MARCH 2009 PEC REPORT

[lovejoy]

Royal Mail Pay Claim Goes In

March 2009 Executive Council Report

2009 Pay Claim

Dave Ward has written to Dale Haddon, Royal Mail HR Director, outlining our pay claim due on 1st April. The letter recognises external factors such as the recession and the fall in mail volumes but points out that Royal Mail have just made a profit, are likely to have the pension deficit removed, have confirmed that they don’t need any extra money to fund new machinery and are likely to make large savings on their modernisation programme. The letter argues that our claim has to be seen in the context of all of this.

The claim itself is therefore asking for significant progress to be made towards the joint commitment to bring the basic wage up to £400 a week, towards achieving the 35-hour week, an improved job security package and improved family friendly policies. We do accept that we are unlikely to achieve all this in one go but we don’t accept that we can’t make any advances this year and certainly won’t accept a wage freeze.

Keep the Post Public Campaign

The campaign has been very successful so far in that we’ve managed to spread the message far and wide that privatising Royal Mail isn’t the answer to the problems it faces. Even the Commons Business and Enterprise Select Committee agrees with us. They don’t accept that the case has been made for privatisation as the price for agreeing to sort out pensions or providing extra funds. In their words, “we are not persuaded that the provisions contained in the Bill allowing such a partnership are necessary or desirable”.

We now need to move the campaign on to make the case for what it is we want, as opposed to what it is we don’t. We also need to involve the public and, just as important, our own members, in the campaign. All the regional steering groups met recently and laid out a list of what they thought we needed. This included developing our alternative model of a modern postal service and producing a public leaflet with our ideas sooner rather than later, holding public meetings using trades councils and other supportive organisations, running opinion polls in marginal seats and turning the Midlands day of action on 1st May into a national event. Another idea being developed is to take a large postcard from Land’s End to John o’ Groats with each region having a week of activity as the card passes through. We should also be looking to copy initiatives such as those in London, where a bus toured all the main stations getting signatures on the petition and in Watford, where members are delivering cards and leaflets door to door.


Relations with Royal Mail

A number of meetings and exchanges of correspondence have taken place with senior managers this month to try and improve the relationship between them and us. It’s not that management don’t want to meet us. They do, as many of them haven’t a clue about what they’re supposed to be doing at the moment and they’re happy to pick our brains. It isn’t even that they don’t want to make national agreements. They’ve said they will negotiate with us if it affects contractual terms and conditions or involves changes to existing agreements. What they’re not prepared to do is negotiate new agreements concerning the major changes they want to bring in. As we believe we have a right to have some control over our own future, that’s clearly unacceptable. Meanwhile, the relentless attack on our members, especially in delivery, which borders on bullying and harassment, goes on without a break.

Dave Ward has written to HR Director Dale Haddon calling on management to step back on their savings plans and we have suggested a moratorium on both executive and industrial action. So far, we’ve had no response. All the National Officers have also had meetings with their RM counterparts to move the outstanding issues along in their areas. It would be fair to say that the meetings achieved little or nothing. We need to convince Royal Mail that we both need an agreement that covers the whole subject of “modernisation” and that they can’t carry on ploughing on without us. We will carry on trying to do this by meeting and talking to them. If, however, they continue to refuse to listen, we may have to resort to other means. That’s not something we should rush into as it would play badly with our political campaign, but it may be something we can’t duck. In the meantime, our existing policy of not taking part in unagreed trials and on savings continues.

Generic Framework Agreements

The 2007 Pay & Modernisation Agreement committed both sides to concluding an agreement on a generic framework for trialling and deploying new technology. This was due to be done by January 2008 but for various reasons this didn’t happen. In February we were presented with a draft by National Officer Martin Collins but the Postal Executive thought this needed strengthening in terms of protecting the duties and earnings of members during any trial and that any guidelines on implementing new technology would be jointly agreed and circulated. Martin brought back a revised document to our last meeting but we were still not convinced that he had achieved this. We have therefore sent him back to talk to management again. We need this agreement, but it has to offer the protections we and our members need.

Walk Sequencing

A further meeting with management took place in March to discuss the walk sequencing trials they want to run in the Sussex (based on Gatwick Mail Centre, Brighton and Worthing) and Bristol (based on Bristol Mail Centre, Taunton and Bath) areas. They confirmed that the intention was to start the trials on June, with revisions being planned in the affected offices from April onwards. The aim of the trial is to see what effect walk sequencing for a whole area has on the service and on duty structures in both DO’s and Mail Centres. The trial in the Sussex area will be based on a 14.00 last letter time for town deliveries and although the Bristol area has the option of a 15.00 last letter time, the aim will be to try and get as many 14.00 finishes as possible. What’s interesting to note here, is that in order to get the 14.00 last letter time, they accept that they won’t be able to sequence all the mail for all the offices. Some offices will only get sequenced mail on the first wave, about 60% of the total. On Saturdays, they confirmed that all wave 2 mail for all offices will remain walk sorted in order to maintain the earlier finish.

