WEEKLY INFORMATION FROM THE COMMUNICATION WORKERS UNION
SUMMARY
Attachments or LTB's can be
emailed or downloaded from the National Site
Volume 9 Issue 35 Paragraphs 567 - 584 10 September 2004
SUMMARY
GENERAL
567 Meetings with CWU
Supported MPs
568 Equality &
Diversity Mandatory Training for Branch Officials (1)
569 Equality &
Diversity Mandatory Training for Branch Officials (2)
570 Reminder - TUC
Certificate in Employment Law
571 Defend Council Housing
572 Charity Sponsorship
573 Job Vacancies
EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES
574 2004 Disability Seminar
HEALTH AND SAFETY
575 Temporary Raising of
Dropwires to Allow Access to Poles
TELECOMS
576 Accommodation on the
BT Estate - Security
577 SHDS and Rod and Tube
(R&T) Working Groups
578 Network Build -
Resource Advert Campaign
579 Network Build Adverts Online
580 Telewest - Overtime Brief
581 Network Build - Rapid
Response Teams
582 Network Build - Fibre
Splicing and Changes to Access/Core Boundary
583 Frames Quality Guide Book
FINANCIAL SERVICES
No items this week
POSTAL
584 Interim Productivity
Scheme - Progress Report - Week 22
LETTERS TO BRANCHES
406
01.09.04 Age Discrimination - BT Retirement Policy - W McClory
407
01.09.04 Age Discrimination - Retirement Age - W McClory
408
01.09.04 Clerical Constituencies Assistant Secretaries - Jeannie Drake
409
01.09.04 SDD Related Delivery Issues - Bob Gibson
410
01.09.04 Political Fund Review Ballot - GS
411
02.09.04 Transfer Canteen Cleaning Work Romec to Quadrant - Bob Gibson
412
02.09.04 Double Deck Trailers/Logistics - Terry Pullinger
413
06.09.04 Pay Reviews - Hays - Sally Bridge
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GENERAL
567
Meetings with CWU Supported MPs
BOB Paragraph 558, 10 October 2003, gave details of the scheduled
meetings with CWU Group MPs up to July 2004.
Branches should note that the June meeting was cancelled as it
coincided with our Annual Conference. Group MPs were invited to
attend Annual Conference for the day on 15 June and delegates could
meet them there. The meeting scheduled to take place on 20 July has
now been moved to Tuesday 12 October and representatives from
Northern Ireland, together with newly appointed PFMC members, will attend.
Billy Hayes, General Secretary
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568
Equality & Diversity Mandatory Training for Branch Officials (1)
In line with Conference policy, we now require branches to submit
applications for the following mandatory Equality & Diversity courses.
This course is held in the Wales Region:
Tuesday 12th October - Chester
Further dates and venues for other regions will be published in due course.
Nominations should be made on an application form for Union courses
and returned as soon as possible to Trish Lavelle, Head of Education
& Training, CWU Education & Training Centre, Alvescot Lodge,
Alvescot, Bampton, Oxon OX18 2PY. Telephone: 01993 843373; Fax: 01993
840960; email: mtodd@cwu.org
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569
Equality & Diversity Mandatory Training for Branch Officials (2)
In line with Conference policy, we now require branches to submit
applications for the following mandatory Equality & Diversity courses.
This course is held in the Wales Region:
Tuesday 9th November - Shrewsbury
Further dates and venues for other regions will be published in due course.
Nominations should be made on an application form for Union courses
and returned as soon as possible to Trish Lavelle, Head of Education
& Training, CWU Education & Training Centre, Alvescot Lodge,
Alvescot, Bampton, Oxon OX18 2PY. Telephone: 01993 843373; Fax: 01993
840960; email: mtodd@cwu.org
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570
Reminder - TUC Certificate in Employment Law
This course is aimed at senior union activists, Branch Officers and
CWU ET Panellists, whose role requires a working knowledge of
employment law. It is desirable for applicants to have completed the
CWU Skills or Health and Safety programme, or be able to demonstrate
that they have significant comparable experience of day to day
working with employment law. All applicants must be able to
demonstrate that their application has the support of the Branch.
