Local CWU Representatives Survey/Questionnaire

[TrueBlueTerrier]

11 September 2012
LTB 695/12 Annual Conference Motion 61 – Local CWU Representatives Survey/Questionnaire

No:695/12
Ref: 24005
Date: 11th September 2012







TO: ALL BRANCHES WITH POSTAL MEMBERS





Dear Colleague



Annual Conference Motion 61 – Local CWU Representatives Survey/Questionnaire



As part of the Strand Group work being carried out to implement the terms of Annual Conference Motion 61, it has been agreed to conduct a survey/questionnaire of CWU local representatives.



Please find attached to this LTB the following:-



· A letter for local representatives
· The local representatives survey/questionnaire
· A copy of Annual Conference Motion 61



It is essential that all CWU Branches forward the content of this LTB to your local representatives and ask them to complete the survey/questionnaire and return it to the address provided by no later than Friday 19th October 2012.



As part of this exercise we would also ask that Branches write back to the DGS (P) Department with a full list of their local representatives and current email addresses. We will be following up this exercise directly with Branches in due course.



Any enquiries on the above should be addressed directly with the DGS(P) Department.



Yours sincerely







Dave Ward
Deputy General Secretary (P)








TO: ALL LOCAL CWU REPRESENTATIVES





Dear Colleague



Annual Conference Motion 61 - CWU Local Representatives Survey/Questionnaire



You may be aware that at this year’s Annual Conference a Motion was unanimously carried (copy attached), that called for a full review of how the CWU operates within the Postal Industry.



This review will build on reforms we have already introduced to streamline our organisation at CWU HQ and will also cover our local, area, field and Branch structures. This is about looking at better ways of linking up our overall organisation and developing a package of measures to improve support for local representatives and strengthen CWU workplace organisation.



Three Strand Groups have been set up to carry out the required work and these groups include a significant number of representatives from outside of CWU Headquarters. Additionally, we want to get the views of as many of our local reps as possible. This will be done in two ways.



Firstly, we have attached a questionnaire which we would like you to fill in and return to the address provided. The questions are designed to give us a more accurate picture of the current state of play, find out your key concerns in carrying out your role and give you the chance to say what improvements should be made. The questionnaire should be returned no later than 19th October 2012. We have engaged a specialist external company to receive the completed questionnaires and provide us with a professional analysis of the results.



Secondly, we will be encouraging discussion on the review with your fellow representatives when you get together in your liaison meetings. We will try and get to as many of these meetings as we can to hear your views face to face, but it won’t be possible to get to all of them. To overcome this we will also be asking your Branches and Area Reps to send in reports on the conclusions reached.



We will spend September and October gathering relevant information and then begin the process of drawing together the conclusions. This will culminate with specific proposals for CWU reform, which will be placed before either a Special or Annual Conference next year.



The last time we looked properly at our organisation was in 1992 and we all know we now operate in a much more difficult environment. With your help and involvement we can introduce positive changes that will increase the effectiveness and democracy of our organisation and above all help you carry out your crucial role in the workplace.



Yours sincerely




Dave Ward
Deputy General Secretary




CWU LOCAL REPRESENTATIVES SURVEY


To be returned to the address provided no later than 19th October 2012









Q1. Please state your name, CWU Branch and email contact address.



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Q2. Please state your age, gender and ethnicity.



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Q3. Please state your workplace.


Processing

Delivery

Distribution









Network

Parcelforce











Other (please state)





Q4. Do you have adequate CWU support and facilities to carryout your role as a local representative?

Yes/No




Q5. If the answer to question 4 is no, what additional support and facilities would you like to see provided.

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Q6. Do you have a substitute rep in your workplace?

Yes/No


Q7. Do you have a local workplace committee?

Yes/No


Q8. Do you have regular meetings with other reps in your area?

Yes/No


Q9. If the answer to the above question is yes, how many per year?

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Q10. Which of the following do you have regular contact with?


Area Rep





Safety Rep



Div Rep









Branch Sec

Branch Women’s
Officer

Branch Equality
Officer









Branch Youth

Branch
Disability
Officer









Q11. Do you take an active role in recruiting new members in your unit?

Yes/No



Q12. Have you had sufficient training to carryout your role?

Yes/No


Q13. If the answer to the above is no, what more do you feel you need?

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Q14. Is the training provided by the Union convenient in venue and time?

Yes/No


Q15. Do you feel able to represent your own and local membership views in influencing CWU policy?

Yes/No


Q16. If answer to the above question is no, what single thing would improve this?

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Q17. Do you have enough support/facilities from the employer to carry out your role?

Yes/No


Q18. If the answer to the above question is no, what else would you like to see provided?

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Q19. Does your manager respect your role as a CWU representative?

Yes/No


Q20. Are you allowed to hold members’ meetings during work time?

Yes/No


Q21. Additional questions for Engineering Representatives only.


a. Are you called upon to represent members in more than one Mail Centre?

Yes/No


b. Do you attend Engineering Coordinating meetings?

Yes/No


c. If yes, how many a year?

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This questionnaire should be returned no later than 19th October 2012, to the following postal or email address. CWU Reps Survey, The Campaign Company, Third Floor, Suffolk House, George Street, Croydon, CR0 1PE



· If you want to provide more detailed answers than the space
allocated, please attach any additional remarks on a separate sheet with the corresponding question numbers.



(NB see Original LTB for proper format etc - available at CWU website.)

[fishtank]

Getting rep's opinions could be useful but only depending on how seriously they take the questionnaire and how honest they are.

I think the most dangerous thing about these surveys is that reps are a defensive bunch,myself included and self criticism doesn't come easy to anyone so questions like:Q11. Do you take an active role in recruiting new members in your unit? might not get a 100% accurate picture.
There's also that feeling of just get it over with quickly,tick all the easy boxes and move on.

It's very important that reps fill these out as honestly and completely as possible,there are massive holes in the training and support for reps but if everyone pretends it's fine...nothing will change.

[dvbuk55]

Getting rep's opinions could be useful but only depending on how seriously they take the questionnaire and how honest they are.

I think the most dangerous thing about these surveys is that reps are a defensive bunch,myself included and self criticism doesn't come easy to anyone so questions like:Q11. Do you take an active role in recruiting new members in your unit? might not get a 100% accurate picture.
There's also that feeling of just get it over with quickly,tick all the easy boxes and move on.

It's very important that reps fill these out as honestly and completely as possible,there are massive holes in the training and support for reps but if everyone pretends it's fine...nothing will change.

And that maestro has been the problem - nobody wants to mention the elephant in the room and if there is criticism levelled then it is considered to be "unhelpful". Lots of people have mentioned the problems over a number of years and seemingly at last there is a movement afoot to get some sort of realistic feedback IF as you say the unit rep is honest enough to tell it as it is and not romance about the current organisation. It would appear that the CWU has finally seen that reorganisation on a massive scale is required and that they need to step out of the tower before negotiating change for the little people.

[noggin1969]

Union version of " Have your say " with more than likely the same results keep on sending them out until we get the answers we want from the last few people that can be arsed to fill them in and lose any negative ones in the bin

[bogstandard]

Has anyone had a reply? or any feedback from this survey.

[dvbuk55]

Has anyone had a reply? or any feedback from this survey.

Well as it's almost 12 months ago I would imagine it's business as usual.

[k979aaa]

Another paper exercise just get the ballot papers out NOW.

[woofwoof]

Still waiting for it to arrive from the area rep I am starting to think he don't want me to fill it in