Management are looking at four main types of duty options for the trials. Full time duties will involve IPS/Prep/Delivery or prepping 2 walks and delivery. Part time duties will involve delivery only or Prep/Delivery. They’re looking for a 70-30 split, full time to part time, which will cause big problems in some of the trial offices. The staffing of the machines will be as it was during the trials and will be night duties. This involves being on the machine for 2 hours and then spending two hours on other work. Together with a reserve, this means three duties per machine.

We have stressed to management that the trials can’t just be about looking at what they want and we will want to test our own ideas. They’ve stated that they’re very much up for this and are prepared to look at anything. The Postal Executive, at its last meeting, decided to set up a national Walk Sequencing Working Group involving Pec members, Reps from the Bristol and Gatwick areas and an engineering field Rep. This group will meet monthly, both to co-ordinate our approach and to make sure our ideas are fed in to any trial that may take place. The outcome of the trials will set the template in deliveries for the next few years. It’s far too important to leave it to management on their own.

Delivery Blueprint

The Postal Executive cleared a draft proposal on the Delivery Blueprint to be presented to Royal Mail. The details have already been circulated to branches, but in short cover issues such as working safely, duty structures, delivery specification, delivery methods and tools, revision tools and CWU involvement and training. Two main issues came up during our discussion. These were the last letter time and the maximum time on continuous delivery. Amendments were put forward to keep the last letter time to no later than 14.00 and for a maximum continuous delivery span of no longer than 3.5 hours. Both the amendments were defeated. The majority view of the Postal Executive was that these would be unnecessarily restrictive when the aim was to develop different models that would maximise full time jobs in the face of declining indoor work.

If Royal Mail were to accept our proposal then this would be a big step forward for members in delivery. It would allow us to plan the delivery methods and structures that best suited our needs within the framework of nationally agreed procedures and safeguards. It would allow us to plan for the future without having to continually deal with the whims of bullying managers. But that’s a big if as at the moment they don’t seem interested. All they were concerned about at the meeting with Bob Gibson was to re-negotiate the length of the delivery span and lift the cap on door to doors.

Enquiry Offices

We met with Royal Mail recently, after a long gap, to discuss progress on the project they’ve been carrying out on enquiry offices. In reality, they’ve done very little and are already on their fourth different manager in charge in just a year. Nevertheless, their experience last Xmas, where they were forced by public pressure to extend opening hours, has made them reconsider if the enquiry offices are being put to the best possible use.

Our survey showed that with later delivery times, far more items are being returned, up to 900,000 a week and well over 1 million visits to enquiry offices take place every week. This causes problems, as it puts great strain on existing resources, especially when the opening times have been cut back. We are arguing that there needs to be a reversal of this in many offices, with opening times restored to their original length. But it also opens up opportunities for the business to develop and offer more services that could lead to the creation of more jobs. Management have told us that their own surveys have told them that longer opening hours are important and that they are prepared to have a re-look at what’s happened over the past period. They are less keen on the new products idea and keep repeating that everything has to be cost effective. This misses the point that sometimes you may have to spend money in one area to make it in another. But at least we are back in discussions with them again and hopefully we can make some progress in the next few months.

World Class Mail

Royal Mail gave us a presentation on their World Class Mail (WCM) project last month. We also took the opportunity to see what it meant in practice at Gatwick Mail Centre, one of the four places it’s being trialled. It’s difficult to see at the moment if this is something that will be of huge significance to all of us in years to come or just another flash in the plan that will be quietly dropped. Its aim is to completely change the way we work and concentrates on safety, eliminating defects and breakdowns, improving productivity and cutting costs. Royal Mail seems to be the only postal operator doing this, but the procedure is also used in the motor industry at Fiat and Saab. The trial is still in the early stage and management have told us that they think it will take up to three years for even the trial sites to reach any level of measured success. Apparently, you can get bronze, silver and gold awards under this scheme, though quite who makes these awards is unclear.

