WEEKLY INFORMATION FROM THE COMMUNICATION WORKERS UNION
SUMMARY
Volume 8 Issue 17. Paragraphs 224 - 233 02 May 2003
SUMMARY
GENERAL
224 Gold Badge Awards
225 Headquarters Print
Work for Branches
226 Branch Magazine and
Website Competition
EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES
227 STUC Women's
Conference 2003
228 'Disability In Focus'
- April 2003 Edition
229 CWU Equal
Opportunities Disco
HEALTH AND SAFETY
No items this week
TELECOMS
230 Network Build
Transformation - Pilot Briefings
231 Wideband Resourcing in
Network Capacity & Planning
232 Network Capacity and
Planning Structural Reorganisation
233 Accenture HR Services
- Career Level Review
FINANCIAL SERVICES
No items this week
POSTAL
No items this week
LETTERS TO BRANCHES
LTB/233 EUREST/Accenture HR Services: 2003 Pay Claim (Sally Bridge)
LTB/234 RoMEC Cleaners' Pay and Other Issues (Dave Ward)
LTB/235 Pension Report to Branches (John Keggie, DGS{P})
LTB/236 Employment Law Bulletin No.1: Spring 2003 (Jim Moher)
LTB/237 Changes to New Start Learner Options for BT Wholesale
Network Operators (Sally Bridge)
LTB/238 Recruitment and Retention: London Weighting (John
Keggie, DGS{P})
LTB/239 Telewest Compromise Agreement Update (Donald MacDonald)
LTB/240 TDS (Dave Ward)
LTB/241 CWU/Hays Postal Statement (Billy Hayes, G.S.)
LTB/242 Union Accounts 2002 (Tony Kearns)
LTB/243 Harassment and Complaints Procedure (Ray Ellis)
LTB/244 Bank Holiday Pay Arrangements (John Keggie, DGS{P})
Back to the top
GENERAL
224
Gold Badge Awards
In order to give the Recruitment and Organisation committee some
guidance when dealing with Gold Badge nominations the National
Executive Council at its meeting of 24th April adopted the following guidelines:
That the Gold Badge in general should be awarded to national, branch,
regional and field officials.
These guidelines do not affect members who have already been awarded
the Gold Badge. Branches are also reminded that the award of the
National Gold Badge does not entitle the beneficiary to free membership.
Application forms for the National Gold Badge will be sent to
Branches upon request from the National Organising Department,
Branches are however asked to take into account the newly agreed
guidelines when deciding whether or not to nominate members from
their Branch for the National Gold Badge award.
Any enquiries regarding this paragraph should be addressed to Steve
Baguley, National Organising Secretary.
Back to the top
225
Headquarters Print Work for Branches
From time to time the Communications Department gets requests from
branches to design and produce print jobs such as leaflets, posters
or local publicity. Whenever we can, we try to meet these requests
both because we like working with branches, and because we want to
maintain a common branding throughout the CWU.
Recently, however, we've noticed that we spend as much time trying to
get branches to pay for the work as it takes us to do the job. This
is a pain, and it's pointless.
So in future, we are going to ask branches to agree before we begin
print or design work that the final bill can be deducted directly
from their headquarter's rebate. I hope this doesn't cause branches
problems. Alternatively, you could just pay an agreed amount up front.
Any enquiries please contact Marcia Murray on 020 8971 7497 or mmurray@cwu.org
Back to the top
226
Branch Magazine and Website Competition
Web wonders and branch hacks take note! The annual awards rewarding
the very best CWU branch magazines and websites are up for grabs once
again and as normal the competition will reach its climax at Annual
Conference in Bournemouth.
Nominations are now open, so it's time to think about getting
recognition for the branch editors and internet boffins who beaver
away to bring you the information you need at branch level.
Editors: All you have to do is decide which edition of the magazine
was your best of the last twelve months and send three copies to:
Marcia Murray, CWU Communications Department, 150 The Broadway,
Wimbledon, London, SW19 1RX.
Webmasters and mistresses: email your details, including the branch
URL (website address) to: mmurray@cwu.org
Deadline for entries is Thursday May 15 so don't delay, particularly
considering substantial prizes at stake thanks to Hamilton Bank which
is once again sponsoring the competition.
This year the winners of both the branch magazine and branch website
competitions will walk away with £250 in software vouchers,
enabling them to improve their publications still further.
EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES
227
STUC Women's Conference 2003
The 2003 STUC Women's Conference will be taking place on
Tuesday/Wednesday 18th/19th November 2003.
