|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CWU Support
Treasure Chest
|
|
POL members can find treasure in their pay packets, due to a new
initiative, supported by the CWU.
The initiative, announced this week, runs for 3 months, January to
March 2006. For each Credit Card,
Homephone, or Car Insurance sale made, £10 will be put into the office
treasure chest.
At the end of the period, this treasure is paid out equally to all
members in the office, with no upper limits on the amounts that can be
earned. This is in addition to money
that can be earned as part of the existing scheme.
Welcoming the initiative, David Bowmaker, Northern TCR said, “It’s
an office based scheme, so it shows that POL are listening to what we are
saying about our members working better when they work together.”
“We know there are concerns about individual bonuses, and this
agreement should show that we are alive to those concerns.”
(16/12/05
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
First
Thornaby – Then Scotland hit for Six
|
|
It’s been a bad month for the Northern
Territory.
Hot on the heels of Ellesmere Port, the sale of
Thornaby BO in Cleveland was announced
on 29th November. POL are
proposing to sell the office to Aspire U Ltd – a company only registered
that same month. This will mean the
loss of over 200 years experience in Thornaby.
Then the bombshell, one week later.
Six Scottish Offices were announced on the same day. Members at Hope Street Glasgow, Coatbridge, Dumfries, Bathgate, Dunfermline and Perth have all been
told that their office is to be sold off.
With the exception of Dumfries, Spar is the
proposed buyer. (Malhotra
Partnerships Ltd are proposed buyers for Dumfries).
Any suggestion that increased selling saves offices were dispelled
with the announcement of Coatbridge in
particular. In the half year April
to September the office was one of the best 14% in the UK for hitting
its sales targets.
With eight closures on the go at the moment, and more than a hint
that there are more to come, the Northern Territory is now firmly under the
microscope, and already, the Cleveland and Glasgow Branches have made moves
to get their campaigns underway.
With a six week “Consultation period” taking place over the
Christmas period, timescales are tight, but members are in a determined
mood, and will take these decisions to the wire.
Report 16/12/05
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Any Port in a Storm for POL
|
|
POL have once again shown their true colours with their decision to
sell off the Ellesmere Port Office to ASDA.
The move, which will see the loss of 12 counter jobs in March next
year, yet again shows that POL persist with their blind approach to the
Directly Managed Network, giving no regard to the wider aims of the new
sales culture.
POL reason that “we will need to
continue to diversify and adapt to continue to strengthen and develop in
the increasingly competitive and changing marketplace”. What POL fail to show is how getting rid
of the experience and expertise at Ellesmere
Port is going to help to do this.
Whilst the CWU recognise the need to protect as many Directly
Managed Branches as possible, we are willing to sit down and discuss the
best way to do this, so that we can have a viable network of offices in
years to come. Instead, POL are
continuing with their blinkered reasoning.
Report 23/11/05
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Goodbye,
Mr Mills
|
|
POL have announced that David Mills is to leave the company after
three and a half years as Managing Director. His position will be temporarily filled by
David Miller.
The news, which was announced on 17th November, is part
of changes to the Royal Mail group structure.
Alan Leighton stated: “David and I have agreed that the time has
come to find a successor to lead Post Office Ltd through its next challenging
stages of development.”
“We now have the structure in place to take the group though the
next stage of its development. Royal Mail has achieved a huge amount over
the last three years but we know there are more challenges to come in all
our businesses over the next 3 to 5 years. I am confident that our people,
and the management team we are putting in place, will continue to meet
those challenges.”
We understand that Mr Mills will officially depart at the end of the
year.
Report 18/11/05
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sexual Harassment Laws Strengthened
|
|
Changes to the laws governing Sexual
Harassment and Sex Discrimination have been widely welcomed. The
changes, which took effect from 1st October 2005, are legally complex and will develop with case law, but it is
already clear that they reach further than previously.
