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WEEKLY INFORMATION FROM THE COMMUNICATION WORKERS UNION
SUMMARY

Attachments or LTB's can be emailed or downloaded from the National Site
Volume 10 Issue 19 Paragraphs 303-318 13 May 2005

SUMMARY
GENERAL
303 Headquarters Printing and Reprographic Services
304 Branch Magazine and Website Competition
305 Action for South Africa (ACTSA)
306 Equal Rights in the CWU Part II
EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES
307 Annual Conference 2005 - Equality Disco
HEALTH AND SAFETY
No items this week
TELECOMS
308 Telewest - Pay & Reward Points Matrix
309 BT Wholesale - Resource Transfers
310 Network Build - Contingency Workforce Briefing
311 BT Wholesale Markets - Ventures Team Changes
312 BT Wholesale - Creation of Products and Strategy Team
313 Capacity Planning & Delivery - D1 Posts
314 Telewest - Pay & Reward Bonus
315 BT Wholesale - Parking and Working at Home
POSTAL
316 Downstream Access Guidance
317 Mail Screening Grading/Staffing Arrangements
318 Introduction of Scheduled Attendance into MDECs
LETTERS TO BRANCHES
207 05/05/05 Manpower UK Ltd - Pay Arrangements BT Contract - Sally Bridge
208 05/05/05 Hays Pay Increase at Leicester, Lincoln and Nottingham - Sally Bridge
209 05/05/05 Royal Mail Pay Increase 2005 - Dave Ward
210 05/05/05 Romec Territory Reps Nominations - Ray Ellis
211 05/05/05 Vehicle Services' Pay Award 2005 - Ray Ellis
212 06/05/05 Telereal: Pensions Pay and Bonus Scheme - Simon Sapper
213 06/05/05 YAC 4th National Education Event - Simon Sapper
214 06/05/05 POL (Incl. Network Support Services) Pay Agreements 2005 - Andy Furey
215 06/05/05 Stamp Out Poverty - GS
216 06/05/05 Scheduled Attendance Holiday Payments - Dave Ward
217 06/05/05 Ballot Result Postal Standing Orders Committee - Steve Baguley
218 06/05/05 POL CSA Pay Progression Agreement Joint Statement - Andy Furey
219 09/05/05 Capita Pay Agreement 2004 - Andy Furey
220 09/05/05 POL Working Time Directive - Road Transport Working Time Regulations 2005 - Andy Furey
221 10/05/05 National Briefing Postal Department Strategic Plan - Dave Ward
222 10/05/05 Monterey North Possible Redundancies - Simon Sapper
223 11/05/05 Industrial Relations in Review - Dave Ward

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GENERAL
303
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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304
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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305
Action for South Africa (ACTSA)
We have received a request from ACTSA to help improve their ongoing ability to campaign with the peoples of South Africa and to bring their systems into the 21st Century.
They are in the process of looking to upgrade their IT system as the main database they run needs to be upgraded by June 2005 as we understand it will not be supported after that date. This database is used for all their membership, supporters, fundraising, press and campaigns work and they would struggle to function without it.
In order to fully upgrade their systems, ACTSA would need about £10,000 overall. They realise that this is not the type of request affiliates would normally be asked to assist with but it will mean that if they raise the necessary funds and carry out the upgrade, they will be fully up to date for the next 7 years or so. It will also enable ACTSA to recruit new members and supporters, increase their overall profile as well as identify new sources of funding for the future.
As you will probably be aware ACTSA is a very lean organisation financially and is dependent on its members and supporters for the vast majority of their funding. I would urge Branches to consider assisting ACTSA in this project which will enable them to move forward in its second decade and continue to be a vibrant and forward looking campaigning organisation.
Any assistance you feel able to give towards raising the necessary funds would be appreciated and if you would like to discuss the matter further then do not hesitate to contact Euan Wilmhurst, Director of Action for Southern Africa, 29 Penton Street, London N1 9SA - Tel: 020 7833 3133.
Any enquiries on the BOB paragraph should be addressed to the General Secretary's Department quoting the reference GS 15.1

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306
Equal Rights in the CWU Part II
The Communication Workers Union has organised an Equal Rights in the CWU Part II Course, to be held at the Union's Education & Training Centre at Alvescot Lodge.
The course will be held from 26 - 30 September 2005
The closing date for nominations is 11 August
This course is aimed at those who have already attended Equal Rights in the CWU Part I and the old Equal Opportunities I courses.
We particularly encourage branches to nominate women, ethnic minorities, people with disabilities and young members who are often under-represented on the CWU Education and Training Programme.
This course will cover the following issues:

All courses at Alvescot are residential. The cost of tuition, food and accommodation will be met from the General Fund. 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.
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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EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES
307
Annual Conference 2005 - Equality Disco
The time has come to start preparations for the Equality Disco 2005, which is to be held on the Saturday preceding Annual Conference, i.e. 11th June 2005.
As in previous years, I would be grateful if Branches could consider donating raffle prizes, the proceeds of which will be given to charity.
If Branches would like to contribute, please contact Katrina Quirke:
cwu-helpline@cwu.org or 020 8971 7312.
Any enquiries concerning this paragraph should be addressed to Manny Blake, Acting Assistant Secretary quoting reference 1.10.1.