The trial at Gatwick involves one of the Imps. To start with, this was thoroughly overhauled and deep cleaned to bring it back to nearly new state. Every breakdown or jam is analysed to death and reports are produced on everything. These are displayed on notice boards and within the space of 20 meters there must have been up to 100 pieces of paper. All this takes time and resources and unless staff were just standing around before, presumably overtime is involved. If the aim is to eliminate problems, then it doesn’t seem to be working yet. The machine was fine with downstream access mail, but as soon as someone put a collection in it jammed three times over 10 minutes. WCM is something that we can be sceptical about but we certainly need to keep an eye on it.

Post Office Bank Campaign

I attended the launch of our campaign on the Post Office bank at Westminster in March. Given the failings of the banking system and the loss of confidence people have in it, the idea of setting up a brand new bank based on the Post Office outlets is both sensible and timely. It’s certainly won plenty of support from all political parties and far beyond. There are, however, two problems connected with it. Although the Government have stated that they support the idea, it’s clear that they mean something completely different from the rest of us. At the moment, the financial services provided by POL are done through a lash-up with the Bank of Ireland. They see the idea as an extension of this rather than setting up something completely new.

The other problem is that the campaign for a “People’s Bank” based on POL is that it could be seen as a separate, even alternative, campaign to the Royal Mail campaign. This could lead to confusion in some areas, which, no doubt, the Government would seek to exploit. We need to make it clear that the two campaigns are one and the same.

POL Crown Office Duty Reviews

Andy Fury reported to the Postal Executive that he had reached agreement with POL on the next stage of the duty reviews for Crown Offices. It’s nice to know we can still get agreements somewhere in the RM Group! This agreement follows on from last year’s agreement where duty changes were put in on a temporary basis. The review will have full CWU involvement and be overseen by 5 of the Territory Chairs and 5 managers working together. All proposed changes will be sense checked and signed off by the relevant Counters Section Secretary and any disputes will go to Geoff Poole, TCR and the POL head of Crown Office efficiency. Points of principle will be escalated up to Andy Fury and the POL head of industrial relations.

Ill Health Retirement

Discussions have been going on for some time with Royal Mail about bringing the Ill Health Retirement (IHR) procedure into line with age discrimination legislation. At the moment, anyone retired over the age of 60 only gets their notice period plus any leave due, whereas those under 60 receive a compensation payment dependant on their length of service. The business originally indicated that they wanted to scrap the service criteria for under 60’s and pay everyone a flat lump sum of 26 weeks and gave us notice that they were intending to bring this in by executive action in November. They eventually postponed this to allow further talks to continue and these have now resulted in a draft agreement.

We have been unable to move RM from their position of scrapping the length of service element. What they have agreed to, however, is to increase the lump sum payment to 34 weeks for everyone with at least 1 year’s service plus a minimum of 9 weeks notice plus any unused leave period. This means that some could get up to 52 weeks payment. They have also simplified the appeals procedure by allowing for only one specialist instead of the present two to hear the case and appellants will be allowed to defer the payment of the lump sum until the appeal has been heard. This gets over the problem of people who spend the money, then win their appeal and have to pay it back. The Postal Executive agreed to endorse the draft agreement, as we believe this is as far as we are likely to get on this one.

Pete Keenlyside
Postal Executive
2 April 2009

[dvbuk55]

In the Delivery Blueprint, do I read it wrong or are we going for a later than 1400 last letter and a longer than 3.5 hrs delivery span or are the defeated amendments asking for that?

[BELIAL]

Royal Mail Pay Claim Goes In

March 2009 Executive Council Report

2009 Pay Claim

Amendments were put forward to keep the last letter time to no later than 14.00 and for a maximum continuous delivery span of no longer than 3.5 hours. Both the amendments were defeated. The majority view of the Postal Executive was that these would be unnecessarily restrictive when the aim was to develop different models that would maximise full time jobs in the face of declining indoor work.


Pete Keenlyside
Postal Executive
2 April 2009

Oh oh !
Oh I get it ,it's one of those trade associations like TNT got in germany,yes sir, no sir, 6hr walks sir

[joe379]

All who sort out delivery lenghs dont actually do a delivery. so don't really care. To be honest, the union is useless, after being a member for 18 years i resigned. Why should i pay for union fat cats pension when i'm losing mine. We constantly get sold down the river, the last pay deal being a prime example. There will be no change in the direction of the union until you hit them where it hurts, the pocket. That we should be prepared for a walk in excess of 3.5 hours shows how out of step they really are. They wont have to do it, so they don't care.

[wranglered]

All who sort out delivery lenghs dont actually do a delivery. so don't really care. To be honest, the union is useless, after being a member for 18 years i resigned. Why should i pay for union fat cats pension when i'm losing mine. We constantly get sold down the river, the last pay deal being a prime example. There will be no change in the direction of the union until you hit them where it hurts, the pocket. That we should be prepared for a walk in excess of 3.5 hours shows how out of step they really are. They wont have to do it, so they don't care.

