South Wales/South West Division Newsletter no1

[Geezer]

Communication Workers Union
South Wales / South West Division
NEWSLETTER
ISSUE ONE



Business Transformation Update

IN THIS ISSUE

1. National Talks Ongoing
2. Local Relationships Trial
3. Management Forum
4. World Class Mail
5. Branch View

Editor: Chris Webb – Divisional Representative

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Introduction

Welcome to the first in what will be a series of Divisional Newsletters for members working within the boundaries of the South Wales / South West Division.
The production of these updates is as a direct result of CWU member’s calls for more news and more information to the workplace.
The SW/SW Division has corresponded on more than one occasion with CWU HQ, asking for more regular communications on several matters.
It is important though, that communications come not only from our HQ but also Divisions and Branches.
I hope that you enjoy the newsletter. If you have any questions about the reports contained within this brief then please contact your Branch representatives.
If you have any ideas /suggestions for the newsletter then feel free to email me.
Regards
Chris Webb
Divisional Representative
INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY, THINK AGAIN!


National Talks Update

Royal Mail and the CWU have agreed an intense set of negotiations aimed at concluding by the end of March.
These talks will look at putting the deployment of BT2010 back on track with issues such as Job Security,ColleagueShare, WCM and new HR Procedures on the agenda.
A second set of negotiations (timed to conclude by 31st May) will look at a review of the MTSF agreement, Governance within the RM and talks on a new IR Framework.
The SW/SW Division and Branches will work hard to ensure that members are regularly updated as the talk’s progress.

Local Relationships Trial

Royal Mail and the CWU have agreed to trial a new approach to local CWU Rep/DOM relationships in 6 units across the Country.
In the SW/SW Division, we have Barnstaple as one of the trial units.
The project has been launched at a joint event in London and work will now take place over the coming months to improve relations in the units.
The plan is to put more units into the trial in 3 months time.
We will receive regular updates from the Barnstaple trial and these will be relayed to branches and members in a timely fashion.


Royal Mail Forum

On March 26/27th, 4000 Royal Mail managers attended an ‘Operations and Modernisation Conference’ at the NEC in Birmingham.
Invitations were also extended to CWU National Divisional and Area Representatives.
CWU DGS(P), Dave Ward will also be spoke at the event alongside RoyalMail CEO, Moya Greene.
The event focused heavily on World Class Mail which clearly demonstrates how vital this project is to Royal Mail.


World Class Mail

As part of the nationally agreed set of talks, an agreement on WCM has been prioritised.
Branches and members are advised though that until such a time as we have an agreement in place the CWU policy on WCM remains one of noncooperation
(where it has not already been rolled out).
It is vital that members support this position in order to assist in gaining the best possible leverage for our negotiators.


In Search of the Upper Decile

As part of the BT2010 agreement there was a commitment to look to base office performance measurement on ‘the upper decile’.
Two years into the agreement and Royal Mail have finally listed the units across the Uk that they consider to be in the Upper Decile performance wise.
The next step for the CWU is to jointly visit these offices to get underneath just why it is that the units are performing to such a high standard.
It could be just a straight forward answer that the unit is well engaged, relationships are strong and the staff are onboard but equally practices such as coming to work early,
missing meal breaks,managers performing OPG work etc could muddy the waters.
The visits will take place in 4 units per Region and once all the feedback has been collated a national level meeting will be held to determine the next steps in search of the Upper Decile…….


With Industrial Democracy and the Unions Independence Set to be a Key debate at this
year’s Annual Conference, Bristol and District Branch Secretary, David Wilshire gives us
his views on the subject……

The seeds of a debate began to emerge from CWU Conference in 2011 around the issue of industrial democracy and in particular placing national CWU Officers on management boards.
The Leadership appear to believe that this will help improve our relationship with the employer and therefore put the CWU in a stronger position of influence.
History illustrates however that the Postal Executive need to think very carefully before it entering into partnerships or new governance models of this type..
During the Conference debate it emerged that industrial democracy was indeed nothing new and had been trialled in the Post Office during the 1970’s following the infamous “Bullock report”.
What’s more it had hardly proved to be a success, with those on the management boards being criticised for going beyond their roles as Union Officers.
Kye Dudd who was a delegate from the Bristol & District branch thought the debate was quite timely.
Only the week before annual conference he had visited a Volkswagen plant in Germany as part of a Southwest TUC executive delegation.
This was a meeting of regional trade union and employers bodies from across Europe to explore social partnership.
The Volkswagen plant in Germany made commercial vehicles and camper vans.
The trip was organised because Volkswagen are seen as a model when it comes to social partnership and co-determination within the workplace.
Kye had the usual tour of the massive factory, where of course kiazen and other total quality initiatives were in full swing.
After the tour Kye sat down and listened very carefully to a presentation from the production manager and the chair of the works council (senior elected union official).
What they both described was a perfect picture and a very close and blissful relationship. However Kye found that if you scratch away at the surface the mask began to slip.
The chair of the works council had no adequate response to some fundamental questions that Kye tabled -
“In your view do you believe that because of your very close relationship with the employer that you gain more concessions from the company?
Or do you believe that because of your relationship with the employer that they gain more concessions from the works council (Union)?”
Kye went on to ask a question about the perception of the works council amongst the workforce.
Does the workforce see the works council as a vehicle for representing them and achieving their aspirations? Or is there a sense of apathy towards the works council from the workers?
The chair of the works council really struggled to answer these questions.
What Kye wanted to hear was that the Trade union gets a much better deal out of the employer from this relationship and the workforce has confidence in the body to work for their aspirations.
I didn’t hear any of this in the answers given and this concerned me. It also worried me throughout my questioning (and the chair of the works councils answers), that the production manager had a very big smug smile on his face.
At conference the leadership waxed lyrical about their vision for the future in having the Trades union, customers and local bodies on joint boards of this type.
This is missing the point. Do you really think that privateers driven solely by profit will care about the views of others?
In any case they are bound to have a majority on these forums in order to marginalise the CWU as they drive through their plans.
We have already seen this type of relationship prove detrimental to us in the form of the CWU Pension trustees, where despite being on the board they always get outvoted.
These plans are purely pie in the sky and even if implemented will only benefit the company and not members of the CWU. We must maintain our strength as an independent trade union and not a dependant trade union.
David Wilshire

In the Next Issue – Annual Conference Update, Gloucester Mail Centre
Review, Views from the Branches and more………….

[fishtank]

There are those that would say that certain national officers would be as well on the board.
The most important point would be how would the membership see it?
My best guess would be....not very well.
So no doubt HQ will plough on regardless.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

― Sun Tzu had some appropriate quotes which it seems Moya is following.

“Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer”

“Supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.”

“Build your opponent a golden bridge to retreat across.”


and yes I googled them, no shame in that