Royal Mail Announcement - CMA Letter

[TrueBlueTerrier]

CMA SECTION







To all Unite CMA members

Royal Mail 25th March 2014







Dear colleague



Royal Mail Announcement



You will have heard earlier this morning of an announcement by Royal Mail which refers to 1600 redundancies
(net 1300).

I can advise you that we have been in in confidence discussions with Royal Mail on this matter and I have set
out in detail our position. This covers a number of points but the main 3 aspects that we have set out to Royal
Mail and which currently they are rejecting are as follows.

. A commitment to no compulsory redundancy – We consider that Royal Mail should it be
necessary and possible to make any job reductions through reorganisation, removal of duplication of
effort and/or focusing on specific activity, that this can be done without resorting to redundancy by
compulsion.

. Equality in redundancy terms – As you will be aware there are different terms in place for
operational and non-operational managers. The Operational Manager’s terms form part of the MtSF
negotiated between Unite and Royal Mail and form a collective agreement. The others are those
imposed by Royal Mail following them giving notice on MtSF terms some years ago.

We consider it vital that the employer treats people equally and for those who elect to leave the
organisation do so on the same terms and for those terms to be those at operational manager, Mtsf,
level.

. Redeployment – We expect Royal Mail to adopt a simple and straightforward redeployment process
in cases where individual’s responsibilities change in order that they can move from one set of
responsibilities to another without a huge number of barriers being put in place.

I also anticipate that the formal notification of possible redundancies will be received today. For the REMCO
and SLP population there will be a 30 day consultation period and for those below REMCO SLP there will be a
45 day consultation period. You may be aware that the government recently changed the requirements for
consultation and reduced it from 90 days to 45 days.

We are currently in the process of putting together a structure that enables this process to take place across
the whole of the organisation and further information will be provided in due course and I also attach a copy of
the press release issued by Unite this morning.



Yours sincerely

Brian Scott

Unite CMA Officer

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Len McCluskey
General Secretary
http://www.unitetheunion.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

CMA House
Ruscombe Business Park
Twyford
Reading
RG10 9JD

Tel: 0118 402 6811
Fax: 0118 934 2354


26 March 2014

To: All CMA Members
Royal Mail & Parcelforce
including Senior Managers

Dear Colleague

Royal Mail Redundancies

Further to my letter of yesterday I can advise you that we have now received the letters formally advising Unite of the number of possible redundancies.
Unfortunately, these letters provide no more detailed information than has already been provided and fails to set out where the possible redundancies may come from, other than the number of ops and non ops managers by business area. This information is currently being reviewed and will be discussed at a meeting with the business today. Further information will be provided when a more meaningful breakdown of the numbers is known. Currently the numbers are broken down, overall, as 527 operations managers and 879 non-operations managers to be potentially redundant. From the main groupings the percentage of proposed redundancies range from 20% non-ops in Finance to 12% ops and 18% non-ops in Operations and Modernisation, 25% non-ops in Group HR, with 7% ops and 8% non-ops in Commercial. What or where these jobs are is not specified. The other functions total 28 potential redundancies.

The lack of detail is exacerbated by the fact that Royal Mail has provided 44 x A4 pages of a spreadsheet listing all workplaces and the number of managers based there. The number of possible redundancies are TBC! Presumably this spreadsheet is based on data from PSP and given the propensity of the business to move managers at will from office to office, particularly in Delivery, this information has to be suspect but can't be confirmed.

Unite representatives will be meeting later this week to consider the position. It had been hoped that more detail would have been provided by the employer and this is disappointing. Nevertheless we need to consider and prepare a further response.

In respect of the Royal Mail approach I gather that they have derived the redundancy numbers from a process of senior members of functional teams, potentially sitting in a darkened room, preparing a new organisational design for that function. The rationale or logic for this is not known and neither are the principles adopted. More concerning perhaps is the fact that there has been little involvement or engagement with the people that do the work or who actually know and understand the day to day requirements, challenges and difficulties faced. They then compare this new utopian structure with the existing and that determines the number of redundancy "opportunities".

The additional difficulty we will encounter, and confront, is the reasoning for the changes. Royal Mail will be expected, as it is required to do, to produce how it arrived at its proposal. Equally important will be how they will consult meaningfully in a way that will enable us to mitigate the impact.

