London Joint Statement Mount Pleasant and East London MC's

[POSTMAN]

London Joint Statement Resolving Both the London Surplus and Operational Arrangements

The following Joint Statement provides resolutions for outstanding surplus individuals in both Mount Pleasant and East London Mail Centres in line with the commitment made in the Joint Statement on avoiding compulsory redundancies.

This Joint Statement sets out agreed resolutions on people and the operational issues which resolves the East London Meaningful Review and enables both parties to confirm an end date to when East London Mail Centre will close.

The following solutions and timescales are therefore agreed:

Serve notice on DSA transfers Friday 8th June
Mailsort migration 30th July)
DSA migration 20th August*
STL migration 10th & 17th September

*Royal Mail will internally consult with Wholesale to establish whether migration is achievable on 13th August through serving notice on 8th June. If so, then DSA will migrate on 13th August, but not before this date.

The signatories will review ongoing that the solutions contained within this agreement are taking place to resolve the people issues and will jointly review that the migration plan is working in line with the operational plan.

Operational Issues:

Local parties at East London and Romford will review the inward migration plan including working methods and any space constraints. Any issues arising from this meeting will be presented to the LIG on 30th May.

Recent inward model week inward packet volumes will be used to determine the resourcing levels/workload hours to transfer to Romford. Should this identify that additional duties are required against the volume and productivity levels then these will be provided. A joint packet count will be completed to validate the inward packet volumes by week commencing 28th May and presented to the LIG on 6th June.

Immediate work will commence to scope the possibility of including E4 and E18 walk sequencing work into East London MPUs. The aim is to conclude this work by the end of May and present to the LIG on 6th June.

Local parties at East London will meet to discuss the dispatch plan from Romford and workload flow plan to East London Delivery Offices by Friday 1st June.

Any resolution from the above will be built into the plan for the migration of mail.

People Plan

It is confirmed that there are no operational plans to permanently divert work as a result of the East London mail transferring to Romford Mail Centre.

It is agreed to allow one further opportunity for full time processing people at East London Mail Centre to apply for VR in line with the agreed closure dates. Every effort will be made to resolve the current preferences made for out of Region transfers. However, at the point of job matching it is accepted that individuals will retain the right to amend their preference in line with their shift/seniority to Romford or Mount Pleasant. If the individual still wishes to pursue the out of Region transfer, this will continue to be pursued.

Discussions between Romford management and Romford CWU to finalise the inward duty sets will commence at Romford on processing and local network duties in week commencing 28th May. The aim is to conclude these discussions by 22nd June.

In line with the Joint Statement an advert for bumps will be sent out to all Romford processing and network employees. The process for dealing with the bump process will be jointly identified on 29th May.

It is jointly recognised that there are more professional drivers in East London than there are potential duties in Romford. Both parties will encourage drivers to fill other professional driving opportunities, including those currently vacant at Mount Pleasant and other vacancies that can be resourced with the agreed criteria of the Joint Statement. Once this process is exhausted, should any professional driver remain surplus, then alternative meaningful work including covering collection driving duties will be found and resourced in line with MTSF. People will be expected to fill resultant professional drivers’ vacancies that arise thereafter in line with MTSF and meet the reasonable job offer criteria of the Joint Statement.

In line with the agreed principles the outward vacancies at Romford will be resourced to ensure they are operational by 18th June. All positions will be filled using the agreed job matching process, i.e. offering roles to individuals who have expressed a preference to transfer to Romford. This will be completed on a shift seniority basis.


Surplus and International Work

National talks between Terry Pullinger and Dave Cunnington are ongoing to review the capacity constraints at HWDC that are preventing them from currently processing all international mail that is processed at Mount Pleasant.

The following solutions are agreed:

Mount Pleasant will commence immediate negotiations to identify 50 interim Monday to Friday duties against international workload. This will allow current Mount Pleasant processing duty holders to participate in 2 temporary refits. The first interim refit will reflect the current number of surplus in the Mount but priority will be given to ensuring that Mount Pleasant can maintain workplan clearance and quality of service on its inland services. The second refit will take place to support the transfer of East London surplus to Mount Pleasant. All Mount Pleasant staff who participate in the refit will remain tagged to their current inland duty.

It is jointly recognised that in line with the commitment to avoid compulsory redundancies and offering staff meaningful work at a suitable location – which takes into account their home address and reasonable journey time – that any unresolved surplus from East London will be offered a permanent new work location at the Mount Pleasant office. In the interim they will be assigned to perform international work or backfill any duty which has been vacated by the Mount Pleasant refit.

Every attempt will be made to ensure that any individual who has moved to Mount Pleasant from East London will be accommodated on their shift of work. It is not the aim to reduce people’s shift allowances by this transfer.