The closing date for the receipt of motions is Friday, 5 September
2003. In order that the NEC can consider any proposed motions within
the timescale, Branches in Scotland are invited to submit draft
motions or ideas for motions by Monday, 11 August 2003. Motions
should relate to issues of importance to women in Scotland.
Any enquiries on the above should be addressed to Michèle Emerson,
Acting Assistant Secretary, quoting reference No.3.11.1
Back to the top
228
'Disability In Focus' - April 2003 Edition
Included with this Briefing is the latest edition of 'Disability In
Focus', the Newsletter of the Disability and Special Needs Advisory
Committee. Further copies can be ordered from the Equal Opportunities
Department by phone, post or by email (to acrisp@cwu.org).
Any enquiries on the above should be addressed to Michèle
Emerson, Acting Assistant Secretary, quoting reference No.1.50.1.
Back to the top
229
CWU Equal Opportunities Disco
The Equal Opportunities Department in conjunction with the Women's
Advisory Committee are once again organising an Equal Opportunities
Disco at the Carrington House Hotel on Saturday, 31 May 2003, 8pm to
1am, tickets will be £5.00.
As in previous years the Women's Advisory Committee are organising a
raffle and any profits from the raffle will be going to support an
appropriate project or organisation.
Branches are invited to be generous as usual in providing prizes for
the raffle.
Please contact Katrina Quirke, WAC Chair on 020 8971 7380 or
Michèle Emerson, Assistant Secretary, email address memerson@cwu.org
for further information.
Back to the top
TELECOMS
230
Network Build Transformation - Pilot Briefings
Branches may wish to keep abreast of developments within the Pilot
areas. Attached for information are copies of briefings issued in the
pilot areas.
Brian Healy
Assistant Secretary
Judy Griffiths
Assistant Secretary (Clerical)
Back to the top
231
Wideband Resourcing in Network Capacity & Planning
Branches were advised in Branch Officials Bulletin No.15, paragraph
202 of the intent by Network Capacity & Planning to rebalance
workstream activities.
It was envisaged that they could meet the resource level required
mainly by rebalancing within Network Capacity & Planning from
areas where work volumes were declining. To facilitate this,
management operated an expression of interest window, open to anyone
of like salary range, to seek interest in a move to the Wideband work
area. This led to a significant number of individuals registering
their interest.
In line with the original plan, management now intend to progress
applications where they are operationally able to release an
individual from their current role. The management team is conducting
a review of all expressions of interest. The review looks at the
roles that are currently being performed by those that have expressed
an interest, and only where they are able to dissolve the role either
directly or by local rebalancing, will an individual be put forward
to the informal interview process. Although an ongoing process,
initial results mean that they will be now looking to conduct
informal interviews with circa 60 individuals, identified as a result
of the aforementioned review.
The interview will be conducted by the manager requiring resource,
and will be an opportunity for them to examine the skills and
capability of the individual and for the applicant to understand the
role in greater detail. Any subsequent offers will be made on a
voluntary basis, attracting the appropriate terms and conditions,
including attendance arrangements of the role in question.
It is envisaged that this informal interview process will be
concluded within the next couple of weeks, following which management
will identify any shortfall in resource levels. The next step will be
to seek volunteers from the wider Wholesale Operations team.
Brian Healy
Assistant Secretary
Back to the top
232
Network Capacity and Planning Structural Reorganisation
We have been advised nationally of an initiative which will
substantially change the structure of Network Capacity and Planning,
the first details of which are being released to all employees today
and the contents of which are in the attached document.
A commitment from the Director for NCP has clearly been given to
further consultation on the impact of the new structure and details
will be provided to Branches as soon as Head Office becomes aware.
Brian Healy
Assistant Secretary
Back to the top
233
Accenture HR Services - Career Level Review
Further to the detail announced in Branch Officials Bulletin No.14,
paragraph 185, discussions have continued with regard to providing
clarity and purpose to the Career Model.
In addition to the slightly revised Career Level Structure, there
will be a dual career path. This dual career path will commence at
Associate 1 right through to Executive level, although movement
behind the two can happen at any time.
Work will commence shortly on the detail behind the creation of
generic job descriptions which will be agreed at national level with
the Union.
As reported previously, it is the expectation of the Union that
members will not notice any difference, only that they will have a
clear understanding of their position in the company and have a
clearly defined generic job description which has been agreed with
the Union nationally.
Attached for the information of Branches is a copy of the management
communication on this subject.
Brian Healy
Assistant Secretary
Judy Griffiths
Assistant Secretary (Clerical)