Union agrees yet another extension

[NWpostie]

I still think we should call strike date in order to speed the process up and concentrate the minds of the Management as it is there is no teal urgency as no strike date have been announced.

[Captain Scarlet]

In delivery there are still some difficult areas to sort out..no sh*t, all these weeks and they still have not sorted out the only area in this job that cannot make any profit for RM, so what can you possibly achieve now after all these weeks unless you do away with o/t, paid meal reliefs,increase workloads,not paying staff for sick leave etc these are things RM will be hoping to achieve if not now then further down the line.

MC closures were always going to happen to stream the amount of hubs up and down the country and with more investment in machinery from MC to sequencing machines the last place to squeeze money from is delivery, unfortunately anyone in delivery will tell you that each and every day is so different that micro management right down to 3/4 mins lapsing (that is no joke in our DO) is how RM want the managers to stick with because they know that keeping o/t down here means they save right across the company, so I really do hope the CWU have been diligent and get a real deal to cover the delivery guys cos we are already seeing failures in packets not even leaving the office and this is the only growth area they have.

[martinapsid]

morning all whos in charge of the talks not the union thats for sure my office would have striked the first time but as time as gone on the support as gone only a handful will go out now because of the leadership who the management have run rings round them and its to close to Christmas say what you want about a Christmas it would hurt rm more but it will hurt us more if you got youngish kids there don't care about unions,management,work loads etc next door as presents there will want to where these are between tips,overtime,bonus thats a lot of money to turn down for a strike about an agreement we do not any thing about if after all this time this peace in our time paper better be good or heads must roll in the union leaders

[RTP]

They're almost there. The tone used is far less judgmental, so I think it's safe to say there will be no strike. The waiting is getting on my tits as well, but lets see whats in the deal before throwing any toys out hey.

[martinapsid]

your right captain same in my office but we have problems with our mc there can meet the sla more then a couple times a week so you man to it its not meet and you have no staff to flood ips pkts and parcels in mid november have gone through the roof with the forecast not close we have no extra staff at Christmas so we work o/t thats fine until you start being 21/2 over your time we have already got opg saying there work over 1 hour over and that will be it

[biscuit1957]

26 November 2013


LTB 780/13 National Dispute




No: 780/13
Ref: 21003
Date: 26th November 2013





To: ALL POSTAL BRANCHES




Dear Colleague



National Dispute



As explained in LTB 771/13, the Postal Executive met yesterday to receive a further report on progress in national negotiations.


As a result it was agreed that we should provide Branches, Representatives and Members with a brief summary of the current state of play in national talks, as well as explaining our next steps.


To do this we are using the headings contained in the agreed CWU/Royal Mail Joint Statement of the 30th October 2013.


The current position is as follows:


1.Legal Protections



We have now secured extensive legally binding undertakings from the employer on all the issues put forward by the Union. These protections will extend beyond 3 years. There are a couple of final points to resolve and we do not anticipate these preventing an agreement being reached.


1.Pay



We are currently considering an improved closed offer from the company.


1.Pensions



Negotiations have been concluded on pensions and we have secured legally binding commitments on the future of the RMPP alongside additional improvement to the Defined Contribution Scheme. The company has accepted that a pension’s agreement will be balloted on separately.


1.Industrial Stability, New Culture and Agenda for Growth



We are in the process of finalising a section on Industrial Stability which strengthens the existing IR Framework with new mediation procedures. The agreement will not include any commitment to binding arbitration or a no strike deal. The new approach will also offer CWU unprecedented access to business structures and provide the opportunity for real influence on the future direction of the company.


1.Delivery Workload Issues



Whilst some progress has been made there are still difficult areas to resolve and a fresh approach is being considered.


1.Future Parcels and Letter strategy



Drafts have been exchanged and we are confident that there are no issues that will prevent us reaching an agreement on future strategy.


1.Company Charter



The company has accepted the principle of a charter setting out the values on how Royal Mail Group will operate in the future. Drafts have been exchanged and we do not anticipate this being an issue that will prevent us reaching a final agreement.