Based on preferences we are oversubscribed with East London people wishing to transfer to Romford Mail Centre. Therefore people will not be able to transfer into Mount Pleasant if job opportunities still exist at Romford Mail Centre. Providing all positions are filled at Romford, individuals can opt in shift seniority order to transfer to Mount Pleasant.

In order to provide meaningful work for the surplus, the international mail that remains at Mount Pleasant will be aligned to the Mail Centre capacity, i.e. pre-processed packets ready for immediate sortation,

The workload and therefore number of duties retained will be based on the current productivity levels at Mount Pleasant. The number of people required will include reserve duties.


Whilst resolving the surplus from Mount Pleasant and East London remains a priority talks will also take into account overtime opportunities against any international work which is not covered or STL traffic, including opportunities to cover overtime against annual leave and absence.

All individuals who transfer to Mount Pleasant will be classed as Mount Pleasant employees and will be incorporated into future re-fits, SA picks, overtime, annual leave, etc. However, for the current leave period all the surplus individuals will have their annual leave that is currently committed honoured.

All further vacancies, job opportunities and VR solutions will be offered to people at Mount Pleasant in seniority order and in line with national agreements.

Royal Mail will provide further meaningful work for the surplus. Should the work migrate to HWDC prior to the resolution of the surplus, then immediate talks at Regional and Divisional level will take place in advance of any work migrating to identify alternative meaningful work that will replace it.

Delivery Solution

Both Royal Mail and the CWU have agreed that the East London migration to Romford will continue to allow delivery offices to commence as early as practical recognising that all work must clear. It is jointly recognised that start times reflect the offices ability to achieve the workplan and maintain customer service.

Any revision discussions or planning in line with Business Transformation Agreement will reflect the start times and operational commitments below:

E1, E12, E14 and E15 will be able to have start times of 0615 Monday-Tuesday and 0600 Wednesday-Saturday. Duty spans must be of sufficient duration to ensure all mails achieve workplan and secure customer service up to and including the final service from Romford Mail Centre and East London MPU’s. If there is a regular Saturday failure then urgent talks will take place to identify the reasons and resolutions, which will include reviewing start times.

E3, E6, E13, E16 and E18 will be able to have start times of 0615 Monday-Tuesday, 0600 Wednesday-Friday and a start time on Saturday of 0530. Duty spans must be of sufficient duration to ensure all mails achieve workplan and secure customer service up to and including the final service from Romford Mail Centre and East London MPU’s. If there is a regular Saturday failure then urgent talks will take place to identify the reasons and resolutions, which will include reviewing start times.


E2, E8, E9, E4 and E17 will be able to have start times of 0615 Monday-Tuesday, 0600 Wednesday-Friday and a start time on Saturday of 0545. Duty spans must be of sufficient duration to ensure all mails achieve workplan and secure customer service up to and including the final service from Romford Mail Centre and East London MPU’s. If there is a regular Saturday failure then urgent talks will take place to identify the reasons and resolutions, which will include reviewing start times.

There will be no change to start times at E7, E10 and E11 who have already introduced their integrated delivery revisions.

E5 start time Monday to Saturday will not commence earlier than their current start time of 0612.

To support the migration of East inward to Romford, separate discussions will take place to ensure adequate operational arrangements are in place to support the clearance of all mails for Saturday delivery in E4, E14, E15 and E16 in advance of the integrated revision which will reflect the principles agreed above.

These start times allow progress to be made on the implementation of the integrated Delivery revisions in the following offices – E6, E12, E3, E2, E13, E9, E5 and E17.

A delivery summit will take place week commencing 21st May between the Lead DSM, Divisional & Area Representatives with the joint aim to agree office revisions in East London.


London Wide Implementation Group

It remains the role of the London Wide Implementation Group to continue to review all aspects of this and the previous joint statements associated with the London Mail Centre Review.


Inner London Weighting/MTSF Issues

Both Royal Mail and CWU agree that the individuals who received the Brian Nash letter and signed a contractual obligation of retaining their inner London weighting will be offered an opportunity to reconfirm this option or opt for MTSF terms.

Any issues of over-payment will be resolved in line with the overpayment policy.

This will be jointly overseen by the London Wide Implementation Group.

The full terms of MTSF in line with the London Joint Statement will apply. Those individuals transferring to Mount Pleasant will receive inner London weighting and, where applicable, excess fares.

Other Business Units

There will be liaison with ROMEC and Quadrant to ensure effective consultation takes place with the CWU over affected employees in these units.

Communications

Royal Mail recognise that the CWU will need to carry out their own independent consultation with both Mount Pleasant and East London representatives and membership.

