NATIONAL TALKS - THE FUTURE OF THE ROYAL MAIL GROUP

[fishtank]

COMMUNICATION WORKERS UNION



SPECIAL REPORT TO THE CWU POSTAL POLICY FORUM
ON THE 13TH MARCH 2013

NATIONAL TALKS - THE FUTURE OF THE
ROYAL MAIL GROUP


Introduction

As the Business Transformation Agreement nears the end of its original three year timeframe and the Company shifts its attention more and more towards privatisation, it is appropriate for the CWU to take stock of the overall situation and refocus our industrial agenda.

Reviewing Business Transformation

Deployment of Business Transformation was never going to be easy and this has proved to be the case throughout the course of the agreement. The challenges facing the global postal industry are both complex and unprecedented and deployment of the deal has been further destablised by the announcement on Colleagueshare, the prospect of looming privatisation and a faster than anticipated growth in packets and parcels.

Although CWU members have played their part in delivering a lot of successful change, alongside three years of pay deals, a reduction in the working week, no compulsory redundancies, extended MTSF terms and lump sum payments, there has nevertheless been continuous problems to resolve along the way.

The delivery function in particular has witnessed ongoing issues over managerial interpretation of the agreement, workload, revision tools and performance levels and this has led to a significant number of failing revisions. The Company has also put obstacles in the way that have delayed the overall revision programme and many delivery revisions will not be completed until well beyond March 2013.

This situation was exacerbated in the middle of 2012 through a major managerial reorganisation. This has definitely coincided with a backward step in relationships and the new management structure is now more centrally led and command and control based than ever. The introduction of this latest managerial shake up was in direct response to the company not achieving its business plan targets and regrettably no thought was given to the impact this would have on our existing industrial relations interfaces and the commitment to improve relationships at all levels. What has transpired since is a far more aggressive approach from the Company and demands are being made in too many locations that go way beyond any National Agreement.

The Summit Meeting

The aforementioned led to the Union calling a Summit meeting on the 17th December 2012. The Summit created a platform for national talks to address the key concerns of the Union as shaped by our local representative meetings and agreed by the Postal Executive.

The key concerns tabled by the Union at the meeting were communicated to Branches in LTB 929/12. For ease of reference these are attached again at Appendix A.





On the 22nd January, the Postal Executive endorsed a report on developments since the Summit meeting and agreed the Union had to be firmer about the demands we are making to address our members’ workplace issues and bring a number of longstanding matters to a head.

During this period it was becoming clear that talks were not going well and it was particularly disappointing to witness the actions of the Company with regard to the implementation of the shorter working week, which had been agreed previously.

Whilst the Union has been addressing these difficult industrial matters, there has been growing evidence that the Company is not only preparing for privatisation but is actively promoting this in the workplace. There is no doubt this is having a major impact on our ability to move talks forward. The truth is – the Company’s thinking has moved on – they are now completely focused on developing a very different commercial business and appear to be working to a new Business Plan.

The reality is the challenges we face and the balance of forces that exist, means we can only protect the interests of CWU members and the future of UK Postal Services by integrating our political and industrial work. These matters are completely entwined. The Company itself is politicising the workplace and the Union must respond. This is another reason why the CWU must significantly raise the profile of the ‘Save our Royal Mail Campaign’ in the workplace and pursue the strategies that were explained in LTB 062/13.





The Current Situation

It would be difficult for anybody who has followed recent events not to acknowledge that at some point in the coming weeks and months the differences that have emerged between us, the Company and the Government are bound to widen and look set to result in industrial conflict. There are justifiable reasons for this.

• Despite our best efforts to resolve outstanding revisions associated with the Business Transformation Agreement, there are still a very significant number of offices where revisions are not working and according to Royal Mail a further 40% of Delivery Offices have yet to complete all aspects of transformation.

• There is a major question mark over whether offices are receiving the benefits we envisaged and lump sums remain outstanding in many units. The Union must address these matters immediately.

• The Company has announced it is now a parcels business that just manages the decline in letters. It is telling the workforce that it has a strategy for parcel and packet growth, but has failed to meaningfully involve the Union in this debate.

• The BT Agreement is nearing its end and in any case does not address the direction the company is now taking. The reality is Royal Mail’s thinking has moved on and we no longer have a shared vision of modernisation. They now appear to be pursuing a very different business plan to that which the Business Transformation Agreement dealt with.

• The Company is actively preparing for and promoting privatisation in the workplace.

• The CWU has already called for a review of the operational work plan and there is a sound argument that Royal Mail’s current approach, which seems to keep pushing the delivery of mail further and further backwards, is not going to build a platform for growth in Royal Mail and is allowing competitors to steal a march. This is also having a detrimental impact on start times, attendance patterns/duty structures and the commitment to maintain full time jobs, particularly in delivery.

• The climate for pay negotiations will be difficult given the Company’s focus on increasing profit margins for privatisation, the Regulators demands for higher efficiency and the general state of the economy. A major clash over 2013 pay and reward now seems inevitable.

