CWU Annual Conference 2006

Clerical & Cash Handling Section

Northern Territorial Report on Conference decisions

affecting POL employed members

Annual Conference was dominated by Pay this year, both for Royal Mail, and for POL employed members. However, there were various other issues also discussed, and our strategies on a number of important issues was decided.

Congratulations to the many speakers from around the Territory. It was an indication of the progress made in the Northern Territory that so many delegates felt confident enough to debate issues in front of a Conference. Well done to Stephanie Mulholland from Manchester, and Neil Barry from North Lancs & Cumbria, who both spoke for the first time.

Speakers from the Territory were:

TCRs

Liam Murphy,

David Bowmaker,

Kieran Quinn,

Johnny McKeever

John Brown (Scottish Regional Secretary)

Nancy Callaghan (York District Amal)

Neil Barry (North Lancs & Cumbria)

Denis Steele (Cleveland Amal)

Peter Mageean (Newcastle Amal)

Kenny Law (Scotland No2)

Val Nicholson (Cleveland Amal)

Rosie Watson (Leeds No1)

Angela Bottomley (Gr Manchester Amal)

Stephanie Mulholland (Gr Manchester Amal)

With even more speakers than last year, the delegates from Branches in the Northern Territory ensured that your voice was heard, and were a credit to you, the members.

Whilst all decisions are important, without doubt Pay was the major debate that shaped the mood of conference.

It may be worth noting that management did not attend our conference, apparently Royal Mail Group are not concerned about what their employees think about some key issues and the concerns that have driven delegates from around the UK to submit motions to the CWU Annual Conference.

Pay

The biggest debate at Annual conference in the whole of the Postal Conference was about pay.

Speakers from around the UK agreed that the pay award was not good enough and that it was right for our negotiators to rejects it.

Delegates were appalled that POL felt that the CWU was not representing its members interests, which they saw as an insult both to the members intelligence and the CWU’s integrity.

They backed calls for a consultative ballot to show what the membership actually thought about the offer.

CIT Future Business Strategy

Concerns over the future of Cash were expressed by delegates. Conference agreed that it was welcome news that Cash Services would remain in the external market, but were concerned that the strategy of downsizing had not gone away. It was felt that there should be no unit closures until the impact of new business was known, and that the CWU should have an input when the business were seeking new contracts.

Appraisals/PDRs

Concerns over the way POL carry out Appraisals, and their link to the Managing Underperformance Procedure were voiced by delegates during a debate on a motion by the western territory, Birmingham, Plymouth and Gloucester. It was felt that the CWU needed to get an agreement on both the PDR and the MUP procedures, and also to ensure that individual rights, such as the right of appeal, and the right to representation are included.

David Bowmaker spoke on behalf on the Northern Territory on the issue, supporting the move, and recommending that delegates agree the approach, especially as it was similar to a motion submitted by the Northern Territory. This was agreed.

However, a move by London 7 calling for a statement condemning a move away from a more balanced appraisal system was defeated. David Bowmaker opposed on behalf of the Northern Territory, on the grounds that it would send the wrong message – that the previous system was actually something to aspire to. He felt that the CWU should be seeking to get more protection than had been provided in the previous system, which had not been agreed with the CWU anyway.

Delegates rejected the move by London 7.

Annual Leave

Neil Barry from North Lancs & Cumbria raised concerns about the way that Annual Leave was being selected in his Branch area. Neil told Conference how Branch Managers disregarded the rights of Counter Clerks, and took first pick of their leave every year, then blanked out the weeks on the Leave list for everyone else.

Kenny Law (Scotland No2) and Liam Murphy both sympathised with Neil’s plight, but felt that instead of negotiating a new agreement, a better way of dealing with the issue would be to use the Industrial Relations Framework to ensure that the proper interpretation of BOSA was correctly followed by management. This approach was agreed by Conference, leaving the North Lancs & Cumbria Branch that any disagreement on the issue would be dealt with appropriately.

