Royal Mail Delivery Methods - CDV / Shared Vans

[TrueBlueTerrier]

No. 386/09
Ref: 540
Date: 30/04/2009


To: Branches with POSTAL Members

Dear Colleague

Royal Mail Delivery Methods - CDV / Shared Vans

We have previously put advice out to the field but in view of the number of enquiries being received in the outdoor department it was felt pertinent to restate our position on shared / car derived vans.

In terms of our overall position - We have no in principle objection to the concept, in fact we view it as a method which has the potential to resolve a number of long standing problems, particularly those associated with weight on delivery.

However, we are absolutely clear that deployment must be by way of an agreement.

We were engaged in discussions with Royal Mail on this subject last year. We did in fact reach a point where we had a negotiators agreement on a set of planning guidelines. This would have enabled deployment in a safe, pragmatic and sensible manner. Unfortunately, when the document went to the decision makers within Royal Mail the progress we had made came to a grinding halt.

It would seem that this issue, along with many others, has fallen victim to the Royal Mail dogma which views agreements as a bad thing.

Since then, despite our repeated requests, it would seem that management have attempted to push ahead without the CWU.

The advice therefore is to handle the issue through the IR Framework using the disagreement process when necessary. Additionally, neither H&S reps nor IR reps should work on this issue in isolation. There is clearly an overlap and in view of that delivery reps and ASR’s should work together on this issue.

Further to that, some of the reports we are receiving indicate an approach which is at complete odds to the position taken by Royal Mail during our negotiations.

We have had reports of existing walks bolted together and a van supplied. In some cases the loops are pretty much the whole walk and the van effectively becomes a pouch box on wheels. This is clearly unacceptable. To use this method properly requires an element of detailed planning especially on the loops to be employed. The whole purpose of shared vans is to reduce weight over the shoulder and loops should be as short as reasonably possible.

We have had other reports of all manner of vehicles being used. During our negotiations it was agreed that vehicles with a sliding side door was by far the safest and most preferred vehicle design. In addition all vehicles should have panelled or “blacked out” rear windows and a partitioning bulkhead between the load and passenger carrying areas is an absolute must.

In some areas managers are attempting to use the change in delivery method to bring in longer delivery spans. We would remind branches that the nationally agreed span is 3.5 hours and there is no current agreement to change that.

Finally, whilst we had concluded a planning document we did not have time to cover other areas such guidance for resigns, what to do when an individual no longer wishes / is no longer able to drive etc. We did however agree across the table that holding a driving licence would not be a mandatory requirement when recruiting.

In summary – there is no national agreement in place on this issue but we wish to conclude one.

I hope this information is of use to branches.

Any enquiries to Bob Gibson’s Office, quoting reference 540.
Email address: hnutley@cwu.org

Yours sincerely



Noel McClean
Acting Assistant Secretary

[taxi4leighton]

this is pretty emphatic. however more help should be given to members to resist pressure put on them by management to force these changes uopn us. words are not enough.

[jockstrapp]

I can't understand why we were advise by CWU to vote "YES" to changing to a 4.5hr delivery span in March and now they are saying the national agreement is 3.5hrs. What is going on within the CWU??????????????

p.s.
The 4.5hrs are killers, totally knackered at the end of the day. THANKS CWU.

[bandit650]

We have always been away from the office more than 4hrs20 for some time now,just recent we got told by the Area Rep that us town staff are very diffrent from the rural staff and that they have a longer delivery span than us so we should stop bleeting, the cock up we have going on now is the rural staff get back before us,the town staff are now getting later and costing more in O/T so not sure how we all stand anymore,as for the 2 in a van with a bike and back to one set of keys is an even bigger lash up and now has got to the point where packets for the 2 deliverys has not been done all week as they have not got enough time,hence the we are stopping this pay and mod to sort some thing out.

[tpost]

We have been told that the maximum delivery span is 3.5 hours for a walking/cycle duty but if you have a van it is 4.15. Its a bit late sending an LTB out about shared vans when its been brought in already in many delivery offices. The CWU recently released a document saying longer delivery spans are to be considered to save full time jobs. RM are just doing what they want at the moment and longer spans are coming in whether the CWU like it or not.

[postmanx]

We have been told that the maximum delivery span is 3.5 hours for a walking/cycle duty but if you have a van it is 4.15. Its a bit late sending an LTB out about shared vans when its been brought in already in many delivery offices. The CWU recently released a document saying longer delivery spans are to be considered to save full time jobs. RM are just doing what they want at the moment and longer spans are coming in whether the CWU like it or not.

Yes i agree - something needs to be done A.S.A.P.
we have been doing this for a bit too - the members have had enough and are knackered - they are all losing faith in the C.W.U. - not looking forward to tuesday - everything is about to kick off
:mfo

[bandit650]

We have been told that the maximum delivery span is 3.5 hours for a walking/cycle duty but if you have a van it is 4.15. Its a bit late sending an LTB out about shared vans when its been brought in already in many delivery offices. The CWU recently released a document saying longer delivery spans are to be considered to save full time jobs. RM are just doing what they want at the moment and longer spans are coming in whether the CWU like it or not.

Yes i agree - something needs to be done A.S.A.P.
we have been doing this for a bit too - the members have had enough and are knackered - they are all losing faith in the C.W.U. - not looking forward to tuesday - everything is about to kick off
:mfo

That's the thing you know that it's all going to kick off when you go back Tuesday and i feel for you we have had a right old time of it in the last 4-5 weeks and i know it's not going to get any easier,just try to keep your chin up and remember we are all in that boat!

[dvbuk55]

Only RM seems focused on where they are going and how to go about it - van sharing has been going on for months and suddenly we have some sort of instruction which goes against the instruction from branch 8 months ago when this system came in - I hadn't seen the detail contained in this LTB before and I presume nobody else engaged in park and loop had either - side door vans, 3.5 delivery, not bolting two duties together - what a joke - I've posted what we have to do elsewhere on this forum so I won't bore everyone with it.

[postmanx]

That's the thing you know that it's all going to kick off when you go back Tuesday and i feel for you we have had a right old time of it in the last 4-5 weeks and i know it's not going to get any easier,just try to keep your chin up and remember we are all in that boat!

Thanks for the support!!!!