28 days notice on their current full time temporary contract

[TrueBlueTerrier]

North East Division Communication Workers Union
To all members in the following branches Newcastle Amal Cleveland amal, Darlington amal, North East Coastal and Durham County amal

Dear Union Member
The CWU were made aware by various calls from concerned members about managers approaching them and giving them 28 days notice on their current full time temporary contract, this action has been taking arbitrarily and without any discussions with the CWU.

The CWU arranged a meeting with Royal Mail on Tuesday of this week and insisted that they withdraw the 28 days notice Royal Mail have refused, we have now gave them to midday to withdraw the notices and if not we will register a point of principle disagreement at Divisional level to be forwarded to National HQ. In the meanwhile we have agreed to meet Royal Mail again on Thursday however our stance will not change in regard to the 28 day notice.

In their actions Royal Mail have broken the agenda for Growth agreement, the BT2010 agreement, the Job Security agreement and have not followed any agreed negotiation procedures as such all 5 branches are now considering balloting all delivery members in their branches for Industrial Action on the basis of Royal Mails Executive Action.

This is a serious breach of National agreements and a very serious situation that has members in tears and very angry, we will keep you updated with all information as it develops please share this information with as many of your friends and colleagues as possible.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Joint statement regarding temporary contracts that Royal Mail in delivery had advised were being reverted back to part time:

Joint Statement

Royal Mail and CWU are committed to working together and making Royal Mail a successful and thriving business with good employment prospects. The pressures on Royal Mail in a competitive and regulated environment mean that the need to maintain and improve efficiency is a constant feature in the day to day running of the business.

Royal Mail has recently discussed with a small number of employees on temporary contracts some changes that may potentially revert them back to their substantive part time contract across the North East.

It is acknowledged by Royal Mail that in a minority of cases these discussions could have been dealt with more sensitively. To this end and to pave a way forward in the spirit of joint working and the new agenda for growth agreement; the CWU and Royal Mail have agreed to carry out a joint review to look at alternative ways within the affected Units to improve efficiency which may produce solutions that can eradicate or minimise the need to revert temporary full time to part time.

The joint review will focus on as many solutions as possible such as reduced overtime levels, increased annual leave opportunities and Voluntary Redundancies etc.

This review will be carried out at pace so that people can be informed of the outcome of the review as quickly as possible. Royal Mail and CWU would like to reassure people affected by this recent change that should the review not be concluded by the 9th June then the temporary contracts will be extended until such a time that the outcome has been finalised/agreed and any decision is communicated to people.

Both CWU Divisionally and Royal Mail Regionally commit to monitoring this process on a weekly basis until all Units are resolved.