Christmas Arrangements 2008 including 27th December

[TrueBlueTerrier]

No. 889/08


Ref: 170


Date: 17th November 2008





To: Branches with POSTAL Members







Dear Colleague,



Christmas Arrangements 2008 including 27th December


Following a number of meetings and exchanges of emails a negotiators agreement was reached on the afternoon of Thursday 6th November 2008 which due to other commitments was subsequently placed before the Postal Executive on Wednesday 12th November 2008 seeking their endorsement. As it turned out the document was amended and Royal Mail was informed accordingly seeking their acceptance of the required amendment, and a speedy response to enable the document to be circulated to Branches ASAP. Unfortunately Royal Mail has failed to provide a response within the timescales indicated, which was Friday afternoon, and at the time of writing this LTB they have still failed to contact CWU HQ with a reply. The PEC amended version with the relevant paragraph removed is attached for your information and Branches should use the CWU document to try and complete local negotiations regarding the Christmas Arrangements, bearing in mind everything in it was agreed with Royal Mail. We are also aware that Royal Mail has already circulated the document we agreed with them on the 6th November that had not been cleared with the Postal Executive.

If in the meantime Royal Mail do respond and this is in the positive then Branches will be informed ASAP.

As far the 27th December is concerned a decision was taken by the Postal Executive not to pursue an Industrial Action ballot to achieve a day off. This was due to a number of influencing factors, in the main these being the fact that Royal Mail were not prepared to support a claim to Postcomm for this to be a non service day, there was also concern that we could play into Postcomm�s hands by being prepared to strike over having the Saturday off at a time when the indications were that Postcomm were supporting a Monday � Friday service. There is also the potential Mail Centre dispute, the issues regarding pensions, the new delivery model and of course the findings of the Hooper review.

Taking all of the issues into consideration the view was taken by the PEC, that it would have been an act of irresponsibility for a Trade Union to take industrial action simply to achieve a day off for our members in the present climate, especially when there were so many other things of greater importance to the future of the industry and our members terms and conditions.

It was also very likely that the media would have had a field day. In our view it was necessary to prioritise the issues and we are sure that similarly our Branches would not have placed the 27th December high enough on the list of priorities to warrant industrial action.

Other considerations were the number of our members who would not be working on the Saturday anyway and this would include members� right across the industry. There are also weekend workers who would stand to lose a third of their wages.

Whilst it could be construed that it would a be a popular move amongst many of our members, it is clearly not the right issue to go to war on at this particular time.

The attached document includes a provision, agreed with Royal Mail, to jointly examine possibilities for more people to have time off, particularly on the 27th and this may be worth exploring in local discussions.

In general the feedback we have received via representatives and recent briefings/meetings supports the decision we have taken regarding the 27th December 2008.


Any enquiries to Bob Gibson�s Office, quoting reference 170
Email address: hnutley@cwu.org



Any enquiries to Martin Collins� Office, quoting reference L25.08
Email Address: acorbett@cwu.org

Yours sincerely









Dave Ward Bob Gibson Martin Collins

DGSP Assistant Secretary Assistant Secretary


Ray Ellis Terry Pullinger Andy Furey

Assistant Secretary Assistant Secretary Assistant Secretary