The course continues in the trade union tradition of providing the
opportunity for learners to question the development and function of
employment law, individual rights at work resulting from it and its
significance to trade unions.
As with all CWU courses, the course is accredited by the National
Open College Network.
Aims and Ethos
The aims of the Certificate course are:
1. To provide guided learning through which the student will become
more effective as a workplace representative
2. To promote an understanding of a trade union approach to
employment law
3. To deepen and extend the capacities of students, enabling them to
access full-time officer posts or Higher Education opportunities
4. To widen and deepen the understanding of trade union and workplace
issues and offer up to date detail of new developments
5. To develop personal/study skills, the ability to work collectively
and generally improve the confidence of students to study at a higher level.
Course Structure
The course is made up of 3 subject modules:
o The Changing Nature of Law
o Employment Law and the Individual
o Trade Union and Collective Rights
These are supported by 4 study skill modules:
o Communications and Study Skills
o Research Project
o ICT
o Legal Skills
In applying for the course, applicants are asked to provide a written response to the following questions:
1. Why do you want to undertake this course?
2. What benefits will this training bring to your Branch or workplace?
Please enclose your written response, which should be no longer than
300 words in length, along with your completed application form.
The residential element of the course will be run at Alvescot on the
following dates. These four residential weeks will be supplemented by
distance learning:
Week One: 15 - 19 November 2004
Week Two: 24 - 28 January 2005
Week Three: 28 February - 4 March '05
Weekend: 9 - 10 April 2005
Week Four:16 - 20 May 2005
The closing date for nominations is 30 September 2004
All courses at Alvescot are residential. The cost of tuition, food
and accommodation will be met from the General Fund. Ex-NCU Branches
are required to meet the cost of travelling and subsistence payments.
Branches requiring financial assistance from the General Fund to
enable them to send students to the course must submit the request
with the nomination, to enable the Trustees to consider the request
in time. The Education Centre can offer child-minding facilities for
a maximum of three under school age children at any one time. If any
applicant from your branch would like child-minding facilities, can
you please advise the age and sex of the child on the application
form. Further information on the child-minding arrangements will then
be sent to successful applicants.
Please indicate whether the applicant is employed in BT, Posts or
Alliance & Leicester. Nominations should be made on the form for
Education Courses and returned to Alvescot Lodge, by the closing date
shown above.
Application forms should be addressed to: Trish Lavelle, Head of
Education & Training, CWU Education & Training Centre,
Alvescot Lodge, Alvescot, Bampton, Oxon OX18 2PY. Telephone: 01993
843373; Fax: 01993 840960; email: mtodd@cwu.org
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571
Defend Council Housing
At the recent Labour Party Policy Forum the Union supported the
"minority motion" backing a "level playing field"
for council housing.
It is important that non council unions get more involved in the
campaign in view of the large number of our members who are council
house tenants and need improvements to their homes and the many
others (and their children) who would benefit from new council homes
being built as an alternative to 'market forces' running rip.
Branches can assist the 'Defend Council Housing Campaign' by writing
to their local CLPs urging support for the DCH report going to this
year's Labour Party Conference.
Any enquiries on the paragraph should be addressed to the General
Secretary quoting the reference GS 2.7.1
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572
Charity Sponsorship
One of our members working for Royal Mail in Nottingham will be
taking part in a charity overseas challenge in June 2005. His
challenge is to raise £10,000 by May 2005 and then to Trek the
"inca Trail" in Peru. Neil will be walking 6 hours a day
for 7 days, climbing to an altitude of 4174 meters but he believes
that his daily postal walk will act as good training.
Neil has sponsored himself for £500 and to date has managed to
raise £2,000. The charity he has chosen is the Marie Curie
Charity as he believes it is a worthwhile and important charity to
support and the charity provide a much needed care in the home for
the terminally ill. They also provide a large amount of money to
research. Cancer is an illness which has affected the lives of close
family, friends and work colleagues and Neil see this as his chance
to offer something back to those who provide help and support.
Any Branches wishing to sponsor Neil can email him on jilly.walden1@ntlworld.com
Any enquiries on this paragraph should be addressed to the General
Secretary's Department quoting the reference: GS 1.2
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573
Job Vacancies
The Communication Workers Union represents over a quarter of a
million members employed in Postal, Telecommunications, Information
Technology and related industries including Financial Services.
