Night workers' basic pay is being cut

[MinisterofCucumber]

The 2007 Supply Chain Pay Agreement consolidated Night Duty Allowance into the basic pay of nightworkers.

About a month ago, POL wrote to a number of nightworkers telling them that their basic pay would be cut and they would receive Night Duty Allowance instead.

MTSF states that the basic pay of redeployed surplus staff will be protected in perpetuity.

In January 2009, Safenet was transferred over to Royal Mail. Ex- Safenet nightworkers have had their NDA consolidated into their basic pay since 2007 and those placed on to days had their basic pay protected as per the terms of MTSF.

Last week, these workers had the NDA portion removed from their basic and received a pay cut as a result.

The Union has been contacted but nothing has happened. Angry members are asking me if I know the name of Andy Furey's Golf Club because they want to take their 3 woods along and give him the same treatment that David Blaine got when he came to London. I have tried to calm them down by helping with grievances and ET forms.

If anyone reading this has had the same stunt pulled on them, I advise you to put in a grievance, fill out an ET claim form and write to your local MP.

If anyone wants any help, PM me.

[MinisterofCucumber]

Something is not right.

The "Nightworkers" section on page 5 of the 2007 Supply Chain Pay Agreement (dated 23rd October 2007) that is available on the CWU website states that

"colleagues, including night reserves, irrespective of CWU represented grade, who work their entire duty starting at 19:00hrs or later and finishing before 07:15hrs will be classed as permanent night workers and as a direct consequence Night Duty Allowance will be consolidated into basic pensionable pay."

http://www.cwu.org/assets/_files/docume ... y_Agre.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

However, the LTB that Postman uploaded to this site on the 28th October 2007 states,

"Crew and LGV Night Workers Night Duty Allowance, where all 36 hours fall within the 19:00 / 07:15 NDA period, to be consolidated into basic pensionable pay from 7th Jan 08 providing for increased hourly pay rates and Scheduled Attendance payments of 33.99% and 37.25% respectively."

http://www.royalmailchat.co.uk/communit ... ain#p78319" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Have the CWU put the wrong agreement on their website?

[MinisterofCucumber]

Has anyone got a copy of the final 2007 Supply Chain Pay Agreement?

The members whose pay has been cut have not been given an explanation. When we ask management, they tell us that the Union have to give us the reason. Management have told us that 11 people in the country are affected and, as this is a national issue, we have raised it with our National Officers. They are giving us the run around instead of providing an answer.

It's almost as if the Union and management are deliberately witholding information to provoke us to go to tribunal.

[Nevster]

I was on safenet at hemel this hasnt happened to me yet

[MinisterofCucumber]

It has only happened to ex-safenet workers who are not crew or LGV drivers.

It looks like Keith Rann's final negotiating offer was accepted by our negotiators. This is the 'agreement' that is posted on the CWU website and Keith is clearly offering to consolidate the NDA of all nightworkers into basic pay.

However, the summary that the Union sent out to us to vote on stated that only crew and LGV drivers would get their NDA consolidated.

It looks like Keith or Debbie Moore instructed payroll to consolidate the NDA of all nightworkers.

We need to see a copy of the agreement that was signed by both parties.

The Union needs to stop sending us summaries to vote on and send us the full agreements in future to avoid these sort of f**k ups.

The worst thing about this is that neither parties involved have given adequate explanations to those who have been disadvantaged. When I have made enquiries, I have been told to go through the IR Framework. It's as if management believe that staff are not allowed to deal with anyone except their own line managers and that the Union's function is to act as a barrier between the management and the workforce. Afterall, if the Union refuse to give us an answer, what can we do?

The reason they decided that we should call each other 'colleagues' was so that we didn't feel it was a them and us situation. When I ask a fellow colleague a question, I don't care what their rank is, I am entitled to be treated with dignity and respect. If the colleague doesn't know the answer, they should tell me. If they know the answer they should provide it.

The Code of Business Standards describes behaviour towards colleagues:

"we should always be open, honest and courteous with each other".

Fobbing me off by telling me I am not allowed to speak to them, even when it can be reasonably assumed that they know the answer, is neither open, honest or courteous.

[MinisterofCucumber]

Some progress has been made.

One of the night workers, whose NDA was removed from his basic, also had his pay protection stopped before the end of the 3 year period. He had the courage to write to Keith Rann directly and Keith could not ignore his email. He has got his pay protection back but Keith is still insisting that only crew and LGV drivers are night workers. This is despite the fact that the POL Staff Contract Manual makes the position on night workers very clear. Section 2 applies to all grades and in 2.6.6 it states:

"With effect from 7th January 2008, colleagues, including night reserves, who work their entire duty starting at 19:00hrs or later and finishing before 07:15hrs will be classed as permanent night workers and Night Duty Allowance will be consolidated into basic pensionable pay."

What do you have to do to be considered a night worker?

The POL Staff Contract Manual makes it clear that you have to be a worker who works your entire shift at night and the manual defines the time period that POL considers is night. It seems that Keith believes that you have to drive a vehicle to be considered a night worker.

POL have been caught out not paying pay protection when they should have, only paying substitution allowance instead of temporary promotion and now they are saying that people who work at nights are not night workers.

What will they do next to cut costs, ask us to provide our own toilet paper if we want to wipe our arses at work?