JS RM & CWU Covering Weekend Expansion of Premium Products

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Letter to Branches





No. 653/15
Ref: 733.01
Date: 8th October 2015


For the attention of:

All: Postal Branches
Divisional Representatives
Area Processing Representatives


Joint Statement Between Royal Mail and the CWU Covering Weekend Expansion of Premium Products

Branches and representatives will be aware that Royal Mail and the CWU are working together in order to develop mutual interest solutions and factor into them opportunities to deliver on the core commitments contained in the Agenda for Growth, Stability and Long Term Success Agreement.

The key component of this activity is looking at where new products or innovations can be introduced that will help the business compete in the increasingly competitive and rapidly evolving environment that is arising as a result of customers requiring later access to the Royal Mail network.

We are fully aware that competitors are already offering this kind of service and therefore product innovation will enable Royal Mail to compete for more of this business and in doing so it is hoped to build and retain traffic volumes that might have otherwise been lost to other competitors.

Given the aforementioned the attached Joint Statement between Royal Mail and the CWU Covering Weekend Expansion of Premium Products has been agreed and was endorsed by the Postal Executive at its meeting on 6th October 2015.

Arrangements already exist in relation to weekend collections for the T24 and T48 products and customers have also been requesting collections for premium products. Therefore Royal Mail has decided to expand the current weekend collection arrangements to include the following premium products from mid October 2015.

Special Delivery Guaranteed for contract customers only
International Tracked
International Signed
International Tracked and Signed

Product specifications remain the same for all products, including item tracking and Quality of Service. The National Workplan and Quality of Service is unaffected by this change.

The enhancement to the service will incorporate the following:

a) Special Delivery Guaranteed collected on Saturday will be delivered nationally on Monday (standard Saturday postcode exceptions apply).
b) Special Delivery Guaranteed collected on Sunday will be delivered on Monday in England & Wales only and on Tuesday for Scotland and Northern Ireland (standard Sunday postcode exceptions apply).
c) International traffic collected on Saturday or Sunday to be despatched to first available 1c outlet to HWDC.
d) Outward processing and despatching of expanded product portfolio on Saturday and Sunday PM.
e) Open 34 Mail Centres inward.

The introduction of any revised duty/attendance arrangements will be negotiated at local level in line with the IR Framework to meet customer collection times.

Branches and representative are requested to ensure that our members are made aware of this LTB and attached Joint Statement.

Any enquiries in relation to this LTB should be addressed to Joe Malone, Acting Assistant Secretary, e-mail: dwyatt@cwu.org or shayman@cwu.org quoting reference number: 733.01.

Yours sincerely


Joe Malone
Acting Assistant Secretary


JOINT STATEMENT BETWEEN ROYAL MAIL AND THE CWU COVERING WEEKEND EXPANSION OF PREMIUM PRODUCTS


Background

Royal Mail (RM) and the Communication Workers Union (CWU) are working together in developing key business policies, mutual interest solutions and a new culture, all of which are at the core of the commitments in the Agenda for Growth, Stability and Long-Term Success Agreement.

Both parties recognise that creating the right joint working environment is key to the success of the business and the commitment to provide employment security in all operational functions of the business.

Both parties recognise the pressures of the increasingly competitive and rapidly evolving environment we operate in and are committed to the strategic objective of creating and developing an agenda for traffic, product and revenue retention & growth and defining a tangible competitive response as a positive alternative to simply managing decline across the RM operational network.


Introduction

Parcels competition continues to increase with competitors expanding their networks and delivering enhanced customer services. Royal Mail is responding to the market challenges through a number of initiatives designed to defend and grow revenue & traffic, and to extend their service capabilities.

Royal Mail currently offers customers a free Saturday and Sunday PM collection for T24 and T48 tracked products only. However, customers have also requested the collection of premium products at weekends since the launch of the weekend T24 in August 2014 and T48 offering in June 2015.

The commercial goal for Royal Mail is to ensure that all premium products have weekend collection capability. This in turn will open up new growth prospects for the business, which is good for the company and our people.


What are we doing?

Royal Mail is expanding its weekend product range to include Special Delivery Guaranteed and International Products. The following products are within scope:

Special Delivery Guaranteed for contract customers only
International Tracked
International Signed
International Tracked and Signed

Product specifications remain the same for all products, including item tracking and Quality of Service. The National Workplan and Quality of Service is unaffected by this change.

When are we doing it?

Currently the sales teams are being briefed and customers will be able to access this enhancement to weekend collections from mid October 2015.


Operational Impact

This operational change will have the following impact on operational units:

a) Special Delivery Guaranteed collected on Saturday will be delivered nationally on Monday (standard Saturday postcode exceptions apply).
b) Special Delivery Guaranteed collected on Sunday will be delivered on Monday in England & Wales only and on Tuesday for Scotland and Northern Ireland (standard Sunday postcode exceptions apply).
c) International traffic collected on Saturday or Sunday to be despatched to first available 1c outlet to HWDC.
d) Outward processing and despatching of expanded product portfolio on Saturday and Sunday PM.
e) Open 34 Mail Centres inward.

The introduction of any revised duty/attendance arrangements will be negotiated at local level in line with the IR Framework to meet customer collection times.


Involvement

Timely engagement will take place between local managers and CWU IR representatives in regard to the process for making this product offering available to existing and new customers. Appropriate Union release time will be provided for the CWU representatives to ensure meaningful involvement.

Any questions of interpretation, implementation, or application of this Joint Statement shall be referred to the respective Headquarters for resolution.









Joe Malone
Acting Assistant Secretary
CWU

Francis Williams
Head of Parcel Design
Royal Mail


Date: 8th October 2015

[meercat]

Mondays just got a lot busier then.

We are on longs and shorts in our DO and Monday is one of the shorter days when we have 15mins less to complete.

No mention in this joint statement atall about how we are supposed to absorb this extra delivery workload on a Monday - one of our shorter days. A more flexible business operation to keep up with the competition is great, who could complain? But where do we find the time for this extra Monday workload??

Union? You can't even comment on that in the statement? Do you think we are magicians who can magic up more time????????????

[halfull]

our union as regards to dealing with our daily workload are becoming a joke! Listen to your workers cwu!
People are at physical breaking point!

[gand]

Mondays just got a lot busier then.

We are on longs and shorts in our DO and Monday is one of the shorter days when we have 15mins less to complete.

No mention in this joint statement atall about how we are supposed to absorb this extra delivery workload on a Monday - one of our shorter days. A more flexible business operation to keep up with the competition is great, who could complain? But where do we find the time for this extra Monday workload??

Union? You can't even comment on that in the statement? Do you think we are magicians who can magic up more time????????????

You find the time buy telling them you are working your contacted hours and what do you want me to leave.