Royal Mail agree reasonable levels of release for meetings for representatives and members during work time to enable this consultation to take place.

Royal Mail agree that until this internal communications is taken place they will not communicate to frontline staff the details of this agreement. However, communications to relevant managers will take place.

The aim will be for the CWU to carry out this consultation week commencing 21st May.


Signed on behalf of Royal Mail

Ian Songhurst ____________________________________________
Regional Operations Director


Mark Rush ____________________________________________
London Programme Director


Aleta Weir ____________________________________________
HR Director


Mike Newby ____________________________________________
ER/IR Director


Peter Walls ____________________________________________
Head of ER/IR Operations Modernisation and Transformation


Signed on behalf of Royal Mail

Martin Walsh ____________________________________________
Divisional Representative


Mark Palfrey ____________________________________________
Divisional Representative


Dave Ward ____________________________________________
Deputy General Secretary (Postal)






Date: 18th May 2012

final%20version%20east%20london%20mc.doc

[Johny O]

Interesting read, I'm trying to get my head round it all.

[Johny O]

In line with the agreed principles the outward vacancies at Romford will be resourced to ensure they are operational by 18th June. All positions will be filled using the agreed job matching process, i.e. offering roles to individuals who have expressed a preference to transfer to Romford. This will be completed on a shift seniority basis.

What's a shift seniority basis, does it mean late shift vacancies will go to late shift people first and then get offered to other shifts after?

Both Royal Mail and CWU agree that the individuals who received the Brian Nash letter and signed a contractual obligation of retaining their inner London weighting will be offered an opportunity to reconfirm this option or opt for MTSF terms.

Does anyone know what the Brian Nash letter is?

Royal Mail agree that until this internal communications is taken place they will not communicate to frontline staff the details of this agreement. However, communications to relevant managers will take place

What's all this about, what are they talking about that they can't tell the frontline staff?

A lot of questions I know but any advice would be most welcome.

Thanks.

[thebiggestman]

If you have still got the Bran Nash letter from 2000 you can claim £10,000 compensation for a double move within 15 years. Although you must provide proof that your ancestor have lived in the uk for over 150 years

[Johny O]

If you have still got the Bran Nash letter from 2000 you can claim £10,000 compensation for a double move within 15 years. Although you must provide proof that your ancestor have lived in the uk for over 150 years

Is that a joke or are you really serious?

[thebiggestman]

Obviously the ancestor part is not serious but the £10,000 is. If you still have the letter, which is the contract, Brian Nash guaranteed that this would be a permanent home for staff and as a man of honour if there was another move within 15 years he would pay he compensation. If you work there see the management ASAP.

[Johny O]

I wonder if Brian Nash is still in the business.

Have they given him the boot for being so generous to the workers?

[Martin Walsh]

Johnny the following will answer your points.

The orginal MTSF agreement came out in 2000 but the MTSF 2 agreement came out in 2003. MTSF 2 dealt with the pay protection issues and stated that if someone voluntered to go into a resign and then did not get a duty with their shift allowance then they would not get pay proctection. So MTSF 2 dictated that where people were on shift allowances then they would get first selection against the same shift allowances jobs. The strict rules were meant to be how long you had been in reciept of the allowance but as Royal Mail cannot track back pass 2000 when the Way Forward was agreed then most now have simpy shift seniority to selcet the jobs.

With regards to explaining the inner London weighting issue , this is the following reasons. In 2000 the East London Mail Centre was based in Whitechapel which was an inner London wighting area, Royal Mail was then moving the East London Mail Centre 3 miles down the road to Bromley by Bow which was an outer London Weighting area. The members demaned they were given the option of retaining their inner London money. The union sercured a deal which was brokered by David Camp for Royal Mail and John Keggie for the CWU.

This agreement allowed for indivduals to have the option of retaining their inner London weighting for ever on a reserve rights basis or opt for the MTSF terms which would mean a lump sum of £3200 and keeping their inner London on a mark time basis. 85 indivduals in East London still retain their inner London weighting which is appoxmately £25 more than outer London and is appoxmately £94 more than national level.

Brain Nash was simply the mail centre managers who gave the indivduals a sheet to confirm their option in line with the agreement and has left the business years ago. This solution allows for indivduals to continue to recieve their inner London or opt for MTSF2.

The communications embargo was simply to stop Royal Mail communicating the agreement prior to the Union meeting with the members. So far this meeting there have been union meetings held with both the East London committee and the Mounts committee. In addition we have met the members on all shifts at East London mail centre and we are due to meet members on all shifts in Mount Pleasant next tuesday. The CWU have nothing to hide and we have fronted up the members and reps to explain this agreement.

[Johny O]

Well I have to say Dingo your attitude towards the flow of information to members is exemplary.