Duty Arrangements

Whilst it was agreed that the principle of any time worked over and above scheduled duty time should be claimed back via time sheets, a motion by London North Western C&C proved to be more controversial. They sought to change the meal relief and tea break arrangements, giving extra tea breaks, and a 1-hour meal relief for everyone after 7 hours.

Angela Bottomley (Greater Manchester) opposed this, arguing that it was a flawed approach, which would mean that those offices that currently prefer 30 minutes meal relief would be forced to take an hour, meaning more time at work than they currently attend at the moment. The move was rejected by Conference.

There were some debates about the 5-minute target for waiting times, and whether it would be in our best interests to reintroduce it. On balance, delegates felt that this would not do anything to resolve the issues that the sales culture had brought about, and that it was unlikely that POL would agree to their reintroduction anyway.

Family Friendly Duties

A motion by the Northern Territory calling for a review of the way that POL deal with the Flexible Working legislation was well supported by all. Kieran Quinn moved the proposition, explaining that whilst the legislation was intended to build on workers rights, the way that it was being applied was not always balanced with the requirements of other workers in the units involved, and that we need to find out exactly what was happening, so that we could resolve some of the issues that were cropping up.

Other speakers, including Angela Bottomley (Greater Manchester), Peter Mageean (Newcastle) Denis Steele (Cleveland) and Kenny Law (Scotland No2) spoke in agreement. The approach was felt to be the right one by Conference, and a report is due to be published in time for next years annual conference.

Postshops

Speakers felt that those working on Postshops needed more protection, as work was being put onto them, regardless of whether it was proper to them or not. This had become worse with the Sales Culture, and it was felt that proper job descriptions were needed to reflect the new sales environment and products. It was also felt that there should be a comprehensive review of postshop security and health & safety.

Crown Office Closures

The problem of membership in franchised offices was raised by Bristol. They felt that as a trade union, the CWU had the responsibility of effectively representing those working in franchised offices, and that recruitment campaigns should be set up to tackle firms such as Fourbuoys and Spar.

Sales Code of Practice

There were several debates about the Sales issues at this years conference. A move to get an all encompassing agreement, which would include cold selling, door to door leafleting, leafleting in shopping malls etc. was defeated. Nancy Callaghan (York & Dist) opposed the move, saying that we needed a revised agreement that stopped inappropriate methods, and not one that allowed them to happen. However, in another debate, it was agreed that there was a need to review issues such as power hours and selling on the customer side of the counter, and also to look at stress levels.

Horizon System

Problems with the Horizon system were highlighted by South East No5. Val Nicholson (Cleveland) spoke in support of the motion, which sought a working party to be set up to examine whether Horizon could be upgraded to cope with the demands of the business. Delegates agreed that if POL is to have a future, then this would need to be looked at.

Bonus Scheme

A motion from the Northern Territory, raising concerns over changes to targets, aiming to include quotes as well as sales as being bonus worthy, and seeking to redress the balance between managers and clerks, was supported by delegates. Kieran Quinn moved the proposition, and Stephanie Mulholland (Greater Manchester) supported.

Extra Travelling Expenses

The issue of the travelling terms that apply where there is no surplus was dealt with under a motion from the Northern Territory. David Bowmaker and Johnny McKeever both explained that POL had imposed worse terms than those in MTSF in the North, and that this decision had been supported by Royal Mail Group when it had been raised further. It was felt that this was wrong, as this gave different terms to different members, depending on circumstances that did not affect them.

Conference agreed with this, and supported the motion.

Of course, now that Conference has decided these policies, it will be up to our National Negotiators to achieve them.

However, given their success over the last few years, and indeed the fact that in some instances, they are close to reaching agreements, there are grounds to be optimistic that our Postal Executive will be successful.

Thanks go to all of the delegates from the Northern Territory who attended the C&CH Conference. They all worked very hard on your behalf and represented your views to the best of their ability. Hopefully this trend will continue in future years.