Post Office letter to Andy Furey : Area reps to face redundancy

[POSTMAN]

Andy Furey
Assistant General Secretary, CWU
CWU Headquarters
150 The Broadway
London
SW19 1RX

16th August 2016

Dear Andy

Section 188 – CWU Crown Area Representative Structure

I am writing to inform you of the impact for our reduction in Crown Area structure which will directly impact the CWU area representative community within Post Office.

Our proposals will result in a number of colleagues being identified as surplus. The Post Office will make every possible effort to continue its excellent record of introducing change without compulsory redundancies.

To this end, should any unresolved surplus colleagues remain following the conclusion of the  90 day consultation period then CWU HQ will be consulted for a further 28 days.

Should there be any unresolved surplus colleagues at the end of this 28 day period, where it is in the best commercial interest of Post Office Ltd, unresolved surplus colleagues will be made redundant.

The purpose of this letter is to inform you of the proposals in accordance with our obligations under section 188 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992. I enclose a copy of the relevant form HR1 for your information.

1. Reason for the Proposal
The reason for this proposal is to realign the Crown Area Representatives with the new Crown Area structure This is in accordance with the Collective Engagement and Industrial Relations Framework (CEIRF) 2015.

We are therefore proposing to reduce the number of CWU Area Representatives from 10 to 6.

2. Numbers and Descriptions of Roles

Under this proposal, all 10 current Area Representatives will initially be placed ‘at risk’ of redundancy.

3. Proposed Method of Selection

The Post Office will consult with the post-holders and will issue a preference exercise to establish whether or not the individual is interested in voluntary redundancy or another role in Post Office.

The primary focus of selection will be via a straight yes/no preference exercise within the ‘at risk’ community. To maximise a voluntary approach and facilitate bumping we would be willing to extend the preference exercise to the current two Postal Executive and four Territorial Representatives not in scope all of whom will be offered the opportunity to volunteer for redundancy.

Where there is a surplus of volunteers, then in line with MtSF the seniority protocol will apply. Where there are insufficient volunteers, a fair and consistent assessment exercise will be conducted to determine who remains at risk of redundancy. Where candidates have equal scores following the assessment exercise ‘seniority’ will again apply to determine the selection outcome.

Redeployment will be managed under the agreed terms of MtSF (2010) for Administrative & Operational Grades.


4. Proposed Method of Carrying out Redundancies

A consultation period will begin on 24th August 2016 and will last until 21st November 2016. No individuals will be made redundant until the end of this period. During this 90 days period impacted employees will have a minimum of 3 one-to-one meetings within a 90 day window.

Post Office and its’ recognised Unions has a successful record in avoiding compulsory redundancy during organisational changes, and we will endeavour to find alternative suitable employment for all surplus staff who have not requested to leave via voluntary redundancy. If this is not possible within 90 days there will be a further 28 days of intensive consulation with CWU to address unresolved surplus at the completion of which compulsory redundancy will take effect.

5. Proposed Method of Calculating Redundancy Payments

Voluntary redundancy payments will be calculated in accordance with MtSF terms and subject to consultation.


6. Next Steps

We would like to meet with you at 11:00 in the Union Room (Sanquhar), 1st Floor Finsbury Dials, on Wednesday 24th August 2016 to continue collective consultation and discuss ways of avoiding redundancies, or reducing the numbers involved and mitigating the circumstances.

Yours sincerely



Jim Carter
Senior Industrial Relations Manager
cc John Whitefoot Head of IR, Roger Gale General Manager Crown Sales

S188 CWU ARs.odt

[Martin Walsh]

Industrial bullying at its worse ! The fact that CWU members are balloting has triggered this letter. The fact that it came without any advance negotiations on change demonstrates that Post Office LTD are out too destroy the CWU and POL members.

The fact they also mention compulsory redundancy if they can not get volunteers is also shocking.

The CWU should be campaigning throughout the union movement too stop this bullying including boycotting POL products.

Remember Royal Mail will be quietly watching what is happening especially with pensions and one way coming soon.

Remember POL is still in the Government control as well.

[dvbuk55]

You would have thought it an obvious move if your downsizing the workforce then the representation would also be downsized across the whole business.

[Martin Walsh]

Dvbuk of course you would eventually but why would you do this at the very moment where members need to the advice of area reps there are no local reps to help with redundancy, closures of Crown offices , TUPE issues , MTSF issues etc ! Plus on top of pensions. No this was and is a tactical decision done at this time too undermine the dispute.

Remember POL have increased their manager structure to deal with their plan to destroy the industry snd yet they announce redundancies to area reps without discussion !