Well said Joe...another month goes by, another PEC report of nothingness...and a proposal on pay to RM the day before it was due...and of course the abandonment of the 3.5 hour delivery span and the opening of the door for last letters at teatime or beyond...but our subs go up and the gravy train rumbles on because, as yet, us mugs have not started to pull our subs en-masse...

[johnnyp]

All who sort out delivery lenghs dont actually do a delivery. so don't really care. To be honest, the union is useless, after being a member for 18 years i resigned. Why should i pay for union fat cats pension when i'm losing mine. We constantly get sold down the river, the last pay deal being a prime example. There will be no change in the direction of the union until you hit them where it hurts, the pocket. That we should be prepared for a walk in excess of 3.5 hours shows how out of step they really are. They wont have to do it, so they don't care.

Well said Joe...another month goes by, another PEC report of nothingness...and a proposal on pay to RM the day before it was due...and of course the abandonment of the 3.5 hour delivery span and the opening of the door for last letters at teatime or beyond...but our subs go up and the gravy train rumbles on because, as yet, us mugs have not started to pull our subs en-masse...

Just what Royal Mail want a divided workforce without a union influence.The last thing we need to be doing is slaging off the CWU because make no mistake without them this would not be a good place to work,and before you say its not then WHY are you still here.We need to get real here lads,mail volumes are down,automation is knocking at the door,a massive chunk of our indoor work will go,so how do we make up for those lost hours to keep a full time job a shorter working week would be nice,but as weve only reduced it by 90 mins in the 23 years ive done i really can not see a massive reduction coming to soon A longer delivery span(and yes i am a delivery postie)will be introduced to protect full time jobs weather we like it or not,the CWU wont have much choice im afraid and its not something we can really moan about is it.

[dvbuk55]

All who sort out delivery lenghs dont actually do a delivery. so don't really care. To be honest, the union is useless, after being a member for 18 years i resigned. Why should i pay for union fat cats pension when i'm losing mine. We constantly get sold down the river, the last pay deal being a prime example. There will be no change in the direction of the union until you hit them where it hurts, the pocket. That we should be prepared for a walk in excess of 3.5 hours shows how out of step they really are. They wont have to do it, so they don't care.

Well said Joe...another month goes by, another PEC report of nothingness...and a proposal on pay to RM the day before it was due...and of course the abandonment of the 3.5 hour delivery span and the opening of the door for last letters at teatime or beyond...but our subs go up and the gravy train rumbles on because, as yet, us mugs have not started to pull our subs en-masse...

Just what Royal Mail want a divided workforce without a union influence.The last thing we need to be doing is slaging off the CWU because make no mistake without them this would not be a good place to work,and before you say its not then WHY are you still here.We need to get real here lads,mail volumes are down,automation is knocking at the door,a massive chunk of our indoor work will go,so how do we make up for those lost hours to keep a full time job a shorter working week would be nice,but as weve only reduced it by 90 mins in the 23 years ive done i really can not see a massive reduction coming to soon A longer delivery span(and yes i am a delivery postie)will be introduced to protect full time jobs weather we like it or not,the CWU wont have much choice im afraid and its not something we can really moan about is it.

Then why not say that? The extended delivery spans is couched in such terms that it is both ambiguous and dishonest.

Why not say "In order to protect full time work the delivery spans will have to be extended to accommodate the falling volumes and mechanisation" - that's simple enough, HOWEVER lets not make light of the claim for a 35 hour week - still a difficult prospect with contracts ranging from 1 hour through to 40 hours. The extended delivery spans only protects delivery posties, so what do they intend to do to protect indoor jobs? Lets face it these problems haven't just arrived, anyone with an inch of intelligence has seen this coming and we should have been negotiating a shorter working week rather than allowing Royal Mail to dictate the terms of the contracts in each office.

[taxi4leighton]

surely the way forward to safeguard full-time jobs, is to bring in a longer delivery span.say 4 hours 15 mins,but not doing it continous. i.e. setting-up delivery, taking out part delivery coming back for break and going out and completing delivery.this would pad-out duty ,as conveyance would be going-out, coming- back and going-out again. as opposed to just going out once.if you think about it, when we had 2 deliveries a day. first delvery was meant to be 2 hours 30 mins and the second was supposed to be 2 hours. are these proposals so different ?. and if they help to secure full-time employment i feel its something worth exploring.

[Big Daz]

Simple question


Is PK's report official or unofficial?

