Parcelforce Pay 2012 Agreement

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Letter to Branches




No. 613/2012
Ref: 101.06
Date: 13th August 2012



FOR THE URGENT ATTENTION OF:

All Postal Branches With Parcelforce Members
All Regional Organisers
All Parcelforce Representatives




Dear Colleague

Parcelforce Pay 2012 Agreement

Branches and representatives will be aware from LTB 572/12, of the difficulties that were being encountered in regard to our Parcelforce pay claim for 2012.

Following the publication of the aforementioned LTB, discussions with the business continued and we are now pleased to report that a Negotiators Agreement has been achieved in regard to the 2012 pay claim and the future of Parcelforce. The agreement has been endorsed by the Postal Executive Committee and explained to our representatives at the National Briefing held on the 9th August 2012.

All representatives in attendance at the briefing were issued with copies of the agreement and another copy is attached for your information (Annex A).

The highlights of the agreement are summarised below:

2.9% consolidated increase plus a further consolidated lump sum increase equivalent to an average value of £172.34 applied to all elements of base pay (including non-pensionable additions to basic pay, SA, overtime, all allowances and pay ranges etc) backdated to 1st April 2012.

Confirms that existing MTSF terms will be applied where growth affects current arrangements with the additional principle that pay protection will cover all pay and allowances both pensionable and non-pensionable.

Articulates a re-defined joint vision.

Confirms that there will be the investment to ensure that Parcelforce continues to grow and prosper.

Demonstrates genuine ambition.

Fully involves the Union in shaping the future.

Agrees that progress on growth has to take into account the context of the prevailing market conditions and the commitment to maintain the standard of living and job security of employees/members.

The reward element of this agreement needs to be explained verbally to our members in order that they understand the full benefit. This was explained at the National Briefing but any Branch with Parcelforce members who were not represented at the briefing should contact the department and be briefed on the correct interpretation of the reward element.

Also attached for your information is a copy of a business statement in regard to Parcelforce performance and investment (Annex B) which further enhances the sense of optimism that the agreement offers of a positive future for Parcelforce Worldwide.

The ballot timetable is as follows:

Ballot papers dispatched Friday 17th August
Ballot opens Monday 20th August
Ballot closes Friday 7th September

Branches and representatives are requested to ensure that our members are verbally briefed on the full significance of this agreement and have access to copies of it in their places of work.

Any enquiries in relation to this LTB should be addressed to Terry Pullinger, Assistant Secretary, e-mail: dwyatt@cwu.org or lwright@cwu.org quoting reference number: 101.06

Yours sincerely




Terry Pullinger
Assistant Secretary



Negotiators’ Agreement


AGREEMENT BETWEEN PARCELFORCE WORLDWIDE AND THE COMMUNICATION WORKERS UNION REGARDING PAST & CONTINUING REWARD 2012


Introduction

These negotiations have been very difficult and have tested the long standing exceptional relationship between Parcelforce Worldwide (PFW) and the Communication Workers Union (CWU).

We are pleased to have reached this agreement which enables us to confirm our joint vision for PFW going forward and to reward the exceptional performance of our employees and CWU members.

The Vision for the Future

The ambition of PFW is to continue to be the leading UK business in the parcel industry in respect of innovation and technology, quality of service and the provision of rewarding employment.
We can all be proud that PFW has one of the highest quality of service records in the express parcels industry, with a first-time delivery rate of 96.8 per cent. Christmas 2011 saw our best Christmas ever in terms of volume – while still achieving a superb first-time delivery record. Maintaining and improving on such consistent and excellent quality of service will be a joint key priority as we grow.
The PFW business unit is a crucial part of the Royal Mail Group providing a commercial approach to the Express Parcels Market and separate to our Royal Mail Packets and Mail businesses

The PFW team have worked hard to put together a business case that will ultimately double the size of the business over the next few years, having secured a multi-million pound investment from the Royal Mail Group. This investment is to help replace our aging IT systems and provide the necessary future capacity in parcel processing and depots to ensure that we can continue to grow the business and provide enhanced delivery options and quality of service for our customers. This is all great news for us and the investment is a strong indication of PFW’s future. However, growth brings its own challenges so we must not be complacent and both parties acknowledge that there is much work to do before we realise our full potential.

Both parties therefore understand the need to construct an agreement that is reflective of our current position and delivers success for both the business and our people. We also recognise that maintaining relationships and our mutual interest culture is a joint priority in this regard.

Our current strength in the market is built upon our excellent service levels, brand and reputation. In order to realise continued success, it is fundamental that we deliver our in-depth Expansion and Advance Programmes carefully without any impact on service.

The Journey

Our confidence to make such commitments is drawn from the overall manner of the journey through recovery to profit and the response from all employees in the business to the commercial impact of the global economic downturn and the subsequent levels of competitive challenge. Both parties agree that throughout these difficulties the performance and sense of shared purpose of our PFW employees has been absolutely exceptional.

