LTB 1095/11 - MGV Professional Driver Grade in Delivery - (Delivery Basic Pay Supplement)
No: 1095/11
Ref: 24209
Date: 23rd December 2011
TO: ALL BRANCHES WITH POSTAL MEMBERS
Dear Colleague
MGV Professional Driver Grade in Delivery - (Delivery Basic Pay Supplement)
The purpose of this LTB is to update Branches on the current situation with MGV Professional Driver Grade employees who work in delivery offices and are not in receipt of the delivery basic pay supplement.
Although, this matter remains unresolved, the Union continues to pursue payment for these employees and this is subject to active discussions with the company. However, as previously reported, finding a resolution is proving to be far from straightforward for a number of reasons. 
In the circumstances, when providing these members with an update, we would ask that our representatives take time to explain the full background, including recent developments and all the issues reported below, that are making this a difficult issue to bring to a satisfactory conclusion.
Firstly, although the Union continues to argue that the Business Transformation Agreement unequivocally states that all employees working in delivery will receive the delivery basic pay supplement, the company counter this by stating that the agreement goes onto say that this is for OPG Grades.
The factual position is that at the time the agreement was made, neither party fully understood the full extent of the various hybrid duty patterns that had developed locally across the company. The truth is, neither of the relevant paragraphs were written specifically to either preclude, or include, the Professional Driver Grade delivery employees for payment.
Secondly, whilst the Union continues to strongly argue that the spirit of the agreement was that everybody working in delivery should receive the supplement, particularly given that a proportion of these hybrid duty holders previously performed door to door work, Royal Mail continue to argue the substantive grade issue. Their point being, that if they were to pay these members the full delivery basic pay supplement, they would effectively be creating a new grade. In turn, these individuals would be in receipt of a higher overall rate of basic pay, than the MGV Professional Drivers who drive a 100% of their duty time. Royal Mail says this would be unfair to those employees and inconsistent with both the skill set and spirit of why the Professional Driver Grade was created in the first place.
Thirdly, during our recent discussions, Royal Mail undertook to carryout an exercise to establish exactly how many Professional Driver Grade duties exist in delivery offices and how many of these carryout delivery work, including door to door. This exercise was implemented on the basis of scoping potential costings and solutions. Royal Mail has shared the results of this exercise with the Union and we have pointed out a number of anomalies which will require a further and more detailed validation.
Fourthly, whilst these discussions have continued, separately the company has set out their intention to proceed with a national review of the MGV Professional Driver Grade, with a view to maximising the driving duty content, utilising technology already agreed for LGV Network Drivers. The company did suggest that this issue should be subsumed in the wider review discussions. Although the Union advised Branches at Annual Conference that this development was looming, we did not accept Royal Mail’s position.
The up to date situation is that an extensive exchange of correspondence has taken place in the last couple of weeks and both parties have agreed to meet again early in the New Year.
Finally, whilst the Union continues to look for a satisfactory solution, it is important that the affected members are fully aware of the complications surrounding this matter. A further report will be issued in due course.
Any enquiries on the above LTB should be addressed to the DGS (P) Department.
Yours sincerely
Dave Ward
Deputy General Secretary (P)