Last year, with the support of the Union Learning Fund we launched
our ambitious and ground-breaking Learning Centres Project (England),
which aims to introduce a new culture of workplace learning.
We are now seeking to recruit 2 new members to our team:
CWU Lifelong Learning Development Worker for Scotland
Fixed Term Contract up to March 2006*
Salary: £26,136 per annum
This role will be to deliver and develop the CWU Learning for
Scotland Project, as directed by the Project Steering Group, the Head
of Education and Training and in accordance with funding agreements.
CWU Regional Project Worker for North East England
Fixed Term Contract up to March 2006*
Salary: £26,136 per annum
This role will be to build on the groundwork that has already
established workplace learning centres in every English Region.
*Subject to adherence to Funding Agreement
The successful candidate(s) will have:
o Well developed communication skills, both written and presentational.
o A commitment to the principles and aims of the trade union movement.
o An understanding of the main issues and needs for workers with
basic and key skills needs.
o A good general standard of education or equivalent work experience.
o Knowledge of current government/Scottish Parliament and TUC/STUC
policy on lifelong learning.
o Knowledge of lifelong learning funding sources.
o Experience of monitoring and reporting on budget expenditure.
o Good IT Skills.
Applications for a secondment to this position will also be considered.
For further information and to receive an application pack for either
of these positions, please telephone the Personnel Department on 020
8971 7482 or email personneltemp@cwu.org
quoting 'Development Worker - Scotland' or 'Project Worker North East
England' .
Closing date - 12 noon Thursday 23rd September 2004
Interviews - Tuesday 12th or Wednesday 13th October 2004
Please note that interviews will take place in Scotland.
Additional information on the CWU can be obtained from our public
website www.cwu.org.
The CWU is committed to equal opportunities in employment.
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EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES
574
2004 Disability Seminar
The 2004 Disability Seminar will be taking place on Saturday, 13
November 2004 at the Queen's Hotel Dundee. Registration will be at
10am and the Seminar is due to finish by 4pm.
A Nomination Form for the Seminar, Attachment G.50 is included as an
attachment. Branches are advised that any release costs, travel costs
or expenses of delegates will have to be met out of Branch funds.
Lunch will be provided at the Seminar. Branches are asked to bring
this Seminar to the attention of interested members. A copy of this
information will be provided to the contact list and you may be
approached for assistance by members. Please give active
consideration to assisting members.
For those interested in staying at the Queen's Hotel the Disability
and Special Needs Advisory Committee have arranged a concessionary
rate of £35 Single B&B and £50 Double B&B. Bookings
can be made by contacting the Queen's Hotel on 01382 322515 or email reservations@queenshotel-dundee.com
quoting reference CWU.
Invitations to attend the Seminar have been sent to the Lord Provost
of Dundee; Margaret Curran, MSP and Michael Connarty, MP; Paul de
Gama, (Royal Mail); Gill Davidson, (Accenture/BT); Sarah Veale, (TUC
Equality); Billy Hayes, Trish Lavelle and Pat O'Hara (CWU). The
programme will include both speakers and workshops.
A social evening will take place on the Friday, 12 November 2004,
sponsored by the Communication Workers Friendly Society.
Any enquiries on the above should be addressed to Michèle
Emerson, Assistant Secretary, quoting reference No. 1.50.1
Att:
G50
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HEALTH AND SAFETY
575
Temporary Raising of Dropwires to Allow Access to Poles
It is a mandatory requirement in BT that the heights of all wires
crossing the carriageway are checked, to ensure a minimum clearance
of 5.2m. If there are any wires with a clearance below 5.2m, then it
is not permitted to climb the pole, and other means of access will be
required. Generally this will require that the job be passed to
another duty or work queue. In many cases, it may be that there are
only 1 or 2 wires below the minimum height of 5.2m.
BT has issued a memo Engineering Solutions Memo No. 9/2003 Issue 1.
(Attached) that details a practice to temporarily raise the height of
those wires, to allow the pole to be climbed. Once raised, it will
also permit the retensioning of low dropwires.
