I shall be voting "yes"

[Martin Walsh]

Whilst I do believe the union structure needs reform I do not believe most of you know the limited amount of release which is given to reps.

There are 9 Divisons , London postcodes , Scotland and Northern Ireland , North West and North Wales , North East , Midlands , South Central , South East and South West and South Wales. They were based on these structure when Royal Mail set up in 1992 their Royal Mail Divisonal structures. Since then Royal Mail have changed their structure 8 times. Some Divisonal reps cover up to 3 Royal Mail delivery directors and processing directors.

There are 2 Divisonal reps per divison and one substitute. Their area of responsibility covers Delivery , Porcessing , Network , RDCs , Distribution , MGV, Quadrant ,CIT , ROMEC , International , DWP the contract is now lost , appeals , disputes , attendance training , disagreements , FTC issues , MTSF , Revisions under the pace of change as well as issues which CWU HQs need doing. On top of that communications to the members and meeting the area reps as well as attending the Divisonal Reps meetings , delivery reference groups , processing group meetings as well as fronting up campaigns. ifthe job is done properly then the job is busy. Remember due to the size of the Divisions and where the different directors are based a lot of reps have to travel a number of hours per day. If a Scottish Divisonal Rep has a disagreement in Belfast or an appeal or a Divisonal rep based in Plymouth has a disagreement in Gloucester then the director is based in the Thames valley Area.

Now in terms of area reps well not all area reps cover just one Branch , and most area reps cover 20 plus units and cover a significant area. They normally have to meet at least 2 DSMs , they. Pick up protential dismissal interviews , appeals , I'll Heath retirement issues , they oversea BT revision stuff , quadrant closures , SI issues , any issues covering more than 1 units such as customer and you , PDA deployment , Christmas arrangements as well as visit units , communicate with members and meet the reps as well as attend meetings with Divisonal reps. There is only 1 area rep per area.

Now in terms of Branch's there is very little release? Under the 1992 IR framework a branch Secretaries were given 5 hours for every 1000 members. This was withdrawn in the late 1990s. Branch's now have to either agreewith management release terms which is not easy as Royal Mail do not believe the role of the branch secretary assist the business and are reluctant to give paid release so most Branch's release their branch secretary under central billing arrangements which means the Branch has to repay Royal Mail for the cost of the branch secretaries cover.

The branch is there to organise the members , deal with membership issues , death grant , legal and medical cases , Employment tribunal issues where the member seeks representation , ensuring the membership is up to date , equality issues , meeting the branch committee and being the link between CWU HQs and the membership.

Above Divisonal level are 17 PEC members of which 11 sit on the NEC. There role consist of being invivoled in national negotiations covering any of the following , Post office LTD , Parcelforce , Admin Grades , MDEC , CIT , international , Network , Jersey post , Gurnsey post , Isle of Man post , Delivery , processing , Distribution , ROMEC , van workshops , Quadrant , pay claims , bullying issues , disputes , ballots and whole range of other issues from campaigns to meetings with MPs.

Now the NEC members of the PEC have meetings on organising , the finances of the union , setting the budget for departments , equal Opps issues , Politcal direction of the CWU and a number of other issues.

So in a branch area you may have one area rep for delivery , one for safety , one for Processing and one for distribution and one branch secretary on part of full release? You may have an area the size of Cumbria to cover.

So when we are critical of reps , let's understand what their role is and equally understand most unions do not have local reps , we still have them as an important role but they have to do it and that also means they should have the support of there members.

[dvbuk55]

WOW! I didn't really know how busy they were maybe that's why most of us haven't seen one for the last ten years. We could all compile a list of those things for which we are responsible but it isn't everything everyday - some apparently take their role more seriously than others and make the effort to include the members others as an excuse not to work at all.

[Martin Walsh]

Dvbuk we are in an ever changing business , Mail centre closures Especially the people issues is very time consuming having deal with it I know ! RDC closures , quadrant closures have been happening . The international logistics review is happening , The loss of the DWP contract happened and had to be dealt with as people had a choice TUPE or reemployment elsewhere in Royal Mail. There are revisions on going , there are PIRs , there are area distribution revisions , there are disputes , there has been the yes vote to achieve in the ballot , there has been the communications and we have in my division managed to ensure that 88 FTCs got permanent jobs.