Yesterday there were a number of enquiries received from concerned and worried members about the number of redundancies in their area. Unfortunately this still cannot be provided but will be so as soon as it is available.


In the meantime thank you for your support in these uncertain times.


Yours sincerely

Brian Scott
Assistant National Secretary

[pants123]

[123456]

i really wish i could see there "arms folded,head shaking,need to get in the real world" stupid looks on certain faces.it would be nice to see that..

[worktotime]

to right thanks for all your b&h , money saving , non payment of o/t on the staff , and being paid to do fuckall , but theres your p45 and see ya.

[taxi4leighton]

as Dylan once said"how does it feel"

[daveyeff]

to be honest, i dont wish to see anybody sacked or put on the dole,,especially if theyve got wifes and kids at home to feed.even though some of them richly deserve it. the way they are is the way they are.....probably through brainwashing and being put into offices that are a potential tinderbox. a clash of personalities, power going to their heads, pressure from their heirarchy, thinking they can get away with anything. etc etc. but wishing them sacked and losing their livelyhood only brings you down to their level.

[Judgee]

to be honest, i dont wish to see anybody sacked or put on the dole,,especially if theyve got wifes and kids at home to feed.even though some of them richly deserve it. the way they are is the way they are.....probably through brainwashing and being put into offices that are a potential tinderbox. a clash of personalities, power going to their heads, pressure from their heirarchy, thinking they can get away with anything. etc etc. but wishing them sacked and losing their livelyhood only brings you down to their level.

Well said Dave, completely agree with all of that!

[tpost]

to be honest, i dont wish to see anybody sacked or put on the dole,,especially if theyve got wifes and kids at home to feed.even though some of them richly deserve it. the way they are is the way they are.....probably through brainwashing and being put into offices that are a potential tinderbox. a clash of personalities, power going to their heads, pressure from their heirarchy, thinking they can get away with anything. etc etc. but wishing them sacked and losing their livelyhood only brings you down to their level.

Would the managers worry about us NO. I have seen quite a few posties harshly treated over the years,many losing thier jobs. They have always crossed picket lines and followed the orders they were given.No symphathy for them.

[Cut Off King]

to be honest, i dont wish to see anybody sacked or put on the dole,,especially if theyve got wifes and kids at home to feed.even though some of them richly deserve it. the way they are is the way they are.....probably through brainwashing and being put into offices that are a potential tinderbox. a clash of personalities, power going to their heads, pressure from their heirarchy, thinking they can get away with anything. etc etc. but wishing them sacked and losing their livelyhood only brings you down to their level.

Would the managers worry about us NO. I have seen quite a few posties harshly treated over the years,many losing thier jobs. They have always crossed picket lines and followed the orders they were given.No symphathy for them.

[barbario]

Don't worry about them going on strike though,they haven't got the bottle.

[DirtyHarry]

I haven't an ounce of sympathy for them.

[ebbzie]

Don't worry about them going on strike though,they haven't got the bottle.

Would anyone notice if they did?

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Don't worry about them going on strike though,they haven't got the bottle.

Would anyone notice if they did?

Starbucks tills and Facebook's servers would probably be concerned.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

CMA House
Ruscombe Business Park
Twyford
Reading
Berkshire
RG10 9JD

Tel: 0118 402 6810
Fax: 0118 934 2354

CMA SECTION

To all Unite CMA Members

Royal Mail


31 March 2014

Dear Colleague

Royal Mail Redundancies

Further to the letters of update from last Monday and Tuesday, I am now able to provide an update following a meeting with Royal Mail on Wednesday 26th, a meeting of Unite full time representatives on Friday and a further meeting on the same day with the business during which we updated them of the outcome of the reps meeting.

Royal Mail

At the meeting with Royal Mail on the 26th, we were presented with a new management structure for Security and for HR which includes Health and Safety. This was in addition to other smaller functions that had been presented previously.

Given the approach of Royal Mail, which is being supported by the consultants Deloitte's, I have to advise you that it is extremely difficult and frustrating, not to be in a position to challenge the Royal Mail proposal. We are presented with an old and a new structure but there is no mapping of tasks, roles or responsibilities to enable any assessment of the work transfer to be undertaken. Neither is there any evidence of any risk assessment of how the new structure will fulfil its obligations, or perhaps, more importantly, how individuals carrying out these responsibilities will be able to cope with them.

