western counties branch recommend a no vote

[bigsharkboy]

my branch has recommended a no vote the following message is being handed out to all our members over the next few days


CWU WESTERN COUNTIES BRANCH URGE YOU TO REJECT THE DEAL

Across the country there was a sense of relief that an agreement had finally been reached. Members should be under no illusion that without the involvement of the Union the original document would have been imposed on us. The National Union has had an aggressive employer to deal with. Let us not forget that initially there was no pay rise on offer. That flexibility was a take it or leave it offer with virtually no union involvement to protect people. In addition the Job Security agreement (MTSF) was to go and we had no input whatsoever into their plans for the industry including the prospect of 40,000 job losses.

The National Union will be sending out literature to you very soon. They will be seeking your support for the agreement they have finally reached. An agreement that we must acknowledge has forced Royal Mail to make to some concessions on the issues that they were hell bent on enforcing in their own employee relations strategy. Your sacrifices and solid support for the Union is the one and only reason for this we have any improvement at all.

Your Local and Area Reps have been talking to many of you to gain your feedback but even at this early stage of a new industrial relations dawn Royal Mail managers are refusing to allow unpaid release in some areas of our Branch in order to prevent us having an intelligent debate with your locally elected representatives. It seems that whilst improvements have been made, that it is only a job half done. There are huge concerns with virtually everything pushed to local level, each office will be facing an avalanche of management proposals to cut hours which could reduce your earnings and create a flexible and mobile workforce with little regard to whether this will actually benefits the business never mind you as individual employees. In short, the agreement, despite some improvements needs far more safeguards built in.

You now have an important decision to make. The CWU is a democratic and open organisation and we will and do listen to your feedback. This is why local Branches can make separate recommendations. Our considered opinion is that in the forthcoming ballot we strongly recommend that you vote NO. Send our National Officers back to negotiate further to ensure that cast iron safeguards are included to protect all workplaces, from the largest to the smallest.

Vote NO until we get the right deal that gives you the respect you deserve and protects the public service you provide. Vote NO before its to late!
1 Vote 1 Chance !


CWU Western Counties Branch Committee






Continued....................
The proposed agreement is set out in various sections and phases. Please read the following carefully. The following sets out our reasons for recommending a NO vote :

SECTION 1 – EMPLOYEE PAY & BENEFITS

There is NO back pay. An amount of £175 will be paid from ESOS (a scheme to capture savings you have already made). There is no new money from Royal Mail.

5.4% from 1st Oct, this DOES NOT include Shift Allowances, SA, Driving Allowances, Sunday work or colleagues in Network. Make no mistake, this is a 5.4% pay rise from April 2007 to April 2009 = 2.7% per year only. The 1.5% from April 08 which is only payable when you agree to ALL the flexibility aspects. No further pay deal until April 2009.

Early shift allowances in Delivery will be given to you on a grandfather rights basis if you were in post on April 2007.

The current and discredited 50:50 productivity scheme remains, this is payable only on savings over and above your units budget over which you have no input or influence over.

£400 colleagues share only when you agree to all RM flexibility plans. This £400 is, according to the deal, a “potentialâ€