Prior to October, sexual harassment was
dealt with as a detrimental discrimination based on sex. The new wording specifically covers sexual
harassment and sex-based harassment.
Pregnancy was previously only covered by
case law, but the new changes ensure that discrimination on the grounds of
pregnancy is specifically covered.
This means that the woman does not have to show how she was treated
by using a comparator (the hypothetical pregnant male).
Changes also affect cases of Indirect Sex
Discrimination. Unlike direct
discrimination, the employer can offer justification for the offending
practice. However, from now on, the
justification
criteria have been changed so that the burden is on the employer to show
that the provision, criterion or practice is "a proportionate means of
achieving a legitimate aim".
More information can be found in the National Bulletin.
Report 18/11/05
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
POL: Cash Service: Future Business Strategy
|
|
As reported in LTB 492, dated 17th October, the Union’s negotiating
team was due to meet management on Tuesday 25th October. I can confirm this meeting took place and
that the Union was
represented by myself, Norman Candy, Carl Maden and Tom Ironside,
Researcher.
The management negotiating team consisted of Ian Anderson, Executive
Director HR, Keith Rann, Head of Cash Services, Neil Ennis, Cash Programme
Manager and Colin Stretch, National IR Manager.
From the Union’s perspective
the purpose of this meeting was to present our proposals in regard to the
future of Cash Services. This
document which has been prepared by the Union’s research
department is comprehensive and as such the business was unable to respond
immediately. They did agree to
provide a formal response by the end of this month.
Once we receive the response from the business this will be
published together with our submission.
In the meantime please see the attached letter to Ric Francis,
Operations Director that encapsulates our position. We have also agreed the following joint
statement:
"The CWU formally presented their
counter proposals for Cash Services to Post Office Ltd management earlier this week.
Management committed to review the
proposal and will provide a formal response by 31st October.
The next steps in the consultation process is that
both parties agreed to further workshops which will take place in
November"
As can be seen from the above it is our intention to participate in
a number of workshops in November.
These workshops were our initiative and were proposed on the basis
of identifying areas where enhanced productivity and greater flexibility
could be established. Clearly for
this approach to be successful we would expect it to be coupled with the
introduction of an incentive scheme.
It should be remembered that the key objective during the course of
these negotiations has been to convince POL to continue operating in the
external market. It remains to be
seen whether the approach to enhance productivity linked with greater
flexibility will be an acceptable way forward to enable POL to fully commit
to continuing with its Cash in Transit external operation.
Report 31/10/05
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pledges Update
|
|
Recently a number of issues have been raised by Representatives and
Branches in relation to the ongoing introduction of the new sales culture
within POL. These issues were
discussed at length at the TCR/TCCs Briefing held on Monday 17th
October 2005.Concerns were raised with regard to the process of pledging
conversations and sales targets.
Consequently the Union met with
management yesterday to discuss these ongoing concerns. Essentially the Union’ s objective in
meeting with management was to ensure that the safeguards for the
membership contained in the agreed Code of Practice were not being diluted
or diminished locally by inappropriate management activities.
The meeting was conducted by both parties in a constructive and
positive manner. POL and the Union agreed that they remain committed to the Code of
Practice. Indeed contained within
correspondence received in the department from Ronnie Flynn, General
Manager, Diamond, earlier this week is the following statement: “I am fully committed to both the letter and the spirit of the
Code of Practice.”
As a result of the meeting clarification was agreed on a number of
issues contained within the Code of Practice. POL have also agreed to provide the Union, during the
next fortnight, with a draft statement that reflects these discussions.
However, in the interim, it was agreed to advise CWU Branches that
the following key principles in relation to Pledge sheets have been agreed:
- There
will be one nationally agreed pledge sheet to be deployed in all Crown
Offices.
- The
pledge sheet will be annotated to include a statement that reaffirms
that there are no individual targets for sales and that sales targets
are purely a Branch based target.