We have agreed on Friday to explore these proposals in more detail at subsequent sessions and have allocated representative resource to do so. These representatives for each function have been advised to Royal Mail.

Representatives Meeting

At the representatives' meeting there was a range of positions and issues discussed but it was clear that there was an overwhelming level of concern about the impact of these proposals and a worry that such changes would affect, particularly in operations but not exclusively, Unite members opportunity to carry out fully their roles.


There was also concern that members would feel intimidated in this situation and that any negativity expressed opinion about the proposals would disadvantage them during whatever placement process takes place. The level of fear is considered to be high and that together with the inevitable degree of apathy, brought about by these concerns, would make it difficult to consider action to oppose the redundancies. This is something we need to respect but, more importantly, respond to.

Notwithstanding, it was clear that there is a high level of further concern, including within operational members, that Royal Mail is adopting an approach of treating groups of employees differently. It was noted that feedback from members, including those that may be regarded as being in the position of benefitting from higher redundancy terms, operational managers, that fairness and equality of treatment must be an overriding objective. The feedback is that all members are in this together and they should support each other to get the best possible outcome. Certainly the feeling of the full time representatives was that this was a vital ingredient in making positive progress on this matter.


Consequently, the reps considered the way forward and what steps should be taken next. There was agreement, after a long, difficult and wide ranging exchange of opinions, that the next steps should be;

1. That the negotiating team continue to engage with the business on the matters set out by the company and particularly in respect of the 3 priority items of

a) a commitment from Royal Mail to no compulsory redundancies,

b) that the voluntary redundancy terms should be equal for all (based on the formulae used) and be at "ops"/mtsf level and

c) that a simple straightforward and effective redeployment process be negotiated and agreed.

2. That given the position of Royal Mail to date, whereby all attempts to make progress on the 3 points above have been rejected, that steps be initiated in preparation for an industrial action ballot and to seek the agreement of the Unite NEC for permission to proceed. The ballot will ask two questions, namely, seeking members authority for action up to and including strike action.

3. That preparations be made for a follow up meeting to discuss the developing situation and to review the position before any action is called.

There is no doubt that industrial action is a development that we can only consider as a last resort but it must be remembered that we are being faced with a very challenging situation and that this is the first such approach since privatisation. To do nothing would be wrong and given the intransigence of the employer we have no alternative.

The preparation for an industrial action ballot is simply that. No-one actually wants to take this action but we have no other option and with the complexity of this, as set out in employment law, we need to start preparations now. We are not pre-empting any further discussion with Royal Mail as we have made it abundantly clear that we are prepared to reach an agreement but it has to be one that treats all employees the same. At no point has Royal Mail stated that it cannot afford to equalise terms. Indeed it has not even been able to say how much that would cost. We consider that it can afford the terms and should fund these. It is after all what a good employer would do.


We are due to have a number of meetings with Royal Mail this week and further information will be provided.

In the meantime representatives are being asked to check the accuracy of members’ data - home address, job title, workplace etc and you can expect to be contacted to confirm this. Your assistance is much appreciated and anticipated.

In closing I would wish to reinforce the point that no-one is keen to embark on this approach and it is readily acknowledged that industrial action will be difficult for some members. You are after all managers in the organisation. You understand and appreciate the challenges that the business is facing. However, you have just agreed to changes to the pension scheme that provide savings to the company and these 1600 redundancies, with the terms that are being pplied to them, are outrageous.


We have never said that we oppose change or, indeed, that we reject the redundancies. What we have focused on is the potential impact on the scale of these changes and the impact it will have. We have set out our position of concern for those that will remain in the organisation after the changes and that their roles must be deliverable and realistic in terms of scale and responsibility.

We are looking for your support to ensure that whatever changes are demonstrably required can be agreed and implemented in a reasonable and sensible manner.


Royal Mail has spent a lot of time recently stating that it is aware that the role of the manager is key to the future. Let it prove that it is and make these changes in a more considered way than it has been doing so far. Make the terms the same and give those affected the commitment that there will be no compulsory redundancies.


Yours sincerely







Brian Scott

Unite CMA Officer