We continue to do well as a business with increased demand from our customers and new account wins which is why we are investing in our future and increasing our capacity. Market research, recent major customer wins and PFW’s track record of growth all confirm that PFW is well positioned to significantly increase its share of the UK express market, including B2B in which it is currently under-represented.

We are building new processing centres, expanding our depot network and changing the focus of our sales & marketing effort to increase the mix of more profitable large, medium & small customers, all of which will deliver the required additional volume at appropriate levels of profitability and a bright and exciting future for PFW.

The Relationship.

In 2009 PFW and the CWU launched their ‘Table of Success’ working relationship and involvement model, the aspiration for this process was that it would integrate all parties interests and put in place a mutual interest culture whereby the trade union actively contributes to the successful functioning of the business and allows for its views and perspectives to be meaningfully taken into account prior to the business making decisions on the future, as opposed to the trade union being passive recipients of management information and decisions.

In 2011 we built upon the success of this relationship and involvement model by agreeing that it was extremely important that we all keep progressing to new levels of company performance, working relationships and rewarding employment. We also shared the view that progress was best achieved by strengthening the strategic partnership ‘Table of Success’ culture and through the sharing of ideas to develop consensus solutions to our ongoing challenges.

The Table of Success has an important part to play in supporting the future of PFW and its expansion plans via structured employee involvement and idea generation at all levels and the continued commitment to new joint working groups to develop ideas/strategies and move agreed concepts forward to deployment. This driving and unifying philosophy throughout the last decade has been everyone working for each other and the successes of PFW, and everyone having a share of the reward. This has proven to be valuable in enabling us to refocus during our most difficult times and against that backdrop we are pleased to have arrived at the following negotiated settlement which demonstrates our commitment to the immediate priorities for the successful delivery of the Expansion and Advance Operations Programmes.

Agreement

Pay and Reward

2.9% consolidated increase plus a further consolidated lump sum increase equivalent to an average value of £172.34 applied to all elements of base pay (including non-pensionable additions to basic pay, SA, overtime, all allowances and pay ranges etc) backdated to 1st April 2012.

C&D Mixed Resourcing Strategy.

We already have a resourcing through growth agreement signed in 2011 and both parties understand that there will be an increase in flexible resource commensurate with our growth plans and proportionate with the increase of permanent directly employed staff.

Commitment to Advance Operations Strategy.

Replacement of our legacy IT systems will provide PFW the platform to enhance the competitiveness and responsiveness of the business, improve efficiency, expand the reach and growth capability of our systems and improve reliability. Our longer term agreement will need to ensure that maximum customer and business benefit is obtained from this substantial investment.

Depot Revision Procedures.

We are recommitting to our agreement of 2010 to review our depot revision procedures to ensure that they are fit for purpose in providing a transparent and fair revision process which organises balanced routes/duties with a fair and manageable workload. Our agreed principle is that any new revision process will ensure that our current productivity levels are protected whilst addressing any individual or depot extremities that may exist. This will need to be commensurate with the scale and pace of change required.

New Processing Centre Staffing.

Both parties accept that the National Hub at Coventry will continue to provide the core element of our domestic processing operation along with its existing arrangements. The planned new processing centres, the first of which will be located in Chorley, will provide the additional capacity required for growth. It is therefore accepted that the current plan is to resource the new processing centres at CSP grade and with duties constructed in line with current agreements appropriate to that grade.

Depot Operational Footprint.

As the business grows there will be a constant need to review the capacity and number of our depots across the entire network. It is agreed that the business will provide the National and Regional CWU Representatives with a full presentation of the short, medium and long term proposal and that we will then use the Table of Success working group activity to support the proposals and determine any arrangements and employee support mechanisms required

Planning our Future

PFW and the CWU agree that the investment and growth plan would be better served by the stability of a proposed 2 - 3 year agreement covering all aspects of operational planning, productivity and reward. Against that backdrop and subject to the acceptance of this agreement, both parties will engage in a series of structured negotiations targeted to conclude such an agreement by the end of January 2013 and to be effective from the next pay review date of the 1st of April 2013.

In developing the long term agreement, it is acknowledged that some changes, as a direct impact of the expansion programme, may be required to current employee arrangements prior to the final long term agreement being in place. It is therefore agreed that existing MTSF terms will be applied with the additional principle that pay protection will cover all pay & allowances both pensionable and non-pensionable.

We agree that progress on growth has to take into account the context of the prevailing market conditions and our commitment to maintain the standard of living and job security of our employees/members as part of our discussions for April 2013 and beyond.

Both parties are committed to the next pay and reward review discussions being targeted to conclude by end of January 2013 and effective from April 2013.


Any question of interpretation, implementation or application of this agreement will be dealt with promptly through the Procedural Agreement and if unresolved, referred to the respective Headquarters for resolution.








Gary Simpson Terry Pullinger
Managing Director Assistant Secretary
Parcelforce Worldwide CWU