I wish all reps were as open as you.

But it seems to be as I feared, if all of us are transferring to a new centre then people currently on lates will get first pick of the new late shift duties over people on earlies even if the people on earlies have a higher seniority.

So if for instance the new centre has 10 late shift duties and no earlies then a person who was previously on earlies will be at the back of the que for these late shift duties even if they have been in the business for 20 years longer than those persons on lates.

I guess there are always winners and losers.

[Johny O]

I guess it could equally be said that if there are a load of jobs going on lates and they are all taken by the late shift then I and others like me might have a better chance of going on an early shift somewhere else.

I guess we will have to find out how genuinely interested in finding people new jobs this visiting HR team will be.

Apparently RM also send in a representative from the private company A4E.

They seem to be ticking all the right boxes.

[rainbowwarrior72]

With the lack of interest re SW drivers coming over to Jubilee Mail Centre and it looks like we will have alot of vacancies will Royal Mail try and get people from East London to come over and fill them if they can't fit them into Romford or The Mount? Alot of our MTSF displaced MGV drivers were hoping to grab them but it was agreed to give SW London people one final chance to put in for the jobs if they didn't get their original preferences.

[Lounge Lizard]

I wonder if Brian Nash is still in the business.

Have they given him the boot for being so generous to the workers?

Brian Nash (born 20 May 1963, Liverpool, England) was the guitarist for 1980s pop band, Frankie Goes to Hollywood. He was otherwise known as Nasher.

Nash was an electrician when he formed the band Sons of Egypt with Peter Gill and Holly Johnson. In 1980, Gill and Johnson left the band to form Frankie Goes to Hollywood, and Nash joined sometime later. The group's first single, "Relax" reached Number 1 on the UK Singles Chart in 1984. The group disbanded in 1987 after Johnson's departure.

Post Frankie, Nash embarked on a new venture with Mark O'Toole, Peter Gill and Grant Boult(Jeckyl ice) and despite interest from numerous record labels the band never released any material. Nash and Boult continued to work together and managed to secure a new record deal with Swanyard Records and recorded an album called "Enter The Bigger Reality" that to date has never been released. The duo released a single "Tearing My Soul Apart' which was written during the time of the previous band with Gill and O'Toole. The record label folded and after a couple of years of trying to secure another deal Boult and Nash went their separate ways and Nash decided to try a solo career and built a recording studio in North London.

Nash released a solo album, Ripe, in 1999. He has released a second album, Le Grande Fromage in 2002. Both albums are available via the internet. He declined to take part in a 2004 Frankie reunion. In 2010 he released his third album, A Lo Minimo and is currently working on a new album "Four On The Floor". Nash recorded a version of "You'll Never Walk Alone" for his father's funeral service in July 2009. In October 2010 he began work on his autobiography, working title "Hollywood Beyond" reflecting on thirty years as a musician which will be published late 2012.

[Martin Walsh]

Johnny sadly Pay protection does mean that Royal Mail won't pay twice if they can help it. This means they won't allow someone who has not been receiving an allowance to knock someone who has off their duty which would then mean they pay the new person a shift allowance and the old person pay protection. This means That MTSF 2 is the resign which normally takes place in mail centres and RDCs.

However we should be demanding that you move with your work and that there are early duties.

In terms of Jubilee , no East London professional drivers will be forced to go too Jubilee.

The pecking order for Jobs in Jubilee is the following

1. South London professional drivers ( unlikely as there are only 46 professional drivers left in South London to sign and they have SW1 inward hub , SE1 inward hub , Croydon and Jubilee jobs to choose from.)

2 The remaking London professional drivers.( again unlikely )

3. Any processing staff in London who hold a drving licence prior to 1998 who want to become a professional driver.

4. Any London collection staff who hold a driving a licence prior to 1998 who wish to become a professional driver.

5 If all the above fail to fill the jobs then Jubilee will be asked to fill the jobs internally.

The London joint statement details the maximum journey time that would be considered a reasonable job offer and that is 60 minutes by public transport from your home address to the new work location. This would rule out most staff from East London.

3

[Johny O]

5 If all the above fail to fill the jobs then Jubilee will be asked to fill the jobs internally.

I wonder if Woking counts at all in this.

I mean we are due to shut sometime soon will Jubilee wait for our closure before they try to fill these internal jobs?

Has the word gone out to these other centres that we are due to shut soon?

[rainbowwarrior72]

Whilst Woking is shutting I would expect the guys to be going with the work either to HWDC or PRDC. I know there are vacancies at Guildford Hub as well. Don't forget if you end up on a MGV duty due to Woking closing you should still keep your money and Royal Mail would rather you be driving an artic. I would just wait and see what haapens re Network 12