WEEKLY INFORMATION FROM THE COMMUNICATION WORKERS UNION
SUMMARY
Attachments or LTB's can be
emailed or downloaded from the National Site
Volume 10 Issue 13 Paragraphs 210-220 01 April 2005
SUMMARY
GENERAL
211 Liaison Meetings with
CWU Group
212 Headquarters Printing
and Reprographic Services
213 Union Learning
Representative Course - Coventry
214 Branch Magazine and
Website Competition
215 Eddie Tighe - An Obituary
EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES
No items this week
HEALTH AND SAFETY
216 Health and Safety
(Directors' Duties) Bill - Private Members Bill Promoted by Stephen
Hepburn MP
TELECOMS
217 NDI - Further Restructuring
218 Telewest - NT&IT
Telephony Support
219 Quality Checks Within
the Routing Solutions Environment
POSTAL
220 Wand Migration Plan
LETTERS TO BRANCHES
150 23.03.05 Eurest (O2) Information and Consultation Regulations -
Sally Bridge
151
24.03.05 Network Operation - Attendance Patterns - Brian Healy
152
29.03.05 Election of DGS(T) & Assistant Secretary T&FSE -
Steve Baguley
153
30.03.05 Branch Political Funds - GS
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GENERAL
211
Liaison Meetings with CWU Group MPs
Meetings with CWU supported MPs have now been arranged for 2005 and,
for your information, I list below the dates of the meetings and
those nominated to attend:
19 April
John Holmes, Steve Fishwick,
Manny Blake, Graham Colk and a North West Region representative.
Billy Hayes
General Secretary
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212
Headquarters Printing and Reprographic Services
Branches and Representatives will wish to know that CWU Headquarters
have recently acquired new reprographics equipment. The purpose of
broadcasting this information is to inform you that we are now able
to offer a print service to branches that we believe will be within a
price range that you will find competitive. Amongst the services we
can provide are colour or black & white posters, leaflets,
booklets etc. It is not possible to produce a price list as prices
will vary dependent on each individual job based on quantity,
timescale, delivery requirements etc. If you would like more
information about this service or wish to receive a quote for a
particular piece of work then please ring or email Jacquie Winter,
Acting Head of Post & Reprographics. 020 8971 7218 jwinter@cwu.org.
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213
Union Learning Representative Course - Coventry
The Communication Workers Union have organised a Union Learning
Representatives Course, to be held in Coventry.
The course will be held from 18 - 22 April 2005
Please submit application forms ASAP
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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214
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 Blackpool.
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 Friday, May 20 so don't delay, particularly
considering substantial prizes are 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 a total of £300 in software
vouchers, enabling them to improve their publications still further.
Simon Alford
Communications Dept. HQ
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215
Eddie Tighe - An Obituary
Having looked back at the Branch Minute Books the first mention of
Eddie was 27/06/68. He joined the Bradford External Committee
24/09/68. He also went on to represent the Bradford External Branch
at the Bradford Trades Council in 1974.
Eddie held most of the Offices of the Branch organisation, Welfare
Committee 1978, Vice Chair 20th March 1979, Branch Chair 26 February
1980, and elected Branch Secretary at the Annual General Meeting in
1982 and stood down as Branch Secretary 1987. Eddie then returned to
being a committee member until 1990 on his retirement. He retained
his membership as a retired member until he passed away in February.
From my own experience of Eddie is that he was one of those people
who are the glue that holds a Union together. He had no thoughts of
high office but just to represent his workmates and defend them
against injustice.
Back in 1983 when I walked up the TEC yard at Bradford as a new
recruit the first person I met was Eddie. For some reason I was not
surprised to learn that he was the local Union representative, some
people just have that persona and Eddie was one of those people.
Eddie is a sad loss and will be missed.
Dave Jukes
West Yorkshire Branch
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HEALTH AND SAFETY
216
Health and Safety (Directors' Duties) Bill - Private Members Bill
Promoted by Stephen Hepburn MP
This is to update Branches further to LTB 94/05 dated 24 February and
the similar BOB 09/05 Paragraph 154. Would Branches and Safety Reps
who have contacted the HS&E Department also accept this as a
response to any concerns raised.
As Branches and Safety Representatives will be aware, this is an
issue on which we have campaigned along with other Unions (T&GW
and UCATT in particular) and the TUC. As Stephen Hepburn's Bill was
fully in line with CWU Conference policy, on behalf of the CWU I
indicated our full support for the Private Members Bill and wrote to
all CWU supported MPs by way of a detailed letter requesting that
they support the Bill in order to help get it through its second
reading stage on Friday 4 March.
It was therefore deeply disappointing, to put it mildly, when we were
informed about the low turnout of MPs in the Commons on the day of
the second reading, Friday, 4 March. Although the House of Commons
debated the Hepburn Bill and despite winning the vote unanimously,
the Bill fell because the House was inquorate. It unfortunately
failed to get through its second reading as only 28 MPs were in the
House, and 40 are needed to make a quorum. The Attendance in the
House that day by no means reflected the support Stephen Hepburn and
the campaign received from his MP colleagues.
Concerns regarding the fact that only one of our 12 CWU supported
MP's was present (Tony Clarke Northampton South) are shared by the
HS&E Department and the matter has been taken up directly with
those concerned and the General Secretary. I appreciate fully the
disquiet amongst interested Branches and Safety Representatives
regarding the absence of the majority of CWU supported MP's rest
assured. I have requested an explanation bearing in mind CWU
Conference Policy on this matter and have arranged with the General
Secretary to meet our supported MPs on this and a range of Health and
Safety issues requiring political support and activity.