This memo details a practice to temporarily raise the dropwires
beyond 5.2m, to allow safe access of the pole.
A minimum of 2 people is required, with one person required for each
Prop Raising Telescopic. This practice will not be possible in all
instances, and will be impractical if there are a considerable number
of low dropwires. Each instance will require an On-Site Risk
Assessment before proceeding, which is detailed in the Memo. This
practice cannot be used for aerial cables.
Any enquiries on this matter should be referred to Dave Joyce,
Assistant Secretary quoting reference NS 27.
Att:
G52
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TELECOMS
576
Accommodation on the BT Estate - Security
BT has recently brought to our attention a high value theft from a BT
operational building which not only caused losses to the Company
running into several hundreds of thousands of pounds but also caused
short term operational difficulties. In reviewing physical security
following the break-in, a number of possible improvements were
identified that apply as much to CWU accommodation as anywhere else
in BT Estate.
The purpose of this BOB paragraph is to therefore issue what is
hopefully a largely unnecessary reminder to all CWU representatives
who have accommodation for union purposes on the BT Estate. Please
ensure all appropriate, obligatory and common sense security measures
are taken to safeguard the building from unauthorised entry (e.g.
closing windows, locking doors), and data from authorised use (using
computer passwords, logging off machines, locking drawers and filing cabinets).
Although there is no suggestion whatsoever that BT sees CWU
accommodation on the BT Estate as in anyway problematic from the
point of view of physical security, the accommodation is provided on
the basis that to do so does not jeopardise physical security. It
also is, clearly, incumbent on all of us to make sure that our own
information and data security is not compromised.
Any queries on this paragraph should be addressed to my office at CWU
Headquarters.
Simon Sapper, Assistant Secretary
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577
SHDS and Rod and Tube (R&T) Working Groups
Further to the most recent discussion at the Network Briefing Forum,
it has come to light in some parts of the country that whilst members
were not booking to 'no work estimates', they were most certainly not
fully utilised.
This issue has been picked up nationally and Branches may wish to be
aware of the actions that BT Wholesale management has taken to
address this. At least until 13 January 2005, Network Build is to get
Rod and Tube work back from contractors.
Attached for the information of Branches is a copy of the internal
email going out advising operational units in Contract Management,
Planning and Network Build.
Brian Healy, Assistant Secretary
Attachment
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578
Network Build - Resource Advert Campaign
The following is an overview of the advertising for the Network Build
recruitment campaign. It has been designed to meet two business requirements:
o To access people in the UK labour market early in the campaign,
with existing pertinent skills, as the need for these engineers is urgent.
o To increase diversity in the workforce and give the campaign a
broad appeal. This was a particular requirement from Steve Robertson,
Network Operations Director.
It was proposed that initial advertising would be on line by 27
August but has been delayed and Branches will be further advised.
Hays have also started database searching for interested people with
existing skills.
Newspaper advertising for the recruitment will consist of three
national ads (Sun, Asian Times and The Voice), and an Evening
Standard ad for the London area. Phase 2 will be regional ads
targeted to address cold spots following the response to these ads.
Whilst there are many reservations with regard to the use of the Sun
newspaper, it is reported that it was strongly advised by recruiting
agencies. They state that it is cost effective and has tremendous
reach into all forms of engineering.
Brian Healy, Assistant Secretary
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579
Network Build Adverts Online
Further to the advance briefing outlining details of Network Build's
intentions, Branches may wish to be advised that in terms of online
sites, the full list is as follows:
The campaign site is now live and can be accessed via the following
url: http://www.hays.com/jobs/btw.
The online advert has now been posted on 'hays.com' on the
Engineering channel. This can be accessed via the left hand menu on
the front page of the website, and then clicking on Top Jobs. The
advert has also been placed on the following job boards:
www.justengineers.co.uk
www.thecareerengineer.co.uk
www.jobsite.co.uk
www.totaljobs.co.uk
www.monster.co.uk
Some of the sites may take up to 24 hours to upload the vacancy so
Branches should bear this in mind. Where there is an option to search
for jobs across the UK, Network Build have selected this option, and
where they have had to specify (e.g. Monster) they have selected
South East/Southern as the location due to the volume of vacancies in
this area.
