TO: ALL CWU MEMBERS AFFECTED BY THE LONDON MC CLOSURE PROG

[POSTMAN]

TO: ALL CWU MEMBERS AFFECTED BY THE LONDON MAIL CENTRE CLOSURE PROGRAMME (MOUNT PLEASANT, NINE ELMS, EAST LONDON, RATHBONE PLACE)


Dear Colleague

We are writing in response to this week’s announcements and communications from Royal Mail.

The Union does not accept that Royal Mail’s plan is in accordance with the Business Transformation Agreement, including the overarching objective of avoiding compulsory redundancies. We made this clear to Royal Mail as part of a recent process overseen by the independent Chair and ACAS.

We have written to the company this week offering them an opportunity to jointly develop an alternative plan that will meet all the requirements of the Business Transformation Agreement.

However, we have told Royal Mail that unless they confirm in writing before the end of this week, that they will take no unilateral action in any affected offices and will instead engage in fresh talks on an alternative plan then the Union will commence an industrial action ballot. Furthermore, we will mount an external publicity campaign with politicians, businesses, influential customers and interested groups to highlight both our own concerns and the criticisms of Royal Mail’s plans, recently published in an independent report.

Given the significant number of employees involved and based on a detailed examination of Royal Mail’s People Plan, which is completely different to any other previous rationalisation process, we believe that if Royal Mail press ahead regardless – it will inevitably lead to compulsory redundancies. This is unacceptable.

Your job security remains the Union’s number one priority. By contrast Royal Mail’s decision to tell the media first demonstrates their priority was to bury other bad news on Colleagueshare, rather than treat their employees with the respect you deserve.

By supporting the Union we will achieve a better outcome for everybody and ensure no compulsory redundancies. We will keep you informed of further developments.

Yours sincerely

Dave Ward Phil Browne
Deputy General Secretary (P) Acting Indoor Secretary

[sheff postie]

Great!!! we get balloted for idustrial action because we lose 2 out of 7 MC's in London but the rest of the country loses loads and nothing is done at national level, NE region has lost 6 out of 9 MC's and not a peep from London

[madmartin]

I agree, we all said in our office that there will be a ballot for industrial action because it's london. Does the CWU big wigs know that there are members from other parts of the country? Wasn't the deal that offices sort out their own agreements at local level? In other words if you're outside london you're on your own but we want you all to stick up for london workers.

[Pinhedd]

Bit late in the day I'm at Croydon the planning permission agreed they are just about to start building work to expand and I've heard mount pleasant are making more room ready. So you can't tell me the union has only just heard about these plans. We have been hearing rumours for well over a year. very kind of cwu to wait for royal mail to go public before they make a statement.

[Martin Walsh]

Dont believe the spin , this is not about protecting mail centres in London its about the fact there are no jobs for people in the mail centres where their work is going. Royal Mail`s plans mean that the Mount the only mail centre in the London region which is staying open is reducing their full time staffing by 57% and South London will have 60% of staff without any job offer thats after the take up of jobs which are on offer at croydon and Jubbliee and East London Mail Centre has only 69 jobs at Romford for full time processing staff that means 80 % of their full time staff dont have a job.

For the record there are only 3 mail centres in London and they are closing two of them. Since 1995 they have closed seven mail centres in London. Romford is in the Anglia Region , Greenford in the Thames Valley region and Croydon and Jubbilee in the South East Region.

This is not about keeping mail centres open in London , we know that mail centres up and down the UK will be closing and that is tough for everyone. But the difference is that when you close a mail centre elsewhere you can move with the work or you can protenially take VR. The North East Division got an agreement which protected people including in York.

The difference in the London Mail Centre plan is that there are no job opportunites as Royal Mail are reducing jobs in London by one in every three staff.

[sheff postie]

Same apply's in NE, 3 MC's in south/east yorks and now there is only 1, 3 MC's in teeside now only 1, 3 MC's in north/west yorks now only 1. I think you will be struggleing to get the yes vote if it is a national vote because of what has happened to every other region. is London the last place to go through this? if so RM have probally left it till last to create the feeling national union are only interested in protection London, im sure there are others that feel the same as me.