If unofficial and PK is simply doing this off his own back because he wants to , then shouldnt a official report be produced?

[johnnyp]

Simple question


Is PK's report official or unofficial?

If unofficial and PK is simply doing this off his own back because he wants to , then shouldnt a official report be produced?

It all looks official to me mate

[Martin Walsh]

Big Daz it is unofficai it simply is pete`s own view and his own opinion of what is going on and what has been discussed at the PEC and NEC. Remember Pete is just one of 17 voting members of the PEC and then you have the DGSP , and the 5 other assistant secretaries who do not have a vote on the PEC.

With regards to PEC decsions branch`s can request PEC miniutes and voting decisions.

However I do believe an agreed PEC report should go out. Most Branch`s recieve the PEC reports in any case.

In my view the standing orders of the PEC needs totally reviewing as it is allows officers who are employees of the CWU to control the PEC rather then the other way round.

[dvbuk55]

Big Daz it is unofficai it simply is pete`s own view and his own opinion of what is going on and what has been discussed at the PEC and NEC. Remember Pete is just one of 17 voting members of the PEC and then you have the DGSP , and the 5 other assistant secretaries who do not have a vote on the PEC.

With regards to PEC decsions branch`s can request PEC miniutes and voting decisions.

However I do believe an agreed PEC report should go out. Most Branch`s recieve the PEC reports in any case.

In my view the standing orders of the PEC needs totally reviewing as it is allows officers who are employees of the CWU to control the PEC rather then the other way round.

You are absolutely right, the membership should have control, but if what you say is true and it patently is from the result of the 2007/9 agreement then there truly does need a change of direction.

[BELIAL]

Just what Royal Mail want a divided workforce without a union influence.The last thing we need to be doing is slaging off the CWU because make no mistake without them this would not be a good place to work,and before you say its not then WHY are you still here.We need to get real here lads,mail volumes are down,automation is knocking at the door,a massive chunk of our indoor work will go,so how do we make up for those lost hours to keep a full time job a shorter working week would be nice,but as weve only reduced it by 90 mins in the 23 years ive done i really can not see a massive reduction coming to soon A longer delivery span(and yes i am a delivery postie)will be introduced to protect full time jobs weather we like it or not,the CWU wont have much choice im afraid and its not something we can really moan about is it.

Are you taking the piss?

[wranglered]

All who sort out delivery lenghs dont actually do a delivery. so don't really care. To be honest, the union is useless, after being a member for 18 years i resigned. Why should i pay for union fat cats pension when i'm losing mine. We constantly get sold down the river, the last pay deal being a prime example. There will be no change in the direction of the union until you hit them where it hurts, the pocket. That we should be prepared for a walk in excess of 3.5 hours shows how out of step they really are. They wont have to do it, so they don't care.

Well said Joe...another month goes by, another PEC report of nothingness...and a proposal on pay to RM the day before it was due...and of course the abandonment of the 3.5 hour delivery span and the opening of the door for last letters at teatime or beyond...but our subs go up and the gravy train rumbles on because, as yet, us mugs have not started to pull our subs en-masse...

Just what Royal Mail want a divided workforce without a union influence.The last thing we need to be doing is slaging off the CWU because make no mistake without them this would not be a good place to work,and before you say its not then WHY are you still here

I am not still here...I was sacked for fighting the CWU corner and await my NAP in three weeks....

It is not a good place to work and it is getting worse....the only way to change it is to tackle the issues, not shy away from them, which is something I believe the CWU hierachy are guilty of...at all levels....

In my opinion if we continue down this road it will be as if the CWU does not exist in the workforce...so what is the point of subscribing to keep the chosen few in nice cushy little numbers?

This inability to face up to the car crash that is coming is very disappointing....tell me, do you really think the last few years have been a great success for the CWU? I don't.

Interesting to learn PK's report is unofficial...we really would be getting excited if we knew what was going on behind those closed doors in Wimbledon....

[johnnyp]

Just what Royal Mail want a divided workforce without a union influence.The last thing we need to be doing is slaging off the CWU because make no mistake without them this would not be a good place to work,and before you say its not then WHY are you still here.We need to get real here lads,mail volumes are down,automation is knocking at the door,a massive chunk of our indoor work will go,so how do we make up for those lost hours to keep a full time job a shorter working week would be nice,but as weve only reduced it by 90 mins in the 23 years ive done i really can not see a massive reduction coming to soon A longer delivery span(and yes i am a delivery postie)will be introduced to protect full time jobs weather we like it or not,the CWU wont have much choice im afraid and its not something we can really moan about is it.

Are you taking the piss?

No im just telling it how it is.