[tuffin]

Dingo your right. In RM the IR framework as served us well through countless managerial reorganise and Workplace closures. This is about destroying the CWU bit by bit . It's time the CWU started to take the fight to POL

[k979aaa]

Dvbuk of course you would eventually but why would you do this at the very moment where members need to the advice of area reps there are no local reps to help with redundancy, closures of Crown offices , TUPE issues , MTSF issues etc ! Plus on top of pensions. No this was and is a tactical decision done at this time too undermine the dispute.

Remember POL have increased their manager structure to deal with their plan to destroy the industry snd yet they announce redundancies to area reps without discussion !

We are where we are because we did not make a stand and chose not to fight now we have a piece of paper wonder where I saw that before we are dealing with a Neo fascist organisation which will crush the workers our time for uniting has been and gone! We could have put all these issues and more to a vote but our union decided to let others suck it and lets see what happens yep no one is going to back London now and try as you can it will not make any difference as without unity their is division and divide and rule will ensue!

[slinder123]

looks like the culling will begin soon in royal mail delivery

[dvbuk55]

Dvbuk of course you would eventually but why would you do this at the very moment !

Because dingo, they don't care and realise they have the upper hand. Where I live there is a town centre Crown office which has been suggested would be closed and the staff or at least some of the staff moved to WH SMITHS which is half the size of the Crown office without any parking and a congested pedestrianised walkway. Does that sound like they give a toss, they're just after capitalising on the building.

[Martin Walsh]

K939 This is not Royal Mail this is POL. Sadly a totally different company now.

CWU members are balloting over POL managements decision to destroy the industry and close their pension scheme which actually is in surplus.

Now your snipe at the CWU should have pulled all things together and balloted and that it is too late and no one is going to support London now is so defeatist.

The battle is coming and when things are laid down too the members that their deferred pay which after all is pensions are being ripped away from them , that Royal Mail want longer spans , much later starts , normal day on Sunday's for such things as enquiry office opening , that Mail like D2D will be maximised on Wed , Thurs and Friday to ensure cost per item is low and that Monday , Tuesday and Weds will be reduced traffic with less staffing in line with Of Com's WIK report , that all attendances will standard no wallingtons , no 4 or 9 day fortnight , that all staff will be required too clock in and out , that 1 in every 3 delivery offices will close , that there will be further Mail centre and RDC closures depending on which offices get the new Automation , that there is a COLD 2 which removes more boxes from collections , that Royal Mail want too reduce flights which drive later starts in any case and of course they want more flexibility about the fact that resourcing will be done by the computer package linked too data capture which will generate the duties each day ! In addition too all of this merging on the street will also be required and more part timers but capping part timers hours !

If you think that only relates to London having a fight than fair enough !

Equally let's be clear even in 2007 the PAY and Mod dispute on strike days there were pockets of the country who did not join the strike ! This is from a Royal Mail report on the support for the strike. This is based on when Royal Mail had Area Directors


Essex had just 6% who did not join the strike
Central and West London 4%
Croydon and Gatwick. 14%
East Anglia. 17%
East and North London. 0.5%
Home Counties North. 14%
Home Conuties West. 6%
Kent. 12%
South London. 2.8%
Twickenham , Kingston
And Guildford. 30%
Cumbria and Lancanshire. 7%
East of Scotland. 11%
Cheshire and Mersey. 2%
Manchester. 3%
Mid Yorkshire. 14%
North East. 10%
Northern Ireland. 24%
North of Scotland. 61%
South and East Yorkshire 10%
West of Scotland. 3%
Birmingham Hereford
And Worecster. 13%
Central and West Midlands 17%
Chester , Shopshire,
North and Mid Wales 10%
Devon and Cornwall. 15%
East Midlands. 9%
Hampshire and Dorset. 21%
North and West Midlands. 17%
South and West Wales. 2%
Thames Valley and
Gloucester 17%
West of England. 9%

So you can see even before there was any action some areas went to work ! It will be the same again but those who fight will at least get something out of

[Deadly]

that there is a COLD 2 which removes more boxes from collections

I'm guessing this is moving the boxes onto delivery rather than removing them completely? Do you have any more details, ie what does COLD 2 mean?

[daveyeff]

its COLOD 2. collection of letters on delivery. basically its their 2nd stage of their plans to put all the collections on to the D.O. staff.

[daveyeff]

it isn't scaremongering either. they want more or less ALL the stuff dingo says to be the way forward and standard way of working.

[Deadly]

Thanks for that. It'll be interesting to see how it all plays out.