So I am not look for you understand in the role , that is not you style but members do and I do visit offices and find that is important in my role.

[fishtank]

Now in terms of area reps.....

Well I'll put it this way dingo I expect the role of DSM contains just as much workload if not more covering roughly the same geography as an area rep however my DSM manages to poke his head into our unit at least twice a month to keep up to date with the local issues and presumably does the same in all the offices in his sector whereas my area rep has to be summoned on the odd occasion I need him and makes it pretty obvious it's a chore he would rather not be performing.

We've had at least 3 or 4 visits from our delivery director this year and yet despite it being a relatively large unit with its share of IR issues our Divisional Rep hasn't seen the inside of our place in at least 10 years,maybe longer.

The roles of full release reps may well be busy but in my opinion we have fallen into the trap of allowing too much of their time to be taken up with Royal Mail's agenda, too many joint workshops that produce little of real benefit to our members and allowed the role to become reactive firefighting rather than pro-active organising,recruitment and engagement.

We need to be far more professional in our approach if we are to match Royal Mail's middle to senior manager structure, Their DSMs and Directors can tell you on a daily basis exactly what's occurring in every office under their control. Some of our Area Reps couldn't even tell you the names of the local reps in each office and I'm afraid to say some Divisional Reps would struggle with the name of the office.

[dvbuk55]

Dvbuk we are in an ever changing business , Mail centre closures Especially the people issues is very time consuming having deal with it I know ! RDC closures , quadrant closures have been happening . The international logistics review is happening , The loss of the DWP contract happened and had to be dealt with as people had a choice TUPE or reemployment elsewhere in Royal Mail. There are revisions on going , there are PIRs , there are area distribution revisions , there are disputes , there has been the yes vote to achieve in the ballot , there has been the communications and we have in my division managed to ensure that 88 FTCs got permanent jobs.

So I am not look for you understand in the role , that is not you style but members do and I do visit offices and find that is important in my role.

I'm not too sure I do understand your last line dingo and I don't doubt you are one of those who take your role seriously and I truly respect that. I however pay the same as the members you are responsible for and do not have the same amount of union support. You speak about the various aspects of change BUT in our area we have 2 mail centres neither closing, our revisions took place 3 years ago, the ballot for BT 2010 was 4 years ago and in those changes we have never seen an Area or Divisional Rep and you wonder why I am critical of the union. In my experience they are self serving servants of the CWU who will be hell bent on achieving a YES vote despite the fact that it is not a good deal and it won't change their position one iota.

[General Mannerheim]

Divisional rep?
The one we have up here has visited our office in all my 25 years service...once ....and that was because I needed his help with an employment tribunal case! But that was 3 years since and he hasn't been anywhere near since , as pointed out his Royal Mail counter part has visited our office on numerous occasions has indeed even his boss,this `busy` divisional rep also has not sorted out our disagreement which was tabled in September which has seemingly vanished like a fart in the wind so forgive me if I don't think this new `agreement` with all of it's legally(not) binding bluff fills me with confidence

[Martin Walsh]

Fish under Royal Mail's laser restructure a DSM should cover no more than 10 offices. Most area reps cover far more offices and do have a DSM support , secretary , cheap car deal , DOMs to support and HR as back up.

Now I don't do workshops , as I think they never produce the goods. I know all the offices names and their local reps most personally and I don't follow Royal Mail's agenda.

What I say to people who moan about the local rep is can you do a better job. it's easy to say your cam change the world on here but your find it is very difficult doing the actual business.

It gets harder when your are dealing with more senior managers as well.

Most on here are too content to blame everyone above but are not willing to try and do the job better.

Most reps try and do the best job they can on all issues. I believe and have said that every unit should have a visit from an area rep during an agreed period of time and divisional rep should visit all units at least once per year.