                                                                   Mick Kavanagh
Assistant Secretary                                                                 Acting Assistant Secretary

219-23 BRTG Section 5 – Deployment PFW Rural Parcel Volumes into RM 23.08.23

JS Deployment of PFW Rural Parcel Volumes into RM 23.08.23

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ROYAL MAIL GROUP – UNION RELEASE AUDIT

On 24^th August we received a letter from Graham Long, Head of Industrial Relations, providing notice of an internal audit to determine the cost of both paid and unpaid union release time.  Our view is clear; we believe this audit is both unnecessary and inappropriate at this stage particularly as we are in the midst of deploying the Business Recovery, Transformation & Growth Agreement (BRT&G).

The audit is due to be held in September and October and the correspondence was clear in stating there should be no difference in the level of release being granted during the audit period and managers have been briefed accordingly. The timing of this audit is either at worst a continuation of union busting or at best misguided, given we are meant to be rebuilding relationships in line with Section 2.4 of the BRT&G agreement.  It is a total distraction from the real issues of Quality of Service and USO failures.

We have now received copies of four documents management have circulated in the field relating to union leave for industrial relations reps, roles responsibilities and release time, completing the union leave application form and a user guide for the electronic application process.  RMG did not have the courtesy to enclose a copy of any of these management guidelines.

A meeting was held yesterday with Grant MacPherson the Chief Operations Officer, and Ricky MacAulay, Operations Development Director, on a range of important issues.  We did however take the opportunity during the course of the meeting to make it clear apart from the fact the Industrial Relations Framework is totally enshrined within the BRT&G Agreement, the manner in which we had received notification of the internal audit was unacceptable.

We have also expressed in the strongest possible terms that if an audit was required it should be subject to a joint approach and involve joint activity.

Following yesterday’s meeting we will be writing to the company to formally record our concerns and will provide further updates as soon as possible.

In closing should any representatives experience any differences whatsoever in the granting of paid/unpaid leave, the IR framework should be used for registering disagreements, and any points of principles raised directly with us.

Yours sincerely,

Andy Furey                                                                  Dave Ward
A/Deputy General Secretary (Postal)                 General Secretary 

23LTB221 Union Release Audit

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We talk through the progress made this week on the Attendance Procedure negotiations with Andy Furey and Carl Maden.

Please share the contents of this podcast with all members.

https://spotify.link/QZMoqsLywCb

ORGANISING AND RECRUITMENT – BUILDING THE UNION

Attached to this LTB is a letter we would ask you to use to engage every new entrant. It is crucial that we ensure every new employee joins the CWU.

The letter should be handed to new entrants, but CWU representatives should also use the arguments within it to encourage employees to join the union face to face as well.

We fully understand the pressure local branches are under at this point in time, but we need this work to be a priority in order to maintain our traditional workplace strength.

Alongside the above activity, Branches will be provided with as much information as possible from the postal department to:

• Assist you in producing Branch plans to recruit new entrants.
• Provide recruitment materials and joining forms (if needed).
• Ensure that recruitment is an agenda item at every branch, regional and divisional meeting.
• Map all workplaces.

Nationally we will be supporting this with a full communications plan. We will also be developing messaging to target long term employees who are not at this juncture members of the CWU. We will also be working on materials for business units and grades across Royal Mail Group.

All this work is an immediate intervention aimed at recruiting new entrants and building membership density across Royal Mail Group.

Additionally, the NEC and our Industrial Executives are urgently reviewing our overall recruitment strategy considering the impact of the pandemic, GROW campaign and industry defining disputes. Branches will have the opportunity to input into this review.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Yours sincerely

Dave Ward                                          Andy Furey
General Secretary                           A/Deputy General Secretary (Postal)

23LTB220 ORGANISING AND RECRUITMENT BUILDING THE UNION

07023 – New entrants letter

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