- The recording of actual sales or customer
commitments on the pledge sheet, do not imply individual targets for
sales, neither is there any linkage to managing under performance or
any suggestion of an individual bonus scheme.
In view of the above
clarification we are satisfied that members can continue to complete the
pledge sheets.
Finally once we have
received the draft statement and established an agreed way forward a
further LTB will be published. This
will contain the management statement which we are confident will provide
the necessary safeguards for our members.
Report 20/10/05
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ronnie Sets the Standard
|
|
Members around the UK got a message
from Ronnie Flynn about inappropriate behaviour from managers.
Ronnie, General Manager, Diamond segment, made his position clear in
a reply to Andy Furey, CWU National Officer, who had raised concerns.
“Perhaps you’re in the wrong
job” was the offending phrase used
by SAMS that had upset members.
Reports came to Andy’s attention from more than one Head of Sales
area.
“I have no doubt that this comment is being made by some managers to
my members” said Andy. “I am disgusted by this unsavoury
development”
It was a phrase that Ronnie
Flynn was quick to squash.
“I do not support the use of the alleged phrase” replied Ronnie, “I
am fully committed to both the letter and the spirit of the Code of
Practice.”
Report 18/10/05
|
|
|
|
|
|
Operational efficiency Rolls into
town
|
|
It’s been working its way north for about a year now, and it’s
starting to hit our offices in the Northern
Territory.
Designed to make our offices more profitable in the wake of the loss
of BA work, there’s no doubt we’ll lose hours from the vast majority of our
units. Fortunately, some of our most experienced Reps are involved in the
programme, working along side S&E managers to create the duties, and
also visiting offices, to find out what impact the duties will have.
Hopefully, this means it will be more of the scalpel, and less of
the hatchet when dealing with CWU members.
If you have any queries about how it will affect you, or your
office, Contact your local CWU Representative for more information.
Report
13/10/05
|
|
|
|
|
|
No Impact with Impact
|
|
Branch Trading (aka IMPACT) is due to hit Branch Offices in October.
What does it mean for members in those offices?
Rumours that managers can use balancing time flexibly are
Untrue. POL have confirmed that
until an agreement is reached with the CWU, members will still have 50
minutes to complete a weekly balance and end of day procedures.
In effect, there is no change to what will happen each week. Once POL have had the chance to
understand the full implications of Impact, and how much time it actually
takes, they will negotiate any changes with the CWU.
Report 12/10/05
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cash
Services – Future Business Strategy (3rd October 2005)
|
|
I can now confirm that we attended a constructive meeting with
management on Thursday, 29 September.
Following our representations, management have agreed a two week
extension to the consultation period to enable us to develop counter
proposals. To this end, we have
agreed a joint Holding Statement with the business.
This states
“Representatives
from POL & CWU met for the second time yesterday (29 September) to consult
over management proposals following the strategic review of Cash Services.
It was agreed
that the consultation period would be extended to 14 October
2005 to allow the
CWU to make counter proposals.
Further meetings (7, 10 & 14 October) have been diarised.
Both sets of
representatives agree that it is in nobody’s interests for frontline
managers, crew or indoor staff to allow ad hoc and ill informed
communication to our customers and accordingly we would urge individuals to
refrain from entering into dialogue with our customers on this sensitive
issue.”
Our view is that if the business does
exit the external market, it will lead to significant job losses and, for
those remaining, there will be a detrimental impact on earnings potential.
We are therefore now going into a period
of intense activity and to this end Tom Ironside from our Research
Department has been seconded to assist in preparing our report.
I will be accompanied by my team -
Norman Candy (Postal Executive), Steve Fishwick (Postal Executive) and Carl
Maden (Postal Executive) – at the further meetings that have been arranged.
POL are writing direct to employees to
outline what is happening on this issue.
We will also be writing direct to our members.
There has been lots of press speculation about the future of the
business over the past week so I hope this clarifies the current position
Report 3/10/05
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
