Romec Cleaners’ Update 2015

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Letter to Branches






To: Branches with POSTAL Members

Dear Colleague,

Romec Cleaners’ Update 2015

At the Romec Briefing held in Birmingham on the 27th November 2014 it was reported that a written update would be provided on the subjects raised that day appertaining to Cleaners, which is as follows.

A number of pay related issues remained outstanding from the 2014 pay deal and they were subject to ongoing discussions as agreed in the pay deal. Those issues fell into 3 separate subjects, Cleaners’ Productivity Scheme, Leave Purchase and MAST Cleaners. An initial meeting took place with Romec at 100 Victoria Embankment on Tuesday 9th December attended by Mick Kavanagh, George Ryan and myself on behalf of the CWU where all of the subject matters were discussed along with the ‘Living Wage’ and Romec IR. No resolution was found to any of the subjects discussed and it was agreed to meet again in January 2015 to see if progress can be made on any of the outstanding issues. An agreed date for the meeting is awaited and a further update will be provided in due course.

Another issue raised at the Briefing was that of CWU representation for Cleaners and the role of CWU Branches in this regard. Whilst we have a structure agreed with Romec that includes the CWU Regional Cleaning Representatives, it is at local level that representation needs strengthening. Whilst we recognise that many CWU Representatives already provide support locally we are requesting all local representatives in all Royal Mail workplaces make themselves known to the Cleaners in their office(s). This is not to undermine the role of the CWU Romec Regional Representatives but to provide support and assistance for Cleaners in their localities. This can be done by simply providing a contact number and providing advice and guidance where necessary. Contact details for CWU Romec Cleaners Representatives can be obtained from the Outdoor Dept.

Finally attached below for reference is the report on Servest, as mentioned at the briefing.

Any enquiries to Bob Gibson’s Office, quoting reference 120.12
Email address: hnutley@cwu.org

Yours sincerely

Bob Gibson
CWU Assistant Secretary – Outdoor

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TUPE TRANSFER OF CLEANERS TO SERVEST

The transfer of CWU represented grades to Servest took place on the 1st October 2014.
Prior to the Transfer several meetings took place between CWU and Servest.
Under the provisions of TUPE all CWU grades retain protection in regard to their existing terms and conditions including existing Industrial Agreements concluded between CWU and their previous employer Romec.
PENSIONS
Pensions do not transfer under the TUPE provisions however members of the RMG Pension and of the Cofley Defined Benefit Pension Schemes have been offered membership of the Forest Pension Scheme which is considered Broadly Comparable. There are no members of the Balfour Beatty Pension Scheme.
For Reference a total of 197 CWU Grades were transferred of which 95 were transferred into Romec from two external cleaning companies within the past two years (MAST Contract).
NB: The MAST contract originates from the mid 1990 period, during which RMG contracted out a number of buildings to external cleaning providers. This group of people are employed under minimum terms and conditions of employment.
Of the 102 former Romec employees (11) are members of the POPS Pension scheme of which four are over the age of 60, five are over 50, and two under the age of 50.
Five are members of the Cofley Pension Scheme.
Forty are members of the Government NEST Scheme.
Fifty Six have opted out and are not members of any Pension Scheme.

IMPACT OF TRANSFER
Monthly Pay
All Employees within Servest are monthly paid. Seventeen weekly paid were affected by this change.
Only one issue has arisen as a result of the change which was promptly addressed by Servest on it being brought to their attention.
Holiday Year
The Servest holiday year runs 1st Oct – 30th September.
All holidays booked for the year up to 31st March 2015 will be honoured.
As from April 2015 a pro rata allocation of holiday will be scheduled up to 30th September 2015 and a full allocation provided as from 1st October 2015.
Holidays are booked on an individual basis with the immediate line manager on the basis of statutory provisions of notice. There is no advance allocation or selection process.

Since the transfer there have been several enquiries regarding holidays however on each occasion they have been as a result individuals misunderstanding of the information provided to them.

Attendance Patterns
There have been no changes to attendance patterns as a result of the transfer and Servest have to date stated that non are anticipated.



CWU Deductions
Servest have agreed to continue making deduction from pay of CWU subscriptions in relation to those members transferring from Romec who had such deductions prior to transfer. However they have also been clear that this provision will not be extended to new members. From the date of this transfer new membership recruitment will need to be on Direct Debit forms.

Recognition
Currently Servest have indicated a willingness to work with the CWU.
Details of the Recognition Agreement with Romec have been provided to them under TUPE provisions. To date the relationship has been mutually cordial. However at this point in time the recognition agreement put to Servest by the CWU has not been signed, and the current level of CWU membership is of concern being below 50% at just over 30%. The union has no representatives within Servest. While the current Cleaning representatives are all based within Romec, it is significant that Romec have already indicated they would not be prepared to fund release for representation in Servest.

The objective has and continues to be to conclude a recognition agreement specific to Servest. While this has been discussed with them in broad terms and they have expressed some interest, given the membership position it has been necessary to proceed cautiously.
In terms of representation Servest have indicated a preference for a named contact at CWU HQ level, a process they already have with other Unions, BECTU being the example given within the BBC, as they also provide cleaning services to Tesco and other retail stores it is also likely that USDAW are also involved..

Relationship
As indicated above contact with Servest has been maintained on a number of individual issues since 1st October.

This resulted in a meeting that took place at the Servest Office in Tamworth on Friday 21st November and a further meeting is under arrangement for early December.

For the most part this meeting was providing explanation of current agreements, principally the Managing the Surplus Agreement and London Weighting Areas. In relation to the MTS Agreement a specific case was discussed resulting from a POL Office closure that occurred just days after the TUPE transfer. Initially statutory terms were applied which was some £2000 below MTS terms. This was in fact to a large extent resolved following CWU involvement prior to the meeting.
A number of matters were discussed which will require further discussion.

RECRUITMENT
A letter was sent to all CWU grades in relation to the TUPE transfer by the Union, both members and non members at their home address. The letter provided an explanation in regard to the transfer and its impact.
Included was an invitation to take up membership, with an application form and CWU subscription rates provided. While some new members were recruited as a result the number was disappointing and fell far short of the target of achieving 50% plus membership. We will be carrying this exercise out again.