DOWNSTREAM ACCESS – ACCEPTANCE BY VEHICLE/DUAL ACCESS

[TrueBlueTerrier]

No. 425/2013
Ref: 714.08
Date: 21st June 2013


To: All Postal Branches
Area Processing Representatives
Area Distribution Reps
Divisional Representatives

Dear Colleague

DOWNSTREAM ACCESS – ACCEPTANCE BY VEHICLE/DUAL ACCESS

Introduction

Discussions took place during the 2005/06 period which covered the operational arrangements for the acceptance of DSA traffic into the inward Mail Centre network and included areas such as arrival procedures, mail presentation and revenue protection, that were integral parts of the access contracts Royal Mail negotiated with the various license holders at the time.

In addition these discussions culminated in a set of specific guidelines being agreed with the business which covered the acceptance arrangements of DSA traffic within the inward Mail Centre operation which were circulated to Branches via Special Briefings in 2005/6 and which as far as the department is concerned still hold the field to date.

Changes to these arrangements

A meeting was recently held with representatives from the RM Operational Process Design Team, who had requested a meeting with the Union in order to discuss DSA and the general operational arrangements that currently exist. The meeting was prompted following the Operational Design Team being made aware that the commercial arm of RM formally called ‘Royal Mail Wholesale’ had been involved in some initial scoping activity with a view to making changes to the operational mail handling arrangements for DSA postings circulated via 2 license holders, namely TNT and UK Mail.

The changes developed are as follows:

Acceptance by Vehicle (ABV)

The current process for accepting DSA postings in particular those involving more than one vehicle are via a single manifest for the full posting, and the work on each vehicle cannot be

processed until the whole posting has arrived. Equally if a discrepancy or problem is encountered i.e. late vehicle arrivals then the whole mailing is refused by the inward Mail Centre.

ABV is looking to revise this format, so in the case of multi vehicle postings there will now be a manifest for each vehicle and therefore they can be processed as they arrive on an individual basis. It is also claimed that this new approach will be advantageous from a revenue protection perspective.

Dual Access (DA)

The current DSA acceptance systems provides access to Royal Mail during the time windows of 07.30 to 12.00pm however the discipline associated with this timeframe may have in many instances slipped in a number of locations for various reasons.

The aim of Dual Access is to provide a license holder with a mandatory access slot before 10.00am to enable arrival patterns for DSA traffic to flow easily through the system which will be a benefit from both an access and an operational perspective.

According to the information provided to the Union a total of 9 Mail Centres have or have been engaged in elements of the earlier scoping activity undertaken via Royal Mail’s commercial management. Therefore to assist the Union in formulating its approach to this project the department has engaged with the Area Processing representatives at these sites requesting their comments.

To date the responses we have received have confirmed that from an operational perspective DSA traffic is now an integral part of the Mail Centre operation and that AVB and DA have generated the potential for additional jobs and earnings opportunities, and that it has also aided the flow of traffic through the office.

We have now been informed that this activity will be rolled out across the whole operation within the next couple of weeks with the urgency having been created by what would appear to be a lack of communication between the commercial and operational managers.

Against that backdrop we have sought and secured assurances that current duty arrangements will remain in place until any new arrangements have been agreed in line with the IR framework. Equally, and if necessary interim arrangements should be agreed in the same manner.

Attached to this LTB is the deployment schedule sent to the department by the business and this should be used to instigate immediate negotiations locally.

Discussions will also continue at a National level to monitor this change an explore opportunities to improve working arrangements for our members in mail centres.

Any enquiries in relation to this LTB should be addressed to Terry Pullinger, Assistant Secretary, e-mail: dwyatt@cwu.org or lwright@cwu.org quoting reference number: 714.08




Yours sincerely

Terry Pullinger
Assistant Secretary