[madmartin]

I think the problem is that if people were asked to strike they have no confidence in Hayes and Ward. If there were other people that were going to go in and negotiate on our behalf then more people might be prepared to take industrial action if needed because they would feel that they have a chance of getting something out of it, but I'm afraid that people are just disillusioned with the compitence of Hayes and Ward. After all the 2010 agreement turned out to be a shambles so what sort of deal would they accept this time round after days of industrial action and loss of pay? I dont mind going on strike and losing money to protect jobs and working conditions if I feel the people who are negotiating for me have a clue what they are talking about and im sorry to say but after the 2010 deal and being told it was such a great deal I dont feel that Hayes and Ward are two people who I could trust to get the best deal for me. The union need the support of it's members and to get that then it's members need to have confidence in its union and at the moment this isnt the case.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Dont believe the spin , this is not about protecting mail centres in London its about the fact there are no jobs for people in the mail centres where their work is going. Royal Mail`s plans mean that the Mount the only mail centre in the London region which is staying open is reducing their full time staffing by 57% and South London will have 60% of staff without any job offer thats after the take up of jobs which are on offer at croydon and Jubbliee and East London Mail Centre has only 69 jobs at Romford for full time processing staff that means 80 % of their full time staff dont have a job.

For the record there are only 3 mail centres in London and they are closing two of them. Since 1995 they have closed seven mail centres in London. Romford is in the Anglia Region , Greenford in the Thames Valley region and Croydon and Jubbilee in the South East Region.

This is not about keeping mail centres open in London , we know that mail centres up and down the UK will be closing and that is tough for everyone. But the difference is that when you close a mail centre elsewhere you can move with the work or you can protenially take VR. The North East Division got an agreement which protected people including in York.

The difference in the London Mail Centre plan is that there are no job opportunites as Royal Mail are reducing jobs in London by one in every three staff.

Then HQ have to change the focus of briefings at least on a National level. At the moment most are seeing the headline of Mail centres closing and not investigating it any further. The main issue is and should be the fact that COMPULSORY REDUNDANCIES are a distinct possibility if not a bang on certainty and that is a NATIONAL issue.

Your focus on Mail Centre Closures is correct as you are a London based rep and because of the BT2010 agreement (extant or not)it is a local/regional issue but if not handled correctly at HQ then London will get a NO vote from the rest of the UK.

Perhaps to remind everyone that your focus is, quite rightly on London first and National issues second you might consider having a signature that says.

I am a London Rep and that's my main, but not only, focus.

[hubbahubba]

I believe the SW sector is the last to be "culled",is this correct dingo?

[the night caller]

From a briefing I have been to, it is believed that the SW sector will be the last region to implement MC closures. This is because geographically it is a challenge for the planners. I would think that SO and Dorset will remain as two, but SO will incorporate part of the PO postcode mail including the IOW. Dorset will take in some of SP codes from SO MC (going back 20 yrs!). The 2 mail centres will also serve BOH (Bournemouth airport)

[SpacePhoenix]

From a briefing I have been to, it is believed that the SW sector will be the last region to implement MC closures. This is because geographically it is a challenge for the planners. I would think that SO and Dorset will remain as two, but SO will incorporate part of the PO postcode mail including the IOW. Dorset will take in some of SP codes from SO MC (going back 20 yrs!). The 2 mail centres will also serve BOH (Bournemouth airport)

Any ideas on timelines for things like reviews, consultations, etc?

[Tman]

From a briefing I have been to, it is believed that the SW sector will be the last region to implement MC closures. This is because geographically it is a challenge for the planners. I would think that SO and Dorset will remain as two, but SO will incorporate part of the PO postcode mail including the IOW. Dorset will take in some of SP codes from SO MC (going back 20 yrs!). The 2 mail centres will also serve BOH (Bournemouth airport)

On the other hand, RM plan to have MCs roughly 50 miles apart, but BH and SO are only half that. But then if PO is closed it leaves a 70-odd miles distance from SO to Jubilee and even more to Gatwick, which is far too much considering the population and number of DOs in that region.
The long term (haha) plan is for SO to close (it's over-capacity now) and the MC move somewhere eastwards along the M27 to incorporate PO + SO in a larger MC, but short term nothing much will change as the pot's empty.

[drevil1969uk]

In fairness your having a go saying its been triggered by whats happened in london but where was the rest of the country when london was on strike for 13 weeks before? What about those mail centres that took our work in?

We should all stand together at all times, one for all and all that. As soon as there is a problem at a mail office of DO we should all go together, none of this local bullshit.

But its too late now, the deal to shut the maicl centre was agreed nationally and now we are all royally screwed