Stephen Hepburn MP has expressed his gratitude for the work that CWU
has undertaken in support his private members bill.
Going forward we need to build on that support and use what
opportunities we can to press for the proposals contained within
Stephen's PMB to be incorporated into the law. The most significant
opportunity we have is with the long-awaited draft "corporate
manslaughter Bill" which was published on 23 March. The
proposals are currently being scrutinising to see how directors'
duties could be accommodated and how to develop a campaign to build
support for this involving interested Unions. You will be kept
informed of developments.
All enquiries should be addressed to Dave Joyce, National Health,
Safety & Environment Officer quoting reference No. EX13.
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TELECOMS
217
NDI - Further Restructuring
Following the major reorganisation of ND&I, more sub-units are
now beginning to review themselves. There are 3 units that are
currently looking at their structure and these are:
NRDK - Policy and Design - around 60 managers and 220 team members
NRDJ - Organisational Effectiveness - around 68 managers and 146 team members
NRJG - Network Planning and Infrastructure - around 76 managers and
330 team members.
The Union has no details or timescales as yet but will notify
Branches when these are known and the potential issues as they become visible.
Brian Healy
Assistant Secretary
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218
Telewest - NT&IT Telephony Support
It has come to the attention of the Union, that at the end of 2004
Telewest completed a review of the telephony support team whose
responsibilities are to support the applications for telephony
provisioning, mediation, fraud and interconnect. The review has
determined that from the existing three teams, a single support team
will be created to support all applications, under the direction of a
newly created role of Senior Support Analyst.
Telewest states that the proposal allows it to deploy people more
effectively, improving productivity, and allowing greater focus on
critical project deployment.
As a result of these proposed changes, people currently working as
Senior Technical Analysts and Support Analysts within the telephony
team are at risk of redundancy and the size of the team will be reduced.
Telewest have not provided any further information however, in
departing from usual practice they have agreed to open up a VR
package before taking any further action.
Branches with members in this unit which is outside the bargaining
unit should seek advice from Head Office as to what support and
assistance can be given to members on an individual basis.
Brian Healy
Assistant Secretary
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219
Quality Checks Within the Routing Solutions Environment
Branches were notified in Branch Officials' Bulletin No. 34/2004,
paragraph 564 of the intent to introduce Quality Checks in Routing
Solutions. Discussions took place around the disturbing aspect of
linking the marking into a direct APR marking and the monitoring of calls.
The agreed outcome is as follows:
o A Code of Practice for managers to ensure consistency of
application of the process. This has now been built into the
documentation and is attached for the information of Branches.
o A message on the call platform informing callers that calls may be
recorded for quality checking purposes. This is now in place as
previously it was not and consequently in breach of the Law.
o Team members will be notified of the week within which they are to
be quality checked. This is now built into the process.
o People carrying out quality checks should not be able to see
previous results. BT has partitioned the server to ensure this is so.
o The quality check result will be used as one of a number of inputs
to assess the individual when marking the Quality of Work element of
the DPR. There will be no read across into an APR marking.
o Coaching on issues identified will be done in a timely manner and
wherever possible it will be face to face.
It is the intention to train all team leaders and run a three month
trial across all the patches, commencing at the earliest opportunity.
At the end of the trial there will be a review with the Union nationally.
Brian Healy
Assistant Secretary
Attachment
1 Attachment
2
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POSTAL
220
Wand Migration Plan
Further to BOB 9 para 166, 4th March 2005 reproduced below is the
latest communication that was issued recently to Branch Secretaries,
Area/Unit Processing Representatives of Offices of Exchange (OEs) and
Divisional Representatives responsible for processing issues, the
content of which is self-explanatory.
Heathrow Worldwide Distribution Centre
Dates set for migration of remaining Export Mail
Purpose of brief: To announce the dates for the completion of the
transfer of Export Air mail from existing OEs to HWDC
Audience: Affected Employees
Timescales: Immediate: w/c 28th March 2005
Contact: Andy Pickering, HWDC project, 01753 484652, postline 5790 4652
As you know we have been doing some detailed work to assess when HWDC
will be ready to accept the international traffic from the remaining
Offices of Exchange. This work is nearly finished. Over the last
couple of months the performance of HWDC has risen steadily and HWDC
is now ready to accept the remaining Export Airmail traffic from the
existing OEs, with completion planned for the summer.
Following discussions with the OEs concerned, we can now confirm the
following transfer dates:
11th April - Glasgow
9th and 23rd May - Birmingham OE (two phases)
6th and 20th June - Manchester (Export) (two phases).
The HWDC Programme team will now work with these OEs (and the
affected Mail Centres) to underpin the arrangements necessary to make
these changes a success.
It is now clear that we need to make a number of software and
physical changes to the Priority Services area at HWDC before it will
be able to handle all the Export PS traffic. We will therefore be
asking Birmingham and Manchester to continue to handle their foreign
PS traffic for a few months until these changes have been made.
With regard to Import mail, we will start to ramp-up the operation in
early April. This will involve a period of approximately three months
during which we test the performance of the automation system on all
types of Import mail. As we progress during this phase, we will
develop the detailed schedule for the formal transfer of Import mail
to HWDC.
Thanks to everyone for their help in sorting out this issue,
especially the OEs and Mail Centres for their patience over the past
few weeks. We look forward to being able to bring the HWDC programme
to a successful conclusion over the next few months and will continue
to involve CWU and CMA in this process.
All enquiries regarding the content of this paragraph should be
addressed to Martin Collins, Assistant Secretary, Indoor Department,
quoting reference number L.640.20 (o).