National Conduct Procedure Draft Agreement and Policy Guides

[TrueBlueTerrier]

No. 331/2015
Ref: PTC/RE/dj/414
Date: 14 May 2015


TO ALL BRANCHES WITH POSTAL MEMBERS


Dear Colleague

RE: National Conduct Procedure Draft Agreement and Policy Guides

Talks have now concluded on a new national Conduct Procedure agreement associated policy guides (attached).

The PEC are recommending acceptance of the agreement and guides in a Branch ballot.

A national briefing will take place on Wednesday, 27th May at TUC Congress House, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3LS. The briefing will commence at 11.00 am, concluding not later than 2.30 pm. Further details will be provided in a separate LTB.

Ballot papers should be received on Tuesday, 26th May to be returned to head office by Tuesday, 9th June. The intention is to conduct joint training of managers and representatives, delivered jointly by CWU and Royal Mail trainers to a jointly designed course, prior to implementation on 3rd August 2015.

The Agreement & Guides

The format followed is the same as that for the Attendance Procedure. The agreement is mirrored by the Royal Mail Policy and supported by agreed policy guides. The objective has been to update and humanise the language of the procedure and place an emphasis on informal resolution where possible. This will be supported by the joint training.

Key Changes & Key Issues

Informal Resolution

In line with the emphasis on informal resolution where appropriate and in parallel with the new attendance procedure there is a new facility for an informal discussion to resolve an issue without recourse to the formal process:

The individual can meet their Union rep prior to the informal discussion.
All documentation must be provided at the start of the meeting.
If the informal route is chosen the matter cannot be escalated to the formal procedure unless there is a repetition.
If a more serious matter comes to light during an informal discussion the meeting must stop and a separate fact finding meeting be arranged.

Access to Documents

Documents will now be provided at the beginning of fact finding meetings rather than during the meeting as is currently the case (other than where there is more than one issue in which case documentation relating to the issues will be provided before the discussion of each issue).

Precautionary Suspension

A key objective was to end the routine practice of keeping people on suspension for long periods without any clear justification.

The agreement and associated guide makes clear that precautionary suspension should only last as long as necessary, where the breach of conduct is serious (e.g. suspected or admitted theft) and there is reasonable belief that the offence might be repeated and there is a risk to people, property, mail or the reputation of Royal Mail; or there is a reasonable belief that an investigation may be hampered if the employee remains at work.

The agreed Precautionary Suspension guide makes it clear that the suspending manager must produce a report of the reasons for the suspension which will be provided to the employee with a “confirmation of precautionary suspension” letter which must be sent within 24 hours of the suspension. This letter also makes it clear that the employee may discuss the case with their union representative, including sharing the content of letters. The suspending manager must review the suspension after 48 hours and again after a further 7 days. On each occasion, where the suspension continues, the manager must record the reason in the case file. If there is no conduct notification after 4 weeks, the third line manager will review the case to explore the reasons for the delay and the continued need for suspension and with the agreement of the employee their union representative will be involved in the review discussion.

In addition, Royal Mail has agreed to provide union head office with information on the number of precautionary suspensions by area on a fortnightly basis. A mechanism will be put in place for this information to be immediately shared with the relevant Senior Field Officials.

The agreement and the relevant guide therefore tightly define the circumstances in which precautionary suspension may be considered and contain a strong emphasis on keeping people at work or returning them to work as quickly as possible. By providing the rationale within 24 hours of suspension occurring, in a form which can immediately be shared with the union representative, this provides the member and their representative with the basis for swiftly challenging suspension decisions which do not seem to meet the agreed criteria. The fortnightly provision of information to CWU head office will give the union and the business a regular overview and the ability to identify any parts of the business in which it may appear that use of precautionary suspension remains excessive or unreasonable.

The provisions of the agreement and guide will be strongly reinforced by the joint training.

Delay

Another key objective was to “reset” the approach to delay. Although the current Conduct Code agreement provides for two categories – unexcused delay and wilful delay - in practice the vast majority of cases are treated as wilful delay, which constitutes gross misconduct and is a criminal offence. Both parties have accepted that this is inappropriate and the agreement replaces the existing categories with three categories:

Unintentional delay
Unexcused delay
Intentional delay

Unintentional delay covers genuine mistakes and misunderstandings which will normally be dealt with informally. Unexcused delay covers “carelessness or negligence leading to loss or delay of customers mail, breach or disregard of a standard or guideline”, with potential outcomes ranging from informal discussion to dismissal depending on circumstances. Intentional delay is defined as action knowingly taken by an employee which is deliberate with an intention to delay mail and this would normally be treated as gross misconduct. The revised definition meets the terms of motion 111 carried at 2014 Postal Group Conference.

The intention is to emphasise that each case should be dealt with on its merits – only the most serious cases should be dealt with as intentional delay.

The approach in Royal Mail delivery remains as an Annex (Annex 1) to the agreement.

Again, the major emphasis of the joint training will be to ensure that the new approach to the treatment of delay will be clear to all parties.

Authority Levels

The business continues to insist that acting or temporary managers carry out the duties of the grade being covered, including conduct issues. However, CWU grades on acting duties will not be able to deal with cases potentially involving major penalties and all managers – including acting and temporary managers - must be trained in the application of the conduct procedure before dealing with conduct cases.

Review

The agreement will be reviewed at national level after three months and then subsequently every six months. As part of the review we will specifically look at the outputs: number of precautionary suspensions and the case progressed under the procedure, how many were resolved informally, how many were resolved at the fact finding stage, how many resolved at the formal conduct stage and how many subject to the appeal process.

Conclusion

Negotiations have been lengthy and very detailed. The new agreement and guides represent an improvement on the existing code but even more importantly the commitment to joint training provides an opportunity to ensure that the key messages of the agreement, and particularly those around precautionary suspension and delay, are effectively communicated and understood.

The Postal Executive are recommending that Branches vote in favour of acceptance of the new National Conduct Procedure agreement Policy guides.

Copies of the agreement and policy guides can be accessed and downloaded via the following links:

National Conduct Procedure Agreement between Royal Mail Group and CWU and Unite-CMA
Royal Mail Group Conduct Policy
Conduct Informal Discussions
Fact Finding Guide
Conduct Meeting Guide
Conduct Policy – Decision making and Report writing
Conduct – Right to an Appeal
When to consider precautionary suspension
Managing employees who are on precautionary suspension due to a criminal investigation by Royal Mail Group Security
Absence whist on formal procedure
Security of Customers’ Mail and RMG Property
Late Attendance Guide

Any enquiries should be addressed to Ray Ellis’s department, quoting reference PTC/RE/dj/414.
Email address: rellis@cwu.org

Yours sincerely

Ray Ellis,
Assistant Secretary

[britwrit]

Delay

Another key objective was to “reset” the approach to delay. Although the current Conduct Code agreement provides for two categories – unexcused delay and wilful delay - in practice the vast majority of cases are treated as wilful delay, which constitutes gross misconduct and is a criminal offence. Both parties have accepted that this is inappropriate and the agreement replaces the existing categories with three categories:

Unintentional delay
Unexcused delay
Intentional delay

Unintentional delay covers genuine mistakes and misunderstandings which will normally be dealt with informally. Unexcused delay covers “carelessness or negligence leading to loss or delay of customers mail, breach or disregard of a standard or guideline”, with potential outcomes ranging from informal discussion to dismissal depending on circumstances. Intentional delay is defined as action knowingly taken by an employee which is deliberate with an intention to delay mail and this would normally be treated as gross misconduct. The revised definition meets the terms of motion 111 carried at 2014 Postal Group Conference.

This sounds like a big improvement.