1.Ongoing Programme of Work



We do not anticipate any issues preventing us from reaching an agreement in this section.


Next Steps


In providing branches with this summary it can be seen that real progress has been made and that the differences between us and the company have significantly narrowed from the outset of this dispute.


We understand that CWU members will be concerned about the length of time that it is taking to finalise an agreement. However, turning elements of a collective agreement into what will become a legally enforceable contract is a complicated process. It also has to be recognised that the issues involved in this dispute are in themselves wide ranging and in some cases were always going to be difficult to resolve.


The current ballot extension period continues until 23.59 on Wednesday the 27th November 2013. In our last LTB we explained that this was the last extension permissible in law. However, upon further clarification between the lawyers of both parties, it has now been confirmed that the ballot can be extended in law and remain legally valid until the 3rd December 2013, which is the last date that 7 day notice of Industrial Action can be served.


Having carefully considered the situation and the fact that in the overall negotiations good progress has been made, the Postal Executive has agreed to the company’s offer to extend the ballot until the final permissible date.


We are confident that negotiations will conclude during this period and that a final agreement will soon be placed before the Executive Council for endorsement in the very near future. The Postal Executive will meet again on Monday 2nd December 2013.


Please ensure the content of this LTB is circulated to CWU members in all workplaces.


Any enquiries on the content of this LTB should be directed to the DGS (P) Department.




Yours sincerely





Dave Ward
Deputy General Secretary (P)


Ray Ellis

Assistant Secretary


Andy Furey
Assistant Secretary



Assistant Secretary

Bob Gibson




Terry Pullinger
Assistant Secretary

[Bert66]

Wait for the final deal before slagging them off. What's the alternative? Going on the streets and losing a fews days pay and then "maybe" reaching the same sort of conclusion? I think patience is what is needed here.

[The_Wax_Man]

Good news on moving forward.

another 7 days tho'

Lol. I'll sit back and watch the threads on this. CWU are really taking the softly, softly, ' let's hold hands and run through the meadows and not upset the applecart' with this negotiation.

I can see from the way it's worded that RM have basically got what they want. A lot of weak worded allowances that let RM pull the members strings and business practices in the future.

I'll watch this space..... Deal of the century..( again )

[labbloke]

Quite agree Bert66, I will wait till I see the actual deal, before I cast judgement on it.

[borders]

the people on the bottom rung of the ladder are a meal ticket for the people at the top. until the status quo is changed somewhat we can only expect more of the same. every normal working person should be and should be allowed to be a member of a Union.

[banner18]

What difference does it make whether it takes a little longer than normal. Any deal, even if it were reached last week, would still require a vote on it which would take us after xmas. Once the CWU started serious negotiations there was never gonna be a strike before xmas. The company will not want any strike around the flotation regardless. Who wants to go on strike running up to xmas when both sides are talking so much?

[the beautiful bd south]

why couldn't this extension be announced last night?
If the extension hadn't been agreed last night why didn't they continue to talk until it was?
They made it sound as though we were possibly going to have an agreement announced today or at the very least announce Industrial action to put pressure on the business.
I can fully understand the disappointment and frustration that everyone is feeling.
At the end of the day it's our future that is in the balance here we have every right to know what is going on....

[catch22]

ANYONE FOR A VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE! WHAT A JOKE. THEY OBVIOUSLY HAD TOO MUCH TEA YESTERDAY!

[Stella102]

WOW UNION BEING PLAYED BIG TIME

The current ballot extension period continues until 23.59 on Wednesday the 27th November 2013. In our last LTB we explained that this was the last extension permissible in law. However, upon further clarification between the lawyers of both parties, it has now been confirmed that the ballot can be extended in law and remain legally valid until the 3rd December 2013, which is the last date that 7 day notice of Industrial Action can be served.


Having carefully considered the situation and the fact that in the overall negotiations good progress has been made, the Postal Executive has agreed to the company’s offer to extend the ballot until the final permissible date.

[musicmaniax]

And if you call a strike then watch then challenge it (and win) in Court.