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TELECOMS
308
Telewest - Pay & Reward Points Matrix
Branches were given a report of the last Pay and Reward discussions in Branch Officials Bulletin No.16/2005, paragraph 267; one element of the discussions concerned the points matrix and work not allocated points.
Action has been taken on extension activity and attached for the information of Branches and site representatives is a copy of Telewest's policy which has been agreed with operational sales and should be complied with. In order that members can be confident that they will be fully credited with points for work done, could Branches and local representatives ensure that this briefing and its attachment is brought to the attention of installation and service members.
Brian Healy
Assistant Secretary
Attachment

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309
BT Wholesale - Resource Transfers
Branches will need to be aware of urgent decisions that have been taken and of developments that are being instigated as of the commencement of this week. Given the decisions on 21CN and the need to control the size of the capital programme budget, a number of decisions to rebalance resources have been taken. Existing direct labour will be reassigned to differing work stacks and the numbers of contractors will be reduced.
Branches will have already seen in the latest figures released from my office a reduction in contractors and more are expected.
Attached for the information of Branches are copies of the internal briefings being released.
Brian Healy
Assistant Secretary
Attachment 1 Attachment 2 Attachment 3

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310
Network Build - Contingency Workforce Briefing
The regular review of the contingency arrangements between BT Wholesale and Retail has taken place. There already exists 290 employees who have been trained. Overall 500 field engineers are required which currently leaves a shortfall of 210. Whilst not transferring people to do this work, Network Build does need to close the gap and is now proposing to seek volunteers.
Most will continue to execute the same nature of work including the bundling up of second stage repair work whilst some are likely to get new skills in customer service repair activities.
As news of the preparation work started to become more widely known, some Branches raised rumours of required changes to attendance patterns. This issue has been raised with management and it can be confirmed that when deployed onto contingency work that there is no expectation or requirement for changes in attendance patterns.
Brian Healy
Assistant Secretary

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311
BT Wholesale Markets - Ventures Team Changes
The Union has been advised of an announcement being released in BT Wholesale Markets which concerns the future structure of the Ventures team. The internal briefing is attached for the information of Branches.
The main impact will be upon managers however, there are a small number of team members in the BT Contact support roles who may be impacted by the changes but the details are not yet available. It is understood the individuals will have been former clerical grades. More details will be given to the Union when the overall picture on future direction becomes clear.
Brian Healy
Assistant Secretary
Attachment

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312
BT Wholesale - Creation of Products and Strategy Team
Branches may not be aware but there has been the movement and creation of a Products and Strategy team in BT Wholesale, previously in Markets. The team consists predominantly of managers but there are a smaller group of team members in grades represented by the CWU. Attached is a briefing issued by the Director of Products and Strategy, announcing the way the oganisation will be set up and some early top level appointments.
It is not known at this stage whether there is any impact upon CWU members, but Branches will be advised of any further developments if this happens to be the case.
Brian Healy
Assistant Secretary
Attachment

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313
Capacity Planning & Delivery - D1 Posts
It would appear that there have been some rumblings around the number of D1 posts in Capacity Planning and Delivery. The issue seems to stem from the fact that when introduced there was a D1 in every office and following restructuring and general movement there are now several in some offices and none in others. The issue has been raised at the office level directly with senior management and they will be responding by looking at it as part of the current restructuring.
Management has notified the Union that they will:

The outcome of this review will be discussed with the Union prior to any action taking place.
Brian Healy
Assistant Secretary

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314
Telewest - Pay & Reward Bonus
Branches were advised in Branch Officials' Bulletin No.16/2005, paragraph 267 of the commitment to work on the ongoing elements of the joint review of Pay and Reward. In keeping with that commitment management has supplied the Union with the quarter results for this calendar year and this is attached.
The Union believes that with further work under way which would require some rebalancing on the points matrix as reported in the above mentioned Branch Officials' Bulletin, the Union should be able to secure higher levels of bonus for members.
There is however an obvious level of concern for some geographical patches over the current bonus attainment levels which will be an element of further focus of discussion with the company.
Brian Healy
Assistant Secretary
Attachment