To complete the picture, the proposed dates of the press ads, all of
which are one quarter page colour ads and BT badged, are as follows:
The Voice 13 September
Asian Times 14 September
The Sun 16 September
Evening Standard 16 September
Eastern Eye 17 September
India Weekly 17 September
Yours sincerely
Brian Healy, Assistant Secretary
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580
Telewest - Overtime Brief
Branches were advised in Branch Officials' Bulletin No.32, paragraph
533 of the overtime brief issued by the company and that the Union
was seeking assurances with regard to the monitoring and observance
of rest periods.
Management have replied acknowledging the potential for these areas
to be 'overlooked' when pushing ahead with additional work but the
business has been generally observant of such issues. They state that
they will not be expecting that to change during this period. In
terms of monitoring working time, they hold the view that they are
fortunate in that they are the only business area within Telewest
which has its own administration function where time sheets,
overtime, absence detail, attrition detail, etc. are all processed
and reported.
A reminder of Telewest's obligations will be sent to the Field Management.
Brian Healy, Assistant Secretary
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581
Network Build - Rapid Response Teams
The Union has been advised of the above initiative. The aim is to get
volunteers who will be available to resource peaks of work in areas
other than where they are currently working. Currently there is a
last minute rush to source volunteers when there is a need to manage
a peak of work that cannot be managed locally. The aim is to make
this process smoother by identifying people who would be prepared to
form part of a Rapid Response Team to respond to peaks of work i.e.
they have indicated they are prepared when asked to consider working
in another area to deal with a short term work peak. The existing
Terms and Conditions for detached duty will apply and European
Working Time Regulations will be observed.
Volunteers are being sought and predominantly they will be
undertaking their normal role but when there are peaks of work which
cannot be met any other way then Network Build will hopefully, if
there are sufficient volunteers, have people available to work away
from home on detached duty terms. Being a voluntary scheme
individuals will, of course, be able to refuse to go onto detached
duty when offered to them and a reserve list of volunteers will be
maintained to cover.
Obviously Network Build would want if possible to resource all its
work locally but experience has shown that in a small number of
instances this is not always feasible. The concept of the Rapid
Response team is to enable Network Build to deal with those occasions
when it is not.
Brian Healy, Assistant Secretary
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582
Network Build - Fibre Splicing and Changes to Access/Core Boundary
It has come to the attention of the Union that management had issued
an internal briefing which is attached, the details of which were
taken up with Network Build as there had been no prior consultation.
The plan that management had put in place was to transfer the 50% of
internal splicing work that was not being done by external engineers
from internal to the external teams during July 2004. The history of
how internal engineers came to complete splicing for external jobs is
not precisely known but it is believed that this was brought due to
high volumes of wideband work.
Recently, Network Build have re-skilled 125 people from copper to
fibre and is seeking to further increase fibre jointing engineers by
179 by advertising outside of the company; this is to enable all
wideband provision work to be completed by external engineers. The
125 engineers have now been re-skilled and this enabled the internal
splice work for the remaining 50% of the country to be completed by
external engineers.
There is no additional formal training required as the fibre jointing
element is the same; there is local awareness/training given on
exchange access and splicing rack locations (albeit these are usually
known anyway).
Brian Healy, Assistant Secretary
Attachment
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583
Frames Quality Guide Book
Branches were advised in Branch Officials Bulletin No.27, paragraph
457 of the approach being taken by Network Operations on Frames
Quality. Attached for the information of Branches is a copy of the
Frames Quality Guide Book that will be used.
Brian Healy, Assistant Secretary
Attachment
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POSTAL
584
Interim Productivity Scheme - Progress Report - Week 22
We are monitoring the introduction of the new productivity schemes
nationally and within that process we have requested progress reports.
Please find attached the latest progress report I have received on
the deployment of the Mail Centre/Distribution schemes for your
information.
It should be noted that all of the Business' planned headcount
reduction figures are subject to agreements being concluded locally
on how the financial savings should be achieved. In addition, actual
headcount reductions stated include members who have resigned, etc.
All enquiries regarding the content of this paragraph should be
addressed to Martin Collins, Assistant Secretary Indoor Department,
quoting reference number L.300.42(a).
Att:
PE47