Network Dispute

[falkor]

Any news coming out about Thursdays meeting?

[Martin Walsh]

Talks on Thursday went well. The CWU will now put a draft proposition to Royal Mail and that is when we will see whether Royal Mail have regrouped and are willing to accept what the CWU are asking.

if they are not then I can see a ballot of professional drivers coming.

[heathrow86]

Dingo, you say the meeting went well, then i would think the RM would accept the proposal. They must be willing to listen.

[Martin Walsh]

Dingo, you say the meeting went well, then i would think the RM would accept the proposal. They must be willing to listen.

Sadly the way Royal Mail are now is that there negotiators often report back to the centre and the centre will then decide the next move. Remember rarely does people like Higson or other key policy makers get involved in Negotations.

Plus you have to remember that Tony Fox the current Network director will no longer be in charge within the next month.

The view from the National Officer was whilst the meeting intially was a stormy one they did in the end seem to have made progress but the devil is always in the detail and getting an agreed set of words is always tricky.

[POSTMAN]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8gPEUxX ... ploademail" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[heathrow86]

Thanks for that Postman. I think that link should be put up on notice boards. Let hope they get a resolution.

[dvbuk55]

Dingo, you say the meeting went well, then i would think the RM would accept the proposal. They must be willing to listen.

Sadly the way Royal Mail are now is that there negotiators often report back to the centre and the centre will then decide the next move. Remember rarely does people like Higson or other key policy makers get involved in Negotations.

Plus you have to remember that Tony Fox the current Network director will no longer be in charge within the next month.

The view from the National Officer was whilst the meeting intially was a stormy one they did in the end seem to have made progress but the devil is always in the detail and getting an agreed set of words is always tricky.

That sounds familiar - maybe they should get ACAS and Brendan Barber to give them a hand - look how transparent BT2010 became and what a howling success that has been As for RM not sticking to the letter of the agreement - how unusual is that?

[POSTMAN]

No. 476/2012

FOR THE URGENT ATTENTION OF:

All Postal Branches with Network Members
All Divisional Representatives
All Regional Organisers
All Area Distribution Representatives
All RDC Representatives
All LGV Representatives


Dear Colleague

Network Dispute

Further to LTBs 346, 380, and 453/12 this LTB and its attached Joint Statement of Intent provides Branches, CWU representatives and members with an update on the current position.

Clearly at this stage we have not resolved our issues and the CWU policy as detailed in the previous mentioned LTBs still holds.

The attached Joint Statement of Intent however, is tangible evidence of both parties desire to restore confidence and trust in the relationship. Equally there can be no dubiety now over the issues that need to be resolved to enable us to move forward.

Further meetings have been arranged and you will of course be kept updated as and when it is reasonable to do so.

As with the previous LTBs regarding this matter we would like to stress that it is imperative that we ensure that all members are fully briefed verbally on this current update, so they are aware of these developments.

Any enquiries in relation to this LTB should be addressed to Terry Pullinger, Assistant Secretary, e-mail: dwyatt@cwu.org quoting reference number: 233.08

Yours sincerely




Terry Pullinger
Assistant Secretary

[POSTMAN]

ROYAL MAIL LOGISTICS AND CWU;
JOINT STATEMENT OF INTENT




Royal Mail Logistics and the CWU recognise that decisive steps are required to restore mutual confidence and trust, in line with the spirit and intent of the Business Transformation Agreement, shared vision and improving relationships.

Against that backdrop both parties have committed to hold urgent and intensive negotiations/discussions to produce a series of agreed positions and/or agreed ways forward on the following issues:

1. RDC consultations.

2. Network 12 revision.

3. Deployment of longer trailers

4. Driver RTC procedure.

5. Area Distribution issues.

6. Enhancing, job security, employment and career path opportunities for CWU grades and so minimising use of external resource.

7. Developing new Products and Services for RDCs and Professional Drivers consistent with the ambition detailed in existing agreements.

8. Business Transformation 2012 triggers.

9. Impact of new Logistics structure on industrial relations.


Both parties are committed to concluding intensive negotiations/discussions to develop positions and agreements on all of the above issues as soon as possible and by no later than the 6th July 2012, in an effort to restore confidence in the relationship between RM Logistics and the CWU, reaffirm the commitments in the Business Transformation Agreement across the range of Logistics and Network issues, and so enable the necessary momentum to the commitments made.

Signed




Tony Fox Terry Pullinger
Logistics Director Assistant Secretary
Royal Mail CWU




Peter Walls
Director Employee & Industrial Relations
Operations & Modernisation


Date: 20th June 2012

[The wanderer]

Well it sounds good but the the proof of the pudding will be the end result.

[heathrow86]

Does that mean Network 12 will be in before the Olympics as proposed? or will it be a rush again to get it in?

[forestbodd]

There is a big problem at the moment with Network as managers are bringing in private contractors to do runs without any notice or talking to the CWU ie Eddie Stobart and such like doing runs where you are bringing an empty trailer back.
A lot of drivers feel RM do not want a Network fleet of HGVs you only have to look at the age of some of the units and the mileage on them, 800,000 miles is not uncommon.

you are so spot on this has been there plan for the last three years our last strike showed royal mail they dont need use eddie stobart and all thee other outside forces licking there lips and us lot standing outside the gates walking back to worse than we had before.it was 3 hour empty legs they werelooking at and now its gone to two and a half hours.when we have 35 mail centres and contract drivers doing our runs there will be halve of us left.lets get in there and let the guys that want to go have some good money to walk out the door wit before the chuckle brothers in london see us all short

[Martin Walsh]

For the record Forestbodd had the Network sites not taken the action they did in 2009 then it is likely that Network runs would have already been outsourced.

The fact is that the agreement on RTD pay was a good deal which increased professional drivers money which now stands £473.26 national rate and £543.68 for outer London and £ 569.74 inner London. Whilst it was a good deal Royal Mail then had devloped a strategy which would outsource what they could.

Only by the action that those VOCs who took up to 18 days strike action in 2009 enabled the CWU to stop outsourcing the work and allowed for this new joint statement.

The issue of course is that paragon and the various network changes allow for less runs to be made and clearly dead legs are problematic but the CWU believe there are opportunites to mantain services and even find new work to run back which may not even come from Royal Mail.

Now whilst some may want to go on VR the fact remains there are professional drivers who want to stay in the job and therefore the union should and is fighting for jobs first and not for an exit package for people to leave.

[heathrow86]

Dingo you say the CWU is looking for extra non Royal Mail work, to fill the empty legs. The question is do the RM want to find the work? Especially since we are getting bigger double deck trailers, and also there appears there is no investment in new tractor units. It was also in their minds way back in 2009 to outsource the work, so what will change their mind now in 2012.

[dvbuk55]

Dingo you say the CWU is looking for extra non Royal Mail work, to fill the empty legs. The question is do the RM want to find the work? Especially since we are getting bigger double deck trailers, and also there appears there is no investment in new tractor units. It was also in their minds way back in 2009 to outsource the work, so what will change their mind now in 2012.

Skilful negotiation of course