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315
BT Wholesale - Parking and Working at Home
A number of Branches have raised with Union Head Office, BT Wholesale's position on the announcements made by the Chancellor of the Exchequer with regard to tax liability for employees who have use of a company vehicle. Members had sought clarity as to the contribution of own time at the start/end of day arrangements. They were under the impression that in order to reduce and/or negate any tax liability for BT, members had to make this "own time" contribution.
If this was the case, then they no longer had a need to make this contribution. In fact "own time" contribution is and never has been a factor in reducing or negating BT's tax liability. It is the start of day arrangements with regard to commencing work from an individual's headquarter or from a normal start point frequently which determined whether there was a tax liability.
Also it is not correct that the tax liability has been cancelled and withdrawn. What the government has announced is a tax liability break for a period of two years. The objective being to allow companies to put in place such arrangements to change or structure their tax liabilities, following which at the expiration of the two years, the government will reintroduce the payments under a strict enforcement regime. For this reason BT will not be relaxing its stance on garaging at home. In fact the reality is likely to be a more thorough application of its policy.
It has been reported that an average of 12 cases of non-compliance happen per annum; paradoxically it has been commented upon that this is a very low detection rate and that BT is not doing enough to detect vehicle misuse given the size of its fleet.
Brian Healy
Assistant Secretary

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POSTAL
316
Downstream Access Guidance
Branches will be aware from the information provided at the recent national briefings that Downstream Access contracts are now starting to have a noticeable affect on traffic volumes. We have been regularly monitoring this with the Business to ensure wherever possible, although by law we have to process this traffic, these competitors do not have any unfair advantage outside of the terms of their contract.
Workshops have been held recently in a number of Mail Centres who receive major postings from licence holders under Downstream Access contracts ie: UK Mail, TNT, etc. The aim of these workshops was to ensure that licence holders are complying with the terms of their contract and that once accepted by Royal Mail the traffic was processed correctly in respect of Revenue Protection, Handling and Onward Circulation.
It is important that all of our members are made aware of the guidance in respect of the contractual requirements of these Mail Operators so I have summarised this below:

Branches should ensure that the content of this paragraph is brought to the attention of all appropriate Area/Unit Representatives and CWU members involved in the handling of Downstream Access items so that they are aware of the guidelines that need to be followed.
All enquiries regarding the content of this paragraph should be addressed to Martin Collins, Assistant Secretary, Indoor Department, quoting reference number L.600.42.

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317
Mail Screening Grading/Staffing Arrangements
Following Annual Conference last year discussions have continued with the Business in relation to the Grading and Staffing arrangements for the Mail Screening Operation, taking into account the terms of motion 5.15 submitted by the North Lancs and Cumbria branch.
Conference agrees that a national agreement be pursued regarding X-ray/scanner work. Any agreement must encompass the following:

In pursuing an agreement local agreements must be taken into consideration and will not be weakened but used as the minimum requirement for a national agreement.
The postal Executive is instructed accordingly.
Negotiations have been very protracted for various reasons, in particular because the CMA were arguing that screeners should be graded within the managerial structure and represented by their Union. A joint working party was established in July 2004 to visit both Royal Mail and external business sites to evaluate/benchmark best practice. The report produced enough evidence for the union to counter these arguments and secure an agreement, which meets the full terms of the motion.
The Postal Executive believe that the agreement which has been concluded progresses the union's policy of recognising the skills of our members by increased basic pay as opposed to allowances, and protects the individual's employment if in the future they are unable to retain the abilities to perform screening work. The terms also secure that the 229 posts contained on the future mail screening template will be represented by the CWU.
I have summarised below the principle points that are contained within the agreement:

A joint communication and a copy of the full terms of the agreement has been circulated to all branches via an LTB.
Any enquiries regarding the content of this paragraph should be addressed to Martin Collins, Assistant Secretary, Indoor Department, quoting reference L.100.10.

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318
Introduction of Scheduled Attendance into MDECs
I reported to Branches in the Annual Report for the Postal Constituencies that the Union was continuing to press, wherever possible, to harmonise the terms and conditions of our members working in the MDEC Network. It was also reported that the union were currently in discussions with the Business on the introduction of Scheduled Attendances, following a commitment that had been given to the union during the negotiations on the MDEC Pay and Major Change Agreement.
Branches will recall that when the MDEC Network first opened the Business had argued that they did not foresee the need for regular overtime and therefore it would be inappropriate to agree SAs as it would be an unnecessary expense.
These recent negotiations have proved successful and SAs will now be available to our members in MDECs and paid at the same pay rate as Operational Grade SAs. In addition the average level of SAs performed by an individual will be paid for four weeks of their annual leave in line with the current Royal Mail agreement.
Local managers and CWU representatives at each MDEC will review their staffing arrangements by the end of May 2005 to assess where currently the introduction of Scheduled Attendance would be appropriate. It is also agreed where SA is introduced that it will be allocated to volunteers on a fair share basis to ensure our members all have the same opportunity to enhance their pay.
The achievement of the above is another major step forward for the union in harmonising the terms and conditions of our MDEC members with those of the OPG grade. In line with our previous commitments the union will continue to explore every avenue where appropriate to achieve parity of MDEC members with those of their colleagues working in other parts of Royal Mail.
Any enquiries regarding the content of this paragraph should be addressed to Martin Collins, Assistant Secretary, Indoor Department, quoting reference L.685.21(x).

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