• The Company continues to place unacceptable pressure on delivery employees. This is directly linked to an oppressive managerial culture, relentless efficiency demands, failed revisions and chaotic daily lapsing and absorption. There is a massive question mark over the ability of managers, at all levels, to deal with the human element involved in major change. In too many locations this pressure has become intolerable and is now affecting CWU members’ quality of life, a concern highlighted in the recent Bullying and Harassment survey.

• The Company has failed to seriously embrace or invest in improving relationships and developing a mutual interest culture.

The aforementioned accurately summarises the current position and nobody could seriously argue that the Union were not within our rights to respond to this.

CWU Response

The Union cannot ignore the current situation and must respond in a proportionate and decisive manner. We are proposing the following course of action.

1. That National talks be prioritised as follows.

 That Royal Mail must agree to immediate reinvestment as part of a plan to put right all failing Business Transformation revisions.

 That Royal Mail must agree a plan to resolve all outstanding Business Transformation issues, including revisions, payment of lump sums and engineering workload etc.

 That Royal Mail must agree a plan that addresses the unacceptable managerial pressures placed on delivery employees that is contributing to an emerging culture of bullying and harassment. This should also cover managerial lapsing, absorption and unrealistic performance targets/budgetary savings.

 That Royal Mail must agree a new approach to processing including revision procedures for mail centres, design, standard operating procedures and refreshing the rationalisation agreement. This must also confirm that Quality of Service is being maintained (particularly End to End) and resourcing models are in line with National Agreements. The Company must accept that there will be a pause on all mail centre closures until a full review has been completed and talks have satisfactorily progressed on their strategy to deal with parcel and packet growth.

 That a formal audit of the current BT Agreement be completed and an action plan put in place to ensure compliance with all the principles agreed, including 75/25 full time/part time mix, 1 in 4 Saturday’s off and full delivery of the associated benefits due to CWU members.

 That Royal Mail must agree a new settlement which covers all aspects of the Company’s future strategy including:-

• Resourcing models that build on the principles agreed in the recently extended Job Security Agreement.

• The operational networks that will be used for growth in packets and parcels. It is now essential that we shape the company’s new strategy, including the future of parcels, packets, letters and door to door. Furthermore, that we reach agreement on its impact on operational networks, resourcing models, jobs and the long term employment security and living standards of our members.

• A new overall operational work plan that will provide an infrastructure to deal with growth in d2d and new products/services within the letters business.

• The new operational work plan to also cover MPU’s/CSS machines and the impact on delivery jobs and duty structures.

• A settlement on an improved pay and reward package due to CWU members in April 2013.





• New incentive and productivity arrangements to deal with ongoing change, as well as the replacement for Colleagueshare.

2. Until such time as satisfactory progress has been made on the aforementioned agenda for national talks, there will be no support for any new local efficiency/budgetary savings, or any further mail centre or RDC rationalisation. The only exception to this will be any efficiency improvements arising directly from Business Transformation revisions that have yet to be introduced or completed.

3. If satisfactory progress is not made on the CWU agenda for national talks by the time of General Conference (April 21st), or there is sufficient evidence of managerial executive action, then the Union will consider implementing a national industrial action ballot.

4. The above mentioned policy will be communicated to all CWU members’ home addresses and through workplace meetings.

5. The Postal Executive will put in place an appropriate report back mechanism to enable Branches to consider whether or not satisfactory progress has been made in national talks.






Conclusion

The position we are asking CWU Branches to endorse is a justifiable response to the recent actions of the Company and the developing position on privatisation.

The Union will continue to be clear to the membership that the dynamics surrounding the postal industry means change must continue to evolve if we are to create sustainable jobs and a successful company. We recognise this will involve a different traffic mix and we will support a strategy for growth that has genuine investment in the workforce. However, the crucial debate, as always, is how we change and what we are changing to. On this aspect we no longer have a shared vision of modernisation and there are legitimate differences with the company.

The Business Transformation Agreement is now drawing to a conclusion and we must prepare for a new settlement that will shape the future strategy of the business, resolve the unacceptable pressures on delivery employees and secure an improved pay and reward package from April 2013.

RECOMMENDATION 1: That this CWU Forum endorses the policy set out in
numbers 1 – 5 of this Special Report.

Dave Ward
Deputy General Secretary (P)

Ray Ellis Andy Furey
Assistant Secretary Assistant Secretary
Bob Gibson Terry Pullinger
Assistant Secretary Assistant Secretary

On Behalf of the Postal Executive

APPENDIX A


CWU Agenda


The following will set out the key concerns the Union will table at the Summit meeting on the 17th December.


1) The wider challenges facing the postal industry

• All the issues arising from the Postal Service Act 2011 and the impact of unfair competition and privatisation on the Royal Mail Group.


2) General issues

• The company’s future investment strategy – how we address growth in parcels and packets – the development of new products and services.

• Aggressive managerial cost cutting that is undermining National Agreements and creating unacceptable pressure in the workplace.

• The need to review what we see as an inefficient national work plan that is creating an unnecessary adverse impact on attendance times and duty patterns.

• Phase 3 talks and pay for 2013.

• An audit of the BT Agreement.


3) Operational / functional issues

• Bullying and Harassment in Delivery.

• The need for Royal Mail and CWU to pause and reflect on the impact of Mail Centre Rationalisation to date, in particular focusing on the Mail Centre review process, quality of service, resourcing and revision procedures.

• The need to resolve all outstanding Business Transformation issues, including local revisions and payment of all lump sums.

[Andy51]

Too late now should of put pressure on them at Christmas .we strike now their would be even better case to privatise us plenty of unemployed people to take our place now .

[Budfrog]

Too late now should of put pressure on them at Christmas .we strike now their would be even better case to privatise us plenty of unemployed people to take our place now .

I fear you have hit the nail squarely ... on the head :(

[fishtank]

Too late now should of put pressure on them at Christmas .we strike now their would be even better case to privatise us plenty of unemployed people to take our place now .

I fear you have hit the nail squarely ... on the head :(

I don't think this will be your typical argument with our employer over terms and conditions.
This is much more like a battle over the entire shape of the company..."going forward" to borrow a dodgy management term.
I think it will be a long fight using many different tactics including but not limited to strike action and i wouldn't be surprised if we are still battling next Christmas.

The power of striking during Christmas is always overrated anyway,you immediately lose public support,annual leave is at a minimum,members don't like losing money at that time of year and Royal Mail have an employment bank of 15,000 casuals to draw on.

[Danelectro]

Here we go ..2009 all over again..'bullying management culture emerging' if the whole thing does kick off, To me theres no other choice than to back any action called for by this dozy lot at HQ.Whats the other choice?

[clashcityrocker]

The power of striking during Christmas is always overrated anyway.

If, however, we were to acknowledge that statement as fact, (which it is) what would we do with the 20 000 redundant "we had them by the balls" posts?

[noggin1969]

Too little too late I think , although the work force in general are p***ed off and the delivery units are especially. Could the union carry a vote on industrial action at the moment ? They led us down a path to what was supposed to be the deal of the decade and turned out not to be. Maybe it was the only deal they could achieve but the membership feel let down and distant from the executive and RM have fed into this divide and conquer mentality. The deafening silence that came out of headquarters when the deal was going belly up in so many areas add to this the late intervention on the increasing B & H and many people will see this action is shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted and we all know where that horse has ended up

[RTP]

Too little too late I think

So what would you rather they do..nothing?

[noggin1969]

So what would you rather they do..nothing?

It's not a case of doing anything or nothing I just think they will have a very hard job to motivate the membership

[hatetheboss]

So what would you rather they do..nothing?

It's not a case of doing anything or nothing I just think they will have a very hard job to motivate the membership

Cry Wolf springs to mind

[dvbuk55]

From the word go this agreement was a loser, there was never a check and balance on how the agreement was progressing and three years down the line Rip van Winkle CWU decide to wake up and eventually smell the coffee. The CWU approach seemed to be if it's not happening in London then it's not happening despite all the evidence to the contrary if only they'd got off their fat arses and looked. They've totally lost the initiative, all this RM have to agree to this that and the other isn't going to cut any ice and there's no chance they're going to change now, other than the usual platitudes, "full consultation", "full involvement". Shoulda, coulda, woulda.........................but didn't. RIP Rip.

[RTP]

So what would you rather they do..nothing?

It's not a case of doing anything or nothing I just think they will have a very hard job to motivate the membership

You might be surprised. There are a lot of members out there who have had enough of the workloads, the b&h, the lapsing etc.

I agree that BT2010 was a dogs dinner of an agreement by the way and left us wide open to what is happening now, but if something is broke, then it needs fixing.

[hatetheboss]

So what would you rather they do..nothing?

It's not a case of doing anything or nothing I just think they will have a very hard job to motivate the membership

You might be surprised. There are a lot of members out there who have had enough of the workloads, the b&h, the lapsing etc.

I agree that BT2010 was a dogs dinner of an agreement by the way and left us wide open to what is happening now, but if something is broke, then it needs fixing.

Them same people have not had the balls to stand up to it, they are afraid.

[hans solo]

On the subject of strikes calling a national action would bring all of us out whether we want to or not
we as a group of people now have to be strong but those at the top (no plan b remember )should fall on their swords and go
they have let their membership down badly and still appear in unison with the company in videos and joint statements.
xmas doesnt matter its the main period public use us
not big business who use all other companies via dsa
if we go out we also cripple tnt,uk mail all the competition would suffer more than us
thats still the power we still hold over everyone else for now USE THIS

[Lincox]

We are torn between a rock and a hardplace. This is not the time economically to take strike action, however we do not have any choice if we wish to